In the 1960s, the gas coupe and sedan categories featured some of the coolest and most colorful race cars ever seen on a drag strip. Here are ten great examples. 

 

In the drag racing rule books of the era, the formal title was the Gas Coupe and Sedan category, but everyone called them gassers. The principle is pretty simple: start with a basic production car with a coupe or sedan body, and then build in almost every sort of engine and chassis modification imaginable.

Classes were broken down into weight/displacement brackets in lbs. per cubic inch, with only two key restrictions: bodies were supposed to remain sorta, kinda stock in appearance, more or less; and the fuel was limited to gasoline. Beyond that, the competition was essentially wide open, and the cars showed it. To this day, these were some of the most unusual and creative race cars ever built.

Most gearheads in America are familiar with the better-known racers in the gas coupe categories, including Ohio George Montgomery, Big John Mazmanian, and Stone, Woods, and Cook. Here we’re going to feature some lesser-known racers, because they’re every bit as interesting and worthy. As always, if you have any info to contribute about these photos or the cars, people, and events featured in them, please let us know. Here they are, 10 great old gassers.

 

This gorgeous ’33 Willys gasser was a high-end hot rod in the ’60s, with loads of chrome, top-dollar components, and a fuel-injected 427 SOHC Ford for power. Built by/for an Arizona racer, reportedly it was run only a few times before it was parked—too fast and scary, the story goes. The eye-popping coupe next turned up on eBay in early 2014 with a six-figure asking price.

 

Not all ’55 gassers were Chevrolets, no sir. Ray’s Haulin’ Henry, a ’55 Ford hardtop powered by a 390 CID FE-style Ford V8, terrorized drag strips around Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan, including Milan Dragway, shown here.

 

Tasca Ford in Rhode Island was known mainly for its string of winning Super Stock and Factory Experimental cars, but check this out: a ’57 Tudor set up for B/Gas, and sharing the 777 number with Zimmy, the dealer’s Fairlane Thunderbolt racer.

 

Al Pfeiffer campaigned a succession of WIllys gassers, including this pretty ’41 coupe with full Moon discs and a big Caddy V8. We believe the photo credit for this shot goes to the late Wayne Arteaga—gasser racer, Willys authority, good guy.

 

We don’t know much about this ’55 Chevy Bel Air with radiused wheel openings and whitewall slicks, but we like it. The Hilborn two-pot fuel injector setup poking through the hood suggests a GMC supercharger underneath it. The track appears to be Six Flags in Texas.

 

Anglias, the fleaweight sedans from Ford of England, were more plentiful in Canada. This one, hailing from the racing hotbed of Edmonton, Alberta, sports a small-block Chevy V8 with a healthy setback for improved weight distribution, Hilborn fuel injection, and homemade shorty headers. Take note of the stock Anglia front wheels and brakes.

 

Larry Teter of Algonquin, IL would later be recognized as a top builder of racing engines (Teterbuilt ICE), but in the early ’60s he was known for this beautiful and fast ’32 Ford Victoria. The venue for this photo is the U.S. Nationals at Indy, the scene for many of the gasser’s successes.

 

The Grist brothers of California were among the early adopters of the light, compact Willys body in the gas coupe classes, and their unique interpretation included an MEL-type Lincoln V8 bored and stroked to 502 CID and coupled to a General Motors four-speed Hydra-Matic transmission. For a time, the chopped ’41 with the killer stance was the fastest normally aspirated gas coupe in the country.

 

We adore this car. A ’54 Ford Victoria gasser is cool enough, but then builder Jim Lyons took it right over the top by splicing on a fiberglass nose intended for a ’55 Chevy. Some say the Fordolet is safely tucked away in a garage in the Louisville, KY area, and still looks pretty much like this. (Ed note: Readers inform us the Fordolet gasser is still alive and well, we are happy to report.) 

 

Here’s another car we know nearly nothing about, but it’s a perfect archetype of the ’55 Chevy gasser with cut-out wheel openings, fenderwell headers, and Moon-style fuel tank mounted in the grille opening. We don’t know what the two-door has under the hood, but we’re going to go out on a limb and guess it’s 283 CID.