Whether you’re an school drag racer or drag racing follower, a hot rodding hobbyist, or just simply one with a love and affection for the art of vintage automobiles, there aren’t a lot of things cooler than a real, died-in-the-wool classic Gasser. These were vehicles based on original production cars that were stripped of unnecessary weight, the engine moved back, and the entire car jacked up with truck axles for better weight distribution, creating a timeless look and stance. It was fairly common to see them with roots blowers and mechanical fuel injection setups from Crower, Hilborn, and the like sticking through the hood, with headers exiting out through the fenders. These were the hot rodders’ hot rods, and even today they still resonate with collectors and restorers.

All images credit: Chuckles Garage

Scott Birdsall, the chief fabricator behind Chuckles Garage in Santa Rose, Calif. set off in 2009 to construct a period-perfect Gasser from the ground-up, beginning with a 1962 Ford Falcon that would adhere as much as possible to the 1965 NHRA rulebook.

Birdsall picked up the “beater” Falcon on Craiglist for a mere $200, and the project, known as “Strange Bird was underway. Plans called for spindle mounts, a 2/3 ladder frame, 9-inch housing, econoline straight-tube front axle, fender exit exhaust pipes, a 4-speed transmission, and a Buick Nailhead powerplant topped with a Littlefield supercharger and 2×4 four-jet carburetors. The hood would go and so would the interior, making this a REAL Gasser.

For the uninitiated, the Buick V8 Nailhead engines were introduced in 1953 as a replacement for the massive straight-eight engines. Hot rodders of the era began calling them Nailheads because the intake and exhaust valves were rather small and installed vertically. With a unique valve orientation and combustion chamber design, the engine had a very distinct upright look in terms of the valve cover angle.

The 401-inch Nailhead in this Falcon was originally a drag boat motor from the 1960’s. Birsdall fabbed up a custom blower manifold, had custom piston and rods made along with a stout cam from COMP Cams, installed custom valve springs, valves, and pushrods, and created the side exit headers in-house. Once complete and ready to fire, the growling mill sported original vintage Weiand valve covers, a  pair of Buick Wildcat Rochester 4-jets modified for use with the blower, a Nicson front engine cover/mount, and other custom goodies, all paired to a Buick ST400 transmission from a ’65 Riviera.The result is a look and a sound that’ll make hot rodders and racers alike salivate.

While we’d love to highlight the entire project here, we’ll just leave that to Birdsall, who took readers along for the journey in a Part 1 and Part 2 buildup of this Gasser over on the Jalopy Journal forum.