We have two controversial “Gassers” right here. One is controversial because it’s a Corvette, and every time you cut one of them up someone is complaining. It’s not original anymore, it’s got the stance and the paint, and it looks to be done very very well. On the other side of this controversy is a BMW. Yep, the ultimate driving machine goes gasser. Again, this appears to be a well done car. But a BMW? Kinda weird right?
It begs the question, can anything be built into a gasser? Okay, not CAN, but SHOULD. Sure you can take a Prius and gasser it out, but that doesn’t make it cool in our book. Then you are just an idiot that wasted good hot rod parts on some crap pile. Anyway, stop getting all picky and answer the question.
Can, or SHOULD, any car be built into a Gasser?
It’s your car, you do WTF you want with it, end of story. The Vette was probably built when Vettes were a dime a dozen and the beamer, who cares.
Ditto!
For the most part I say yes. Although there are probably some cars that shouldn’t be made into a gasser both of these are cool
I think it’s more about the execution than the vehicle. Both of these were done nicely.
I agree
I wish the 2002’s rear wheels stuck out of radius’d fender like the ‘vettes do. I am subtracting points for confusing pro street and gasser.
The folks that built the bimmer have a seriously deranged sense of humor. I would probably like them.
Why not? Would you drive an Anglia or a Topolino that hadn’t been gassed?
Both may be nicely done, but only one would have ever been done that way. There were many, many, elary ’60’s ‘vette gassers (and some really weird vette altereds!), but the BMW is just too new a body style to have ever been done that way. Can the guy do it? Sure, his car as was pointed out. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. I think the BMW misses by a mile. An ealry ’60’s BMW would make sense. This doesn’t.
There are some things I can’t see working as a gasser – the Cavalier that Hot Rod tried to build with a body kit and a Moon fuel tank, for example. I can’t see that thing looking right as a gasser. If the Cavalier had been made into a roadgoing Pro Stocker, that could have worked… but not a gasser.
The Corvette really, really works as a gasser. Looks just like it rolled out of a time machine. The BMW? A gasser build is about nostalgia for a certain era. Even though it was long before I was born, I can tell the BMW is the wrong era. On the other hand, if the gasser wars had kept on a few more years… maybe. It’s close to the right era.
I don’t like the Beemer but I like this
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/yobaby/Volvo%20Gasser/lastscan.jpg
With few exceptions, gassers should be mid 60’s or older. Newer models dont look right in most cases, but I like the Bimmer. Would I want it?, No. As far as Gasser Vettes go, do it. Dont let the purists in their “fancy” satin black corvette jackets get you down. For every Gasser Vette getting the snot beat out of it at the track, there are hundreds of stock ones sitting under their covers in garages. Who cares. To each their own. Your car. Your way. Your $$$.
Hell … I remember Big John Mazmanian’s Vette AA/GS and that thing was the business . Some of the old Volvos those Scandahoovians are turing into ‘ Gasser’s ‘ are an ‘ Absolut ‘ ( spelling intentional 😉 ) hoot and 3/4s . BMW 2002 ? Why the heck not ! Heck … if memory serves me correctly there was some brave soul awhile back that made a ‘ Gasser ‘ out of a Ferrari 308 .
I mean … seriously … that WAS the whole point of AA/GS and the lower GS classes . Creativity and Do Your OwnThing … as long as it met the safety requirements and the competition rules .
And THAT .. is why I miss AA/GS so much ( along with AA/FA ) as well as why the NHRA needs to bring em back ! Creativity Originality Iconoclast racers …. etc … rather than the Corporate Rhetoric Drone drivers and look alike ‘ Kit Body ‘ cars of today . Drag Racing is in Dire Need of some Rock & Roll attitude …. but hell …. R&R is in dire need of some R&R attitude as well
These “gassers” are the automotive equivalent Marty McFly’s 1950s cowboy costume in “Back to the Future III.” … Overstyled and too many wrong details . . .
Polished Torque Thrust IIs? Narrowed “Pro Street” rear? Fake “Bug Catcher” on carbs? An obvious cheap knock-off “Moon” tank? Fuzzy Dice? Coated silver headers? All wrong.
If you’re going to do a “neo gasser,” at least try to get the big details correct.
(BTW, I’m wondering when somebody will try to chop and “gas up” a late-model SUV . . . What else are you gonna do with ’em?)
so right
“Then you are just an idiot that wasted good hot rod parts on some crap pile.”
Is he talking about the $200 Suburban?
The vette is bitchin. The other car, not so much.
I like both of these cars although I agree with some earlier posts in that the BMW needs a few changes. Rear tires need to be out of fenders like the Vette and the bug catcher needs to be replaced with velocity stacks or something. The BMW looks older than 2002?? Don’t know one year of those cars from another. It is on the edge of being too new looking though. I don’t think a late model car would look good as a gasser but some people can pull things off that would suprise you. The Vette is totally bitchin.
It looks to be from the early ’70s; 2002 was the model name, not the year.
The guy that owns the BMW…I am going to guess he likes it and could probably care less what we all think.
Its different its cool and its done. Sure they both missed all of the period correct nuances by a mile. But its 2013 and not everybody can afford to go out and by period correct halibrands and moon tanks.
The “gasser” look also includes cheap stuff like steelies and full-disc Moon wheel covers.
If somebody can afford silver-coated headers, aftermarket wheels, and (horrors) a “back half” job, they can also afford to built it correctly.
I think they’re both pretty cool. Since when does car building have rules? Besides that, how many gasser Tri Five Chevys can you look at before you want to see something different? I’ve got a buddy wanting to give me a rust free Volvo P1800 roller that I’ve been imagining as a gasser for a year now. I think people who criticize what someone else does with their own car are people who should stay the F away from me, got no time for them.
I like the Corvette, but the BMW looks to me that it might have been built overseas, the backhalf just doesn’t go with the gasser front.
I look at it this way, if the car is from the era of gassers sure call it a gasser. If the car is not of the era it becomes a street freak. I am ready to see the return of street freaks. with that being said I would drive the wheels off of both of them.
back in the Gasser day of the early /mid 60’s a 10% of the wheelbase engine made you a gasser not necessarily a straight axle >Blair Speed shop LA area started the trend with their kit for tri-5 Chevs since the big guys were converting to Willys and Anglias that came that way following the example of people like George Montgomery I’m involved with a local nostalgia gasser series and two kinds of cars show rebuilds / restored old gasser (two held their NHRA class records ) and Faux show gassers mostly “axled” without setbacks BUT to each their own
The BMW is not “too new” a body style to be a gasser. Remember, there were some famous gassers that used Opals as the basses for their car ( yes, even “baby corvettes). Opal is a German GM product.
The 2002 pictured above is executed incorrectly as traditional gassers use stock frame rails so narrowed rears with tires tucked in makes that car a Pro Street car with an incorrect gasser type front end.
It does get to a point that cert ant year model cars will look wrong but, it’s your car……
Corvette ok….has paid enough attention to the details, that it would be accepted by most all the groups at most events……
The other thing is just all wrong on so many levels, where to start. BUT, it is his car and his money. Just don’t call it a gasser or even a wannabe gasser…….it’s more street freak than anything.
Just flat out, the wrong generation of body.
“Pro Stock” looking rear axle/tire/wheel combination is not even close to a gasser style build.
“Wanna be” 3 hole scoop or injector intake or whatever it is. But looking at the rest of this thing I don’t know what else would be “correct.”
Wrong front wheels
Phony Moon style tank.
Way too high in the nose.
Build whatever you want, just don’t try to pass it off as something its not, never was, and really shouldn’t have been. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. From the photo, the craftsmanship look fine, it’s just wrong in its presentation.
Isn’t that what makes the Gasser class so dam cool. The totally obnoxiousness of the cars is the biggest defining factor of the class. I don’t think a Caddy or some big ass Lincoln should be one but if its small and light it could be a Gasser to me
Most of the Gen I ‘Vettes that received the “gasser” treatment before 1967 (that is when Ohio George Montgomery kickstarted the trend toward slammed gassers) had most of the front “gingerbread” trim/grille removed to reduce weight. . .
And most didn’t have modern lettering all over the windows . . .
Or modern disc brakes on a chromed-out axle . . .
Or those silvery side-pipe things (white fenderwell headers dumping out the wheelwell would be more correct) . . .
Or expensive, modern clearcoat paint . . .
Or 1990s repop polished Torque Thrust IIs.
So while the ‘Vette may be popular on here, very expensive to build, and somewhat well-presented, it’s about as representative of a real ’60s gasser as a “neo-classic” ’69 Grand Prix Model J was of a true classic Duesenberg. At best, it’s just “gasser inspired.”
NOT ENOUGH ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS . . . .
You could look it up.
Maybe you could look at the bmw as what might’ve been if the gasser trend kept going?
For me, the car has to have “the look” its gotta go as good as it looks.
do what you can with what you got
get off the keyboard and build somthing
Sounds like a challenge to see who can come up with the most godawful gasser.lol
On your mark, get set, Go!
The vette was built to be released as a 1/25th scale model by Revell. It should be in stores before Christmas