Henry J gasser drag cars aren’t exactly something you see everyday. Gassers in fact have largely gone by the way side with the exception of a few collectors who still buy and build these examples of drag racing’s wild past. The concept of a gasser is simple, get the front up in the air to aid weight transfer on launch, reduce weight to extreme measures, stick in a huge motor and a big supercharger if possible, then go fast. All amenities are spared because you don’t need them to go fast. Gassers were hugely popular the 1950s and 1960s. They are the early ancestors of the modern funny car. Today we’ll take a look at one particular gasser, the Grape Ape. It’s a sweet Henry J that when we last saw it was nothing more then a box of rust. However with some time, fresh paint, and effort the result is one cool example of what a gasser should be.

I was fortunate despite the high sky to get several quality shots of this beauty and lucky the crowd at the show was not too thick yet which meant I could get all the right angles so hit the jump and check out the rest of it.
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