63 Vette Gasser, Completed

[Drag Monster]

Started a new project, AMT 63 Vette with modified Miss Deal chassis. Wheels and Tires from parts box.

[willieman]

I had this same idea...Will be watchin' yer progress   

 

[Draggon]

I dig this. That Miss Deal chassis is incredibly universal 

[willieman]

1 hour ago, Draggon said:

I dig this. That Miss Deal chassis is incredibly universal 

It's basically the same chassis as the 55 vette.

[Snake45]

Nice start, but I'd lower the nosebleed stance of the front end to at least level. Jacking the front end like that kinda defeats the slick aerodynamics of the Sting Ray, especially the more you get over 120 mph--which such a car should easily be capable of. 

[Truck parts]

That's going to e a great looking build

[Metaldrumm]

Looking really good so far weather or not youre going for accuracy is up to you ,if not leave the stance right where you got it its yours to enjoy!?

[PARTSMARTY]

On 7/5/2018 at 1:36 PM, Draggon said:

I dig this. That Miss Deal chassis is incredibly universal 

x2

[vintagercr]

I like it 

[Drag Monster]

Finished interior modifications and my choice for the motor, just waiting for the humidity to drop so I can resume painting.

[Spex84]

Wicked  Looking forward to seeing more! I love the wheel/tire package.

 

[Vettegasser]

Very cool

[crossfire 2004]

On 05/07/2018 at 7:36 PM, Draggon said:

I dig this. That Miss Deal chassis is incredibly universal 

Fits real nice under the AMT Thunderbird too.

 

[afx]

The Vette is coming along nicely.

[Drag Monster]

Chassis and engine almost complete. Body and hood ready with base coat.

[Rat Roaster]

You ignored the unsolicited advice. YAY

[fordlover632]

I like it

[smhardesty]

On 7/5/2018 at 7:45 PM, Snake45 said:

Nice start, but I'd lower the nosebleed stance of the front end to at least level. Jacking the front end like that kinda defeats the slick aerodynamics of the Sting Ray, especially the more you get over 120 mph--which such a car should easily be capable of. 

Snake, the reason for the "nose to the sky" stance of gassers dates back to the 50s when gassers game into their own. They ran narrow slicks made of very hard rubber compounds. Gassers produced way more horsepower than the hard slicks could handle via the beefed up positracs. Lots of things were tried to transfer as much weight to the tires as possible. Raising the front end raised the crankshaft centerline and on launch transferred the most weight to the rear tires. The engines were also set back as far as current rules allowed. Lots of guys hung heavy rear bumpers on the cars and even added concrete filled pipes as bumpers. I'm sure there were a ton of tricks that were never made public.

As for any aerodynamic concerns, there wasn't much work along those lines at the time. Besides which the advantage of weight transfer FAR outweighed any advantage a car might realize aerodynamically by lowering the stance. 

One further note. Some guys can't figure out why the back ends were so high. That was simple necessity. The guys couldn't get the slicks under the car with the rules in force so they "jacked up" the rear ends to clear the slicks.

 

EDIT: After rules changes, some guys continued to jack both the front and rear of their cars simply for nostalgic reasons. They still benefit from the weight transfer and don't lose enough aerodynamically to be a concern.

Edited August 25, 2018 by smhardesty

[High octane]

Don't think that you would need much weight transfer with a fiberglass bodied car, would you?

[smhardesty]

The engine weighs as much as the car! LOL! Get that engine weight transferred to the rear!

[willieman]

First topic in this section is a list of rules from the 50's n 60's....Might wanna take a look.   Also, Google gassers from the same time period...Tons of pics...Just my 2 cents.

[boss 302 mustang]

Back in the day, the cars were level when standing still, but would lift the nose on acceleration.....think 90/10 shocks on the front so a lot of lift and little rebound,  The pictures of the cars in motion give the wrong idea of the stance when parked.

[Vic Florie]

They did use to raise the front of the cars back in the day to the point that the NHRA made a rule in the mid 60's that the engine couldn't be higher

then 2 feet from the ground to the center line of the crank. That being said it's your model do what you like.

[smhardesty]

There is really nothing wrong with the stance of your car, Bill. Here are just a few photos I found really quickly that show that many of the gassers over the years DID in fact have a "nose in the sky" stance that met rules for whatever era they represent. The link is to a discussion on the jalopyjournal.com website and the quote is directly from Wikipedia. I added the bold type to emphasize the reason for jacking the "nose to the sky" as it was often called. The cars were not necessarily level at standstill then raised during acceleration. The cars were very deliberately and intentionally built with the front ends as high as they could be without breaking the current rules at the time. No, not every gasser was built jacked on either end. There isn't a specific rule that required a car to be, or not be, raised on either end. There were rules that limited the amount of lift on either end. For more on gassers start here - http://gassermadness.us/

 

"Gassers are based on closed body production models from the 1930s to mid-1960s, which have been stripped of extraneous weight and jacked up using a beam axle or tubular axle to provide better weight distribution on acceleration (beam axles are also lighter than an independent front suspension), though a raised stock front suspension is common as well. Common weight reduction techniques include fiberglass body panels, stripped interiors, and plexiglass windows (sometimes color tinted)."

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/gasser-question-why.188361/

 

 

 

 

[Drag Monster]

Starting to see some progress. Most of chassis and interior done, paint on body is cured enough to start working on detailing it.