I've got a 49 coupe.... I love a coupe bodyline, but the body is pretty much junk. rusted, bondo'd, patch panels on every panel, floors are a little rusty, but have had a new piece of sheetmetal ... its been worked, and re-worked a couple of times over. some good bodywork,,, some not so good. It looks good from a distance, but there isn't a straight panel on it. I've also got a 49 tudor. its never been touched. Body looks great, steel is straight, almost entirely rust free... I got the coupe because I want the coupe, but the more I work on it,, the harder it is to keep going. I keep finding more and more ****. twisted doors,,, quarter panel patch panels welded over smashed in old quarters I can only keep one. I feel like I need to focus on the tudor since it is so much more solid,,, but a coupe is *****in... What do you think??
if you're going to chop it, sell the rusty coupe and focus on the tudor sedan. i think it'll look much better than trying to chop a coupe with the short roof. if you dont want to chop, sell both and get a better business coupe. you can get them, so dont waste the time battling the rust... let some other brave/dumb soul have that fun -scott noteboom
If you want a coupe, sell em both and find one that's solid. As mentioned, their still out there. If done right, chopped coupes look good in my opinion. The longer area between the trunk and the roof make them look ultra sleak and a bit more unique, unfortuneately, there have been too many hack jobs that give chopped coupes a bad name.
I would go with the 49 tudor just because it sounds like it would be easier to focus on getting the project on the road. I understand though that your coupe is your baby,your dream car if you will...so its a tough call. It can be frustrating getting deep in the muck of an old car that's been worked over so many times..but they do say, "the things worth having are worth waiting for." So if your patient maybe the coupe is "worth" all of the beating yourself over the head, if you want a quicker result go with the 49 so you're not doing so much body work and clean up of other people's mess. Or like mentioned above you could take option "C" and sell both for a much straighter coupe project..
IMHO coupes should not be chopped, they look great as is. sedans look great chopped but not so much stock. get what you WANT, you'll never be sorry.
Sell the coupe and use the money on you sedan. Personally, I like the sedan better. They look great even unchopped.
If a shoebox can be sectioned then I don't see why one could not receive a top transplant???? Sure it would be a ton of work but that's what kustomizing or hot rodding is all about. I've seen DeSoto quarters graffed to a Chevy or Ford...a lot of work BUT still done. Just a thought.
Yeah it could be done, I was going to convert my coupe to a sedan, but I dont think they are that hard to come by yet where it would warrant that type of work. You see a lot of 4 to 2 dr Merc conversions, but a rusted out 2 dr can fetch $5k so it makes sense. Coupes can look good cut, its just gotta be done the right way. Mine I cut 4" front and 4.5" in back, but did it on a really ****ty rusty body, didnt think it would come out well. Well, it did, but I lost my shop so I sold it...the chop was straightened out (we had like 1.5 days into it) and it came out really well. A nice coupe on here is 00 Mack's coupe. He has a thread "My favorite shoebox"...go check that out for a nice chop. Was around the same as mine, 4 area up front, 4 or so rear.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51724&highlight=favorite+shoebox Looks good, here's mine (again), yeah, I'm a little biased...
I'd rather have an unchopped coupe. Could you save it by swapping parts over from the tudor, and then selling off the dregs? I didn't read that you plan to chop either one. If you do, I am a**** the believers that a tudor makes a better chop than a coupe.
Tudors all the way!!!!!! I love a chopped tudor because you can cut them low and still have great proportions. A coupe can only be cut in the 4 and 4.5 range to look good. Its way harder to chop a coupe and have the proportions work out and still look good. I plan to cut my '51 tudor 5.5 and 7. I'll take your tudor if you choose the coupe.
chopping is what i consider major metal work,so at that point,I would save the coupe and sell the tudor.if not for a chop,I say broom the coupe and build the tudor.
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