Ace-Garageguy

Oh baby...I think I'm in love. Man...damm...seriously...that is FINE.

Looks GOOD, Scott. Just enough shine to look like she's brand new, or just out of the shops. Man, I love those things.

Strawman response. Several of those cars DO NOT exhibit the sky-high-nose favored by the pretend "nostalgia" guys. And the rockers on the top shoebox Ford look close to dead-level to me. Red Wagon, Freebird, and Intruder would doubtless be just as quick, and a whole lot easier to drive (and less likely to kill somebody) if they sat level...or close to it...at rest. I've never maintained there weren't SOME doofy high-nose cars, but they were NOT the FAST cars, as I noted above. And IF YOU WATCH THE VIDEO, the Sept. 2018 Southeast Gasser Assn. event, THEY ARE RARELY, IF EVER, THE WINNERS. (NOTE: Watch at the 53:00 mark. Two very well set-up cars running heads-up. Last race. Dead level rockers at rest; there's nothing anybody can say to refute THAT...and THAT is what the FAST cars looked like in the wayback.) Personally, if I'm going to copy somebody, I'll copy the FAST guys WHO WIN ALL THE TIME...like the SWC Willys(s), and Montgomery's Willys AND Mustang...and just about everybody else who won consistently on a national level during the "gasser wars" period. Sure, there were guys who jacked the noses to stupid heights, in the time-honored (bolstered by lack of understanding) "if-a-little-is-good, more-is-better" tradition. And I'll give you this...prior to 1960, when the 24"-to-crank-center rule came in, there probably were a lot more nose-in-the-clouds cars. But one of the reasons for the rule was because at higher trap-speeds, those doof rides become insanely unstable. Prior to 1960, a 100 MPH trap speed for a "street" ride was pretty damm fast. It's real nice that you were in the computer industry for 30 years and can read things technical. I've been an adult in the motorsports industry, or very close to it, for almost 50 years now. Prior to that, I lived and breathed drag-racing as much as a kid possibly could. I'll trust my own memories, experience setting up drag cars, hundreds of period photos, and a profound understanding of engineering, physics, vehicle dynamics, and aerodynamics over magazine articles written 50+ years after the fact by guys who weren't even born at the time they're professing to be "experts" about...and just repeat what they've heard somewhere from other uninformed "experts". That's all I got. Believe what you want. And maybe the Earth IS flat. If enough people think so, it just might be true.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Now I'm off on the hunt for his 550.

Upholstered fiberglass buckets are another option.

I'm 1/2. Does that count?

There were a lot of running variations on 550s from car to car, and the Fernando Pinto model is most likely better in most ways than the slush-cast, warped, too-narrow-tail Flintstone kit I have. The Flintstone model has the decklid vents closer together, and has the fairing, but it also has a bulge on the deck that's not common on the real ones, and that I've never seen on a repop. Getting a good representation of a particular 550 (or replica) will take extra work no matter what you start with...but thanks for posting the Pinto kit. I didn't know it existed.

This is really interesting. Almost every one of the cars posted is a fairly recent reconstruction "nostalgia" wannabe, not actual period RACE CARS. (all except the black 'n white Volvo, that probably went over on its roof if it ever went over 120 MPH). They get trailered to events, pushed into their grassy slots, maybe get the engines lit up so everyone can hear the cam, oooed and ahhed over by legions of guys who have never had greasy hands, then get pushed back on their trailers to go home. How do you figure they're "legitimate gassers"? Just because they have class designations painted on them? Or scuffed tires? Most of these are pretenders. Tribute cars. Gasser "themed". The black Willys and the maroon '37 Chebby are even on STREET tires. BUT...I've seen the little gold Falcon run, and it's actually quick on a 1/8 mile track...but it only goes through the traps at 110 mph or so...and it's squirrelly at best most of the time. If you really believe that way-nose-high jokes are drivable AS RACE CARS, jack the front of your OWN car up like this, and go out and drive it at 125+ MPH. One more time...if you want to see PERIOD cars, look at the George Klass site. Or you can do what a lot of people do in every field today...get your gospel from non-primary sources who really don't know what they're talking about. The Hagerty article posted for confirmation of nose-high was written in 2016, as-usual parroting misinformation, by some noob who wasn't there. The Hot Rod article, written in 2006 (over 50 years AFTER the end of the real gassers) is about gasser "tribute" and gasser "themed" cars...says so right in the text. And when you get gibberish like this thrown in, the veracity of any technical information is open to question anyway: "This gave him the opportunity to rebuild the straight-axle front suspension for an extra 111/42 inches of ride height". The FAST cars did NOT have their noses way high in the air during the gasser glory days. If nose-to-the-sky was the hot-setup, you would have seen it on consistent winners from people at the level of Stone-Woods-Cook and George Montgomery. But you don't. A LITTLE nose-high occasionally, but please to remember, car suspension is tuned from track to track as well. For instance, you set a car up differently on a greasy 1/8 mile with low trap-speeds than you do for a clean 1/4 mile that hooks up hard and lets you get all the top-end. Anyway, here's a bunch of guys who actually RACE their cars (kinda in my stomping grounds too), cars built to the specs of the real-deal. These cars are as close as you get to time travel. Please to note the STATIC stance of CARS THAT ACTUALLY RACE. Some are a LITTLE TOO nose-high at rest, as even some of these guys have bought into the nose-high thing, but also remember this is a greasy 1/8 mile track with relatively low trap speeds. And still, just a couple nosebleed cars in the bunch. Anything you see with noses pointed higher than these is pure baloney. And watch the little A/G Anglia at 16:07. Fast, neatly shuts the door on his competition. Static stance? Just a little nose DOWN. At 21:17, the little C/G Falcon wagon that sits level smokes a nose-high '58 Chebby. Remember: WINNING (not posing) is what drag racing is about.

High-quality Porsche 550 Spyder repop being happy, going to get pizza.

Very clean, great looking paint and interior.

You guys really are killing me. Saw this on another thread, soooooo...the nice postman brought a box like this today...two kits at closeout prices.

Nice score. That little 1/87 car hauler looks great too.

Looking good. Cool thing about opening the trunk is you can show off a huge truck battery that was often used for legal ballast.

Doesn't look right to me, at least if it's s'posed to be for a smallblock Chebby. Compare. The carb flanges are in the wrong relationship with the rest of the manifold and the thermostat housing...and what's that big hole above the t-stat on the yellow manifold? On the Chebby Man-A-Fre below, the hole below the t-stat housing is for the oil filler tube, other smaller holes on the coolant crossover are for water-temp sender and heater hose. Big hole all by its lonesome at the left (rear) of the Man-A-Fre is for the distributor shaft. Most kit engine makers get these things fairly OK...at least recognizable.

Just seeing that seat and interior parts pack has me dreaming of a miraculous reappearance of some of those great old kits, like the Fiat...

Yeah, I'd have to agree. The interceptor looks like the result of a night of passion between a Muntz Jet and the Cunningham Le Monstre.

I'm sure a lot of you already know, but to see tons of photos that are representative of the gassers as they actually ran, check out George Klass Remembers: http://georgeklass.net/gassers.html And though there were a few cars that sat nose-high, some even silly nose-high, pay attention to the majority. Definitely pay attention to whether the cars are launching or at rest. Also pay attention to the exact time period. As the cars ran faster (not ET, but top-end speed) through the traps, the noses came down when the cars were sitting still. This is simply because, as the car settles on its suspension AFTER the initial brutal acceleration at launch, a car that starts nose-high will stay nose-high at speed. Drive a car at 110-140 MPH with the nose in the air. The nose will just get lighter and lighter, and it will become entirely uncontrollable as the tires barely touch the ground. Push it, you can easily end up on your back, or in the next lane, or into the wall.

I get your point, but just for grins, I did an image search for "gasser". The VAST majority of what comes up is recently built "nostalgia" cars, almost all the product, again, of misunderstanding. I guarantee you...if you look at period photos, and photos of old cars that have been restored correctly to as-was condition, the overwhelming majority of THOSE will have level, close-to-level, or slightly nose-down attitudes. And the faster the trap speeds, the more likely the cars would be nose-down at rest. And probably THE most famous gasser in the history of the known universe...the Stone Woods Cook Willys. Here's the original Olds engined car, sitting level at rest. This car is launching...nose up. The suspension was specifically developed to allow it to do just that. There were some nose-high oddballs in the wayback too, but usually not running real fast under the major sanctioning bodies. ^^^ I don't see any way this thing could pass the 24"-to-crank-centerline rule...though it apparently ran legally in its where and when.

What gets tiring to those of us who actually know is things like the obviously non-supercharged cars running a blown class reg, or the endless repetition that the nose-high attitude is correct (based apparently on mis-interpretation of photos of in-period cars launching, or relying on photos of the equally endless stream of "nostalgia" cars built recently with their noses a mile high while at rest. There is no excuse for the former. Supercharged vs. non-supercharged is pretty obvious, and it's nothing to do with a hair-splitting insistence on exact weight breaks. Likewise, there are specific rule AND engineering, vehicle dynamics and aerodynamic reasons that make the nosebleed stance just flat wrong. EDIT: I don't have a problem with anybody building anything they want to. If someone wants a replica of a nose-up nostalgia car, fine...but don't present it as a period gasser when it's not. Once somebody knows what's what, then it's a personal choice as to how they want to proceed. Not the same at all as ignorance.

Though the frames are entirely different, I'm sure that in reality, at least one '50 body has been swapped on to a '55 chassis. The main differences are that the earlier chassis is significantly wider at the rear, while the later chassis has parallel frame rails. The interwebs also show the early truck to have a wheelbase of 116 inches, while the later one is 114. This is only 2 mm in 1/25 scale, and is easily adjusted. Modifying the '55 body and bed mounts on the frame to accept the '50 body and bed shouldn't be hard if you're not opposed to some careful measuring and fitting.

Speaking of which...I finally found another one of these for a not-nuts price.

I LIKE those...but man, you guys are killing me. Every time I think I'm about done with buying, somebody reminds me I have zero early funnies, or Vegas of any sort, or first-gen Mustangs.

The world is a very different place when one is in possession of facts. Those of us who grew up around these cars can be driven to distraction by the incorrect info that's endlessly repeated by people who should know better...or just keep quiet. Hopefully, you'll derive some pleasure knowing your work reasonably accurately reflects reality. To me, anyway, that's part of the "fun".

This is the layout after it was disassembled, moved, and reconstructed following Jacques' death. The folks who did it should be congratulated for saving it, but they aren't the artists that he was...few people are...and the photog who took those shots obviously has little feel for the subject. Again, to get the full impact of this guy's work, the May '62 Model Railroader is the only source I know of that shows it as it was.

Man, that's some gorgeous paint.