A 1955 Thunderbird gasser at SEMA 2019

The Arc Audio outdoor booth at the 2019 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) featured an unusual subject for a “gasser” style build, a 1955 Ford Thunderbird, built by Street Toys Mexico, based in Ciudad Juárez in the state of Chihuahua.

This heavily flaked candy gold metallic painted beauty converted into a roadster style body with shaved door handles and a chopped yellow Plexiglas windscreen. The bumpers are removed with a Moon-style tank out front. 

  

The Thunderbird is powered by a supercharged Chevy small block engine that sports Cobra valve covers and white painted fender well headers visible under the clear plastic hood.

The Spartan white and black trimmed interior is dominated by the lightning-rod style Kilduff shifter connected to the TH350 transmission.

The car maintains its gasser stance perched atop ribbed five spoke chrome wheels with pie-cut slicks from Coker Tires.

Founded by owner and CEO Demitrios Karabinis in 1988, Arc Audio specializes in car audio amplifiers, speakers, subwoofers, sound processors, equalizers, and electronic crossovers.  ARC Audio has more than 80+ USA designed products in their product lineup. Check them out at https://www.arcaudio.com/

The House of Kolor Drag Strip

At the 2018 SEMA show, the theme of the House of Kolor booth was nostalgia drag racing.

Henry Jaded

Dave Shuten of Galpin Auto Sports built this gasser-themed 1952 Kaiser-Frazer Henry J for owner Daniel Nelson. The car is powered by a Chevrolet Performance 572 crate engine bored out to 585 cubic inches by QMP Racing and is fed by a Holly 1150 carburetor atop a Chevrolet Performance ZZ572 intake manifold. The paint is a mix of House of Kolor Orion Silver with Teal Kandy Koncentrate, with the leaf and striping work done by Pete Finlan.

Dr. Moon’s Rage

This 1948 Anglia gasser owned and driven by Howard Moon is powered by a supercharged and injected 427 cubic inch Chevrolet engine, connected to a 2-speed Powerglide transmission and a nine-inch Ford rear end. The car is finished in House of Kolor Violet Shimrin Designer Pearl with the striping and lettering by “flea.”

Helmet display

The House of Kolor booth also had several displays of nostalgia-themed racing helmets.

Photos by the author

A pair of “Gassers” at SEMA 2017

Everyone seems to like “Old School” supercharged “Gasser” style builds with nose-high stance over a chromed straight front axle. There were two examples at the 2017 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show which were at opposite ends of the scale regarding build quality.

This 1961 Chevrolet Corvette “Gasser” in the FITech Fuel Injection booth was immaculate with beautiful paint and chromed roll bar.

 

 

 

 

This Pontiac parked outside the Las Vegas Convention Center in the Silver Lot was the exact opposite of the Corvette. Powered by a supercharged engine fitted with a Holley EFI system, it was shown unfinished without wiring, trim, roll bar, or even an interior. On the automotive market’s biggest stage, this car couldn’t have impressed many people.

 

All photos by the author    

A pair of Willys Coupe hot rods

In 1937 Willys-Overland Motors (correctly pronounced "Will-is") introduced the model 440, an economy car powered by a 4-cylinder 148 cubic inch 65-horsepower "Red Devil" engine. Although sedan, pickup and very rare station wagon body styles were also produced, the 2-door coupe body style has always been a favorite choice of hot rodders, as they wedge V-8 engines under the hood in place of the original anemic 4-cylinder engine.

The author found a pair of beautiful Willys coupe hot rods at the Moraga (California) Community Faire car show held on May 13 at the Rheem Valley Shopping Center

This all-steel 1941 Willys ‘Americar’ coupe owned by Mick and Elaine Coyne was built in the drag racing gasser style, nose-high, with a huge supercharged big-block Chevrolet engine and fenderwell exhaust headers.

Wayne Baker’s 1940 Willys 440 coupe  hot rod was parked directly across the parking lot. Baker built  his Willys in a different style, low and smooth and in a unique fitted with the original style chrome bumpers.
 

All photographs by the author