“Gasser 7” went on this past weekend without the featured guest of honor. But at the age of 100, and after a series of “Camfather” events celebrating that milestone, Ed Iskenderian can be excused for not feeling up to yet another appearance.
I chuckled when I saw an “Isky” cutout on the dais. So he was there in image, and likely in spirit, and other stars of the era, including “Hot Rod” Bob Beck, Robert “Bones” Balogh, Jerry Mallicoat, Bob Muravez, “Fast Jack” Beckman and former NHRA vice president Steve Gibbs were on hand to share stories of the “gassers,” the nickname for a class of drag racing vehicles that, well, let’s let Gibbs define them:
“A gasser is basically a stock body car that’s been modified with a high performance engine,” he said. “In a way they are early Funny Cars and you would see a lot of Willys or cars from the ‘40s and ‘50s where some were injected, some supercharged, but all were the earliest hot rods on the drag strip.”
Anglia turned Gasser
’52 Henry J
This Henry J Gasser is blown and injected
Gasser 7 Fest, as the event was labeled, took place at the recently renamed Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum, near the runways of the LAX airport in El Segundo. The gathering featured the cars that were popular in drag racing, and especially so during an era known as the “Gasser Wars,” from 1956 to 1968.
Thousands of spectators flocked to drag strips, including the 1965 NHRA Nationals near Indianapolis, where “Big John” Mazmanian’s ’41 Willys and Doug “Cookie” Cook’s Stone-Woods-Cook gasser battled for the A/Gas championship. Cook won with a pass in 14.20 seconds at 116.53 mph.
With short wheelbases and front ends lifted higher than stock to enhance weight transfer to the rear, the cars looked top heavy. Bodies were striking with flamboyant paint schemes in metal flake, pearls, and bright candy coats of paint.
The cars were known as gassers because they ran on regular gasoline, no nitro, no nitrous allowed. Some referred to them as street vehicles on steroids.
Howard went into his archives for a few photos of Gassers at the strip
A guy at the show called “Squid” — he’s also a docent at the museum — told us about his ’46 Ford Woody, which is powered by an LT Corvette engine:
“I belong to Santa Barbara Woody Club and we have shows up and down the coast all year long. All I had to do when I acquired the Woody about 6 years ago was to wax the heck out of it.
“I also have a ’59 Impala wagon that I won Best of Show at Goodguys, a ’60 resto-mod Corvette with a LSII engine, and a ’69 Camaro Z28.”
Best of Show honors at Gasser 7 went to an “over the top” ’49 Anglia with a 426 Hemi putting out 600 horsepower for its owner, Wayne Jenkins.
We all missed “Isky,” and wish him well — oh, and we enjoyed his birthday cake.
Gassers weren’t the only drag cars at the show
From the Great Race
Top Fuel cars were there too
Top Fuel cars are loud (check the video below)
PS: If you want to see these vintage gassers in action, they run at the California Hot Rod Reunion and March Meet at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, as well at the “Nitro Revival,” November 6-7 at Irwindale Dragstrip.
Before the Gasser gathering ended, some of the dragsters took part in a cacklefest:
A completed Hot Wheels was unveiled and another contestant qualified for similar consideration as the 2021 Hot Wheels Legends Tour staged a virtual stop this past week.
Unveiled in 1:64 scale was the 1970 Pontiac Trans Am that won the Legends tour in 2020, thus earning Riley Stair the right to have his home-built car turned into a toy for all to enjoy.
Winning the most recent and virtual tour stop was this Nissan 350Z
Hoping to follow in Stair’s tire tracks is the most recent tour-stop winner, Ashley Robinson, who won for a customized 2003 Nissan 350Z coupe. The car had been wrecked but Robinson brought it back to life with an exoskeleton mimicking the car’s original body shape.
The redo also featured twin turbochargers for the sports car’s engine.
The next stop on the Hot Wheels Legends Tour is scheduled as a live event September 18 in Houston, Texas.
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The New York Times recently published a full-page article on how museums will need to reimagine themselves and not only survive but thrive in the post-pandemic world. No. 3 on the list of 10 suggestions was “Join together and co-produce.”
And that’s one of the things the Audrain Automotive Museum in Newport, Rhode Island, has done as it links with the Newport Historical Society in a dual exhibition. Through August 22, the Audrain features “Women Take the Wheel: Fashion, Modernity and the Automobile 1900-1945.” Meanwhile, “The World in Motion: Fashion and Modernity” is showcased at the historical society, where the focus is on fashion and features a previously unknown collection of clothing and accessories owned by women from the Vanderbilt family.
The New York Times recently published a full-page article on how museums will need to reimagine themselves and not only survive but thrive in the post-pandemic world. No. 3 on the list of 10 suggestions was “Join together and co-produce.”
And that’s one of the things the Audrain Automotive Museum in Newport, Rhode Island, has done as it links with the Newport Historical Society in a dual exhibition. Through August 22, the Audrain features “Women Take the Wheel: Fashion, Modernity and the Automobile 1900-1945.”
Meanwhile, “The World in Motion: Fashion and Modernity” is showcased at the historical society, where the focus is on fashion and features a previously unknown collection of clothing and accessories owned by women from the Vanderbilt family.
At the Audrain, historic women’s clothing is displayed with a dozen vintage vehicles.
The 1941 Cadillac Series 67 Vanderbilt limousine is paired with a tailored red silk suit belonging to Hattie Carnegie of New York
The motorcar helped push for more every-occasion clothing
Women Take the Wheel
1936 Auburn 852 SC Boattail Speedster with 1925 Polychorme silk paisley evening coat with gold brocade
However, these exhibits aren’t just a show of cars and clothing but are designed to demonstrate how the motorcar changed women’s fashions and how women influenced the automobile, said Donald Osborne, the Audrain’s chief executive.
“About everything a woman of the middle class or above wore in the 1880s wouldn’t allow her to even sit in an automobile, let alone drive one,” Osborne explained. “Women’s fashions were transformed by the automobile.”
Consider bustles and hoops, said Rebecca Kelly, visiting scholar at the historical society, who also pointed out how materials used in women’s fashion changed, with more lightweight fabrics being used with the coming of the motorcar.
The motorcar not only liberated women to venture out into the world, it also provided options in what to wear.
But influence flows both ways, Osborne pointed out.
“By the 1920s the automobile had turned from a great luxury toy of the very wealthy to a useful utilitarian object, and as we see (in the exhibit), the automobile had to adopt style and fashion, and women were more involved in decisions about cars,” he said.
Gilmore Family Day features pre-war cars
Later-day Berta Benz appears read for a drive at family day | Museum photos
Slot car track among family day features
The Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan, hosts its annual Congress of Motorcars – a showcase for cars produced in 1942 or earlier – on June 26, and this year that date also will be Family Day on the museum’s rural campus.
“It’s time to inspire the next generation of car enthusiasts,” the museum notes as it announces Family Day activities that include rides in vintage vehicles, $1 hot dogs, interactive exhibits, including a slot-car raceway, a build-your-own-miniature-car exhibit, and more, including children’s pedal cars to drive for those who fit behind the wheel.
“Holding the Gilmore’s Family Day and Congress of Motorcars together on the same Saturday in June helps us bring automotive history to life for children,” the museum’s executive director, Josh Russell, was quoted in the announcement. “Families should consider joining us for this fun, educational, and memorable day, as we celebrate the first 50 years of the automobile, and share the stories of generations of automotive pioneers and enthusiasts.”
A parade around the Gilmore campus of the vintage vehicles, including those powered by steam, electric batteries and petroleum, is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Special events this weekend
When part of a family purchases one adult ticket, Dads will be admitted free at the Newport Car Museum in Rhode Island through June 23.
The Owls Head Transportation Museum in Maine plans Father’s Day weekend car shows June 19 and 20 from 10 a.m to 3 p.m. each day. The programs includes not only a car show, but aircraft demonstrations and biplane rides.
The REVS Institute (Collier Collection) in Naples, Florida, plans a Hoods-Up event staring July 19.
The AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, will host a “Sizzlin’ Summer Cruise In” from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. on June 19. Among the event features will be a visit by Jimmy Rosen, his book on vintage gas stations, Got Gas?, and his 1947 Plymouth, and a Studebaker and Tucker parade.
Hello, I’m Paul Page: It’s Race Day in Indianapolis and its authors, Paul Page and J. R. Elrod, was to be featured from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on June 19 at Autobooks-Aerobooks in Burbank, California. However, the event has been postponed until September 25.
There are more than cars to see in Beaulieu, England, home to the National Motor Museum. From June 19 to August 30, the Beaulieu Palace House will showcase more than 250 sculptures in its gardens and inside the Montagu family home. And June 19 is the date for the annual Simply VW show.
The Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, not only offers free admission for dads on Father’s Day, June 20, but free Vault tours as well. The museum also will have three local food trucks on side that day — Steaming Goat sandwiches, Coco’s Italian pizza and Bradley’s Creamery ice cream.
To celebrate Father’s Day, the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles will open the hoods on a dozen vehicles, among them a 1947 Cisitalia 202 Coupe, 1989 Batmobile seen in a pair of Michael Keaton movies, a 1952 Ferrari 212/225 Barchetta, and a 1956 Jaguar XKSS formerly owned by Steve McQueen. The hoods will be open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.
The Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California, hosts a Father’s Day car show on June 20.
LeMay – America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington, will do a Hoods-Up event June 18-20 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily for Father’s Day weekend.
Vintage customs and hot rods featured
Pop-up vintage clothing
Beaulieu and its National Motor Museum and the Solent Renegades club co-host a Hot Rod & Custom Show on June 20. The event includes the Vintage Pop-Up marketplace with retro fashions, housewares and automobile accessories.
Mark your calendar
Night to Remember performs June 24 at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum’s free summer concert series in northeastern Indiana. Subsequent performances are scheduled July 29 by the Hubie Ashcraft Band, August 26 by Big Caddy Daddy and September 23 by Whoa! Man.
Van Halen 2, a tribute band, will perform at 8 p.m. on June 25 on the Gilmore Car Museum campus in Hickory Corners, Michigan. Funds from the $20 admission charge go toward K-12 educational tours of the museum and the Gilmore Garage Works high school training program.
The North East Motor Sports Museum in Loudon, New Hampshire, hosts the Nor-Eastern Pontiac Club for an outdoor car show on June 26.
The Miles through Time museum in Clarkesville, Georgia, hosts its fifth annual car show at the Old Clarkesville Mill from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on June 26.
Autobooks-Aerobooks in Burbank, California, features author John Zimmermann and Lost in Time: Formula 5000 in North America, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on June 26.
LeMay – America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington, launches a new exhibition, “Alfa Romeo: Born from Passion” with a brunch with Italian Flair from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. on June 26.
The Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan, plans another of its live concerts for 8 p.m. on July 10 featuring The Spazmatics, billed as the “ultimate ‘80s tribute band.” Unlike other such events at the museum, this will be a “walk-in” concert with visitors asked to bring folding chairs or blankets for the event.
The British Motor Museum at Gaydon hosts the BMC & Leyland Show on July 11, a gathering of British Motor Corporation, British Leyland and Rover Group vehicles. Celebrated this year are the 50th anniversary of the Morris Marina, a Historic Rally Display by the Historic Marathon Rally Group and the Mini Cooper Register, and a display of emergency service vehicles.
It’s “Simply Vauxhall” on July 17 at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, UK, where Vauxhall vehicles will gather for a show. The following day, the museum hosts its “Simply Ford” showcase.
The inaugural North East Motor Sports Museum rally-tour Around the Lake is scheduled for July 31. The event begins at the museum in Loudon, New Hampshire, and will take scenic roads to the Vintage Racing Stables car collection in Sanbornton. the event is limited to 1972 or earlier vehicles.
With so many events canceled in 2020, the British Motor Museum at Gaydon will turn the Gaydon Land Rover Show scheduled for July 31-August 1 into the 50th-plus-one anniversary for the off-road automaker. “We’re looking forward to having a belated birthday celebration,” said show manager Tom Caren.
Does your local car museum have special events or exhibitions planned? Let us know. Email larrye@classiccars.com.
A Carlisle Ford Nationals-record 3,241 vehicles were registered for display this past weekend in Pennsylvania, where Carlisle Events reports, “With the roar of engines, the shine of paint and the smell of car care products plus an amazing array of classic and collector cars on the National Parts Depot Showfield, the energy level of the event was very noticeable from 7 a.m. on Friday, June 4 until the final cars loaded out on Sunday, June 6.”
It seems obvious, not only from such a turnout at Carlisle but from events being held across the country, that car enthusiasts are eager to emerge from the coronavirus lockdown.
Below is a photo gallery showing just part of what took place.
Fords, Fords and yet more Fords
Strope Bronco display
New Bronco draws interest
This Ford GT was used to produce car sounds for the ‘Ford v Ferrari’ movie
Batmobile
Dragula
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Hailie Deegan.
was on hand to meet her fans
Next up for Carlisle Events is the annual GM Nationals scheduled for June 25-26, followed by the Chrysler Nationals, June 9-11.
