You're right; there's not. It's more of wanting to see if I have the skills to pull it off successfully than not liking the 4 door.
I have helped on one of these conversions. The best way to do it is 2dr doors AND B Pillar. GM spot welded these in. then the rear door becomes the skin for the back
Ive seen this one naked. Converted more door. I understand your conundrum. I have a more door merc and a two door parts car. You just have to decide it you want to do the work and if the final result is worth it.
4 door hardtop 1961 impala SS clone! The unicorn that has been discussed for years around here!....several have believed they saw one back in the day, we can never get definitive proof, except Chevy brochures...
It looks like the front door would have to be lengthened about 10" to make it the same as a two door door. The only other immediate weirdness I see is that the back edge of the four door front door is V shaped to accommodate when the rear door opens. I did a little surgery on paper and it looks like the body lines would end up in about the same place.
So looking at this in a little more detail. The B pillar looks easy enough to move and the metal work on the doors I’m not too concerned about. It’s the little detail stuff on the windows I’d have to figure out. These hardtop windows have stainless trim attached to the gl*** that seats into the hardtop seal. The back trim has to be shortened which looks easy but the front windows would need a piece added in. Not sure how I’d do that and make it look nice. Same with the stainless trim cap on top of the door. It holds the window fuzzie so it needs to be there. I’m going up to my buddy’s place next Saturday to strip some stuff off the parts car. I’m going to bring back a door and will get a better idea if this is going to work or not.
I think you might find that the trim on the tops of the side gl*** is actually chrome plated steel, at least it is on my 61. (2dr hardtop). Is your plan to make the front doors the same length as a production 2 door hardtop? The repops are $66 per side at Show Cars;
Great info, thanks! That's the goal; from what I can tell the difference in length between a 4 dr hardtop front door and a 2dr hardtop front door is 10".
Hey all, I’m starting up a You Tube channel called Savin’ Junk where I’m going to post videos on this and other car builds along with other projects and how to’s. So if you watch this video again or any upcoming videos, please hit “like” and “subscribe “ below the video!
i had a 62 cad ‘sedan de ville’ four door hardtop. same exact roof and window line as the ‘coupe de ville’ two door hardtop. only difference was the length of the front doors and placement of the B pillar.
Interesting! I think either Olds, Pontiac, or Buick had a 61 or 62 two dr hardtop that used the same bubbletop as the Impala. I saw a transplanted roof from one done on a 61 Belair and it looked pretty well done.
Wow! Great job! On both the metal work and the video! FYI --> in 1961, the Bel Air was also available in a 2-door BubbleTop roof. All three (Buick, Olds, Pontiac) did use the same BubbleTop roof in 1961 as Chevrolet. They also used the "Cadillac" roof on the upper scale models for Buick and Olds.
The plan is to lengthen the front regulator track and have a longer piece of gl*** cut, and shorten the rear. I’ll probably mock the gl*** up with some 1/4 plywood to trial fit it.
Sorry for some really bad goofs in that video! Lol! Note to self; watch and edit before you post. Somehow I got part of it in slow motion and deleted the ending. I'm kind of changing my mind on a few things here; I saw a picture of another 61 with a black interior and really liked it so I'm thinking of going that route. Maybe keep the same outside color, not sure yet. I'm also tossing around some ideas of some kind of custom front grill. Maybe piece in something from a Mopar or Mercury from a similar year?
Pat, wonderful project. I did a 64 2 dr post years ago. Took 3 cars to get one finished, typical northern rusted out vehicles. While I am certain that you have checked the rear body mounts, I thought it might be prudent to mention how those boxed in mounts collect everything and rust away sagging the vehicle in those corners. I noticed in a trunk shot that it appears there is something going on with the right mount popping thru into the trunk. Might just be the camera shot but worth a modest mention to save you the aggravation later down the road. Challenging build, glad it is you doing it and not me. HA
Thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to check out the video. Absolutely agree on the body mounts but thankfully these are all in good shape. The guy I got it from had wire brushed the whole underside of the car and hit it with POR-15 several years ago. Your 64 sounds cool; I'd like to see a few pics of it. You get so many people who are like, "If you want a 2dr why not just buy one instead of doing all that work?" They don't get that the point IS doing all the work. It's not that I'm just dying to own a 2dr 1961 Chevy so I'm going to take the easiest route to get there. It's the process; the planning, the calculating, the exercising and increasing of your skills to reach the end and feel the satisfaction of accomplishing a difficult project. That's wherein lies the enjoyment for me. Yeah, I could probably afford to take out a loan, go to a cl***ic car lot and buy a finished 2 dr. But for me, the enjoyment is in the process of the build. Then I'll take it to one of the cl***ic car lots, put it up for sale on consignment, and someone else can buy it and enjoy it while I build the next one.
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