A predecessor to the modern Funny Car, Gassers were popular from the later 50's up until the early 70's.So named because they used regular gasoline instead of exotic fuel cocktails like methanol or nitromethane, gassers were typically based on old, used cars that could be bought cheaply. The cars were usually stripped out, often with fiberglass bodywork, plexiglass windows, drilled straight axles, and that nose high stance for better weight transfer.
The archetypical gasser is probably the late 30's and early 40's Willys Americar (to the point where I've never actually seen a stock Willys), but plenty of other cars got the Gas Class Treatment. Probably second most popular is the Tri-Five Chevy, usually the squarer '55's (although I've seen a couple of iconic '57 gassers as well). This one was pretty mild by Gas Class standards, more of a street/strip car with it's full compliment of steel panels, glass, and chrome. Still, it ran fast down the strip and looked awesome doing it.
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