Bob Perkins says, “It’s probably...
Bob Perkins says, “It’s probably the best unrestored drag car in the world. It’s 100 percent unrestored and as-raced. Ohio George took good care of it.”
One of the most enigmatic Mustangs of all time was Ohio George Montgomery's "Mr. Gasket Gasser," which still survives today in the hands of restorer/collector Bob Perkins. Built in 1969 for Ford's drag racing program, the body is fiberglass and the frame is a modified '33 Willys. Straight axles were de rigueur on Gassers, bolstered with Logghe front coilover springs and a Ford 9-inch rear end.
"I could adjust the loading at all four corners," Montgomery tells us. "The chassis was way ahead of its time." Under the hood is a Boss 429 with twin turbochargers.
Montgomery revolutionized the NHRA's "Gasser" class in 1967 with his "Malco Gasser" '67 Mustang fastback. Previously, he had been winning with a supercharged '33 Willys coupe. Running elapsed times in the high 8-second range at about 160 mph, his record-setting Willys caught Ford's attention in the early 1960s.
Montgomery remembers getting a call around 1964: "Ford wanted me to do a 289 program but I wasn't interested in that. So I kind of let it go at that." Running supercharged Cadillac and Chevy small-blocks in his Willys, Montgomery was on top of the drag racing world. So he stayed with GM.
The pair of Schwitzer turbochargers...
The pair of Schwitzer turbochargers reside in this compartment behind the radiator.
"Then I got beat at the 1965 Nationals," he explains. "That devastated me because I was used to winning. I had to make a change, so I called Ford back."
Once again, Ford asked Montgomery to run the 289. He was more interested in the 427 Cammer. Parts were scarce at that time, but to get Ohio George into the Ford camp, his contact, Charlie Gray, managed to round up some 427 Cammer pieces.
"Gray put me in the Lincoln-Mercury group," Montgomery adds. "At the time they also had Fast Eddie Schartman and Dyno Don Nicholson."
Montgomery began running and winning with the 427 Cammer in his Willys. But Ford wanted him in a Ford body, not a Willys.
"I went to one of the Ford racing banquets and Charlie Gray was bragging about the Willys whipping all the Gassers," Montgomery says. He recalls that one of the Ford executives was named "Frey," most likely Donald Frey, one of the product planners on the original Mustang.
Montgomery remembers Frey's comment: "Don't we sell Fords?"
"Frey wasn't impressed with the Willys because it wasn't a Ford body," Montgomery adds. “So Gray told me to build a '67 Mustang Gasser. I asked him how was I supposed to do that. He said, 'Just do it.'"
The Hurst shifter mixed the...
The Hurst shifter mixed the gears to the Ford automatic transmission. However, George did not have to shift. Ford T&C (Transmission and Chassis) engineered the automatic for ease of use. “I just put it in drive and stood on it,” George says, noting that the shift point was set in the 7,000-7,200 rpm range with the tranny shifting twice.
With advice from the NHRA, Montgomery lengthened the Willys frame to fit a '67 Mustang body. When he rolled the '67 Mustang—the world's first late-model Gasser—into tech at Bristol, Tennessee, for the Spring Nationals in 1967, the inspectors were confused.
Before then, Gassers had been 1930s to mid-1950s production cars, like Montgomery's previous '33 Willys coupe or other flying lunch boxes like the '55 Chevy. On these wild rides, Roots superchargers were common, along with mechanical fuel injection, straight front axle, fiberglass body panels, stripped interiors, and flamboyant paintjobs. Montgomery's Mustang broke with tradition but still fit the technical rules of the Gasser class. The tech inspectors eventually deemed the car legal. But with glassed-over headlights and grille with a slick body, the '67 Mustang held an aerodynamic advantage over Gassers based on antique car bodies.
For 1969, Ford asked Montgomery to update his '67 Mustang to the new Mach 1 body. In early 1968, Ford Special Vehicles loaned Montgomery one of the two available '69 Mach 1s to make a body mold. The job took three weeks. Montgomery remembers the Mach 1 came back with traces of fiberglass still on the corners of the expensive prototype body. (Current owner Perkins says the fiberglass body has Ford date codes and engineering numbers).
Initially, Boss 429 engine parts were not available, so at first Montgomery ran the proven 427 Cammer. However, Ford wanted a Boss 429 in the car because it was the latest big-block in the company arsenal. Like the 427 Cammer, Montgomery's Boss 429 was originally planned with a Roots 6-71 supercharger.
The clamshell front end tilts...
The clamshell front end tilts open for easy access to the engine. Perkins says, “You’ve got to be careful when tilting the front end to keep from chipping the paint.”
Car Craft readers voted Ohio...
Car Craft readers voted Ohio George as the best Gasser driver two years in a row for the All Star Drag Racing Team. The Mr. Gasket Gasser also won the NHRA award for best-engineered car in 1969 and 1971. The second time was for the new twin turbocharged Boss 429.