I appreciate your input. I took pics of your son's car along with many others when I went down to plan the chop. There's many ways to do this, judging by what I see here. All I'm worried about is the final result, and I havent seen anything come out of his shop I wouldnt be proud to drive. As to all the welding, he welded on the new quarter, that weld is damn near as long as the one on the roof, and its fine. Also, I gave him the quarter, I got it off Ebay, and when i got it it was bowed. It aint now. As far as the length of time its taking, I see 8 guys in that garage in the HAMB chop. Charlie is a one man shop with a helper. Also I told him I was in no hurry. The car sat in my garage for 3 yrs without being touched, so I'm not worried about a few weeks.
As far as future plans, I'm going to paint it a flattened blue, like this: I found a 63 bird with a complete interior, I got the front and rear seats and I'll put those in it.I'm still pondering wheel/tire combos. Then I'm having a Roll Bar/Cage put in it and I'm going to race it for a couple of years. I got out of racing 5 yrs ago and I miss it. I'm moving to Sarasota in a few months and they've got a great track there so I'll be happy.
HA HA HA! There were alot more than 8! I just was showing that the roof was basically left alone. They made two cuts in the front,right above the A-pilar. I really want to see it when he's done. If his other work is as good as you say,you should be happy...
When you Chop a Roof you need to make up for the difference in width. There are 3 ways of doing that. -Cut the Roof lenghtwise down the middle, and weld in a strip. 2 Welds for the entire length of the Roof, all the Warp in the place that is hardest to reach ( to get your arms around, with a Hammer in one Hand and a Dolly in the other ) And you are smoothing out the spot on the Roof which has the least Crown, which also makes it harder. -Not Cutting the Roof at all, but bending and slicing the Pillars untill they line up. This means you have to adjust the angle of Window Tracks in the Doors, and Chopping the Winshield down to fit is a lot more critical as well. This is also the way which makes the Roof look the smallest and the most round, which to me personally doesn't look as good. -Or the way I do mine, and Rickkane's guy does his. 4 Welds down the entire length of the Roof. No problems with the angles of the Window Tracks, or the A Pillars ( so only the Top of the Windshield needs to be cut ) The Welds are where they are the easyest to reach ( right at the Edge ), and where it has the most Crown. And the option to change the Crown of the Roof, and the Height of the Top of the Winshield if you want to. Mine has no relief cuts or overlapping Metal in it anywhere. Yes it was more work, but to me, it was worth it. And the Owners of the Cars were happy too... So its really only a matter of choosing the way that suits you best...
I see your point about the windows. I can also see what you mean about putting the work areas at the rain gutters. It would be pretty hard to hammer and dolly a strip down the middle of the roof,HA HA!
Me too. I was really torn about slanting the door posts when I saw this one, but I didnt want a direct copy of somebody elses car. I like the wheels and tires too. I was in a junkyard 2 days ago and they offered me a set of 16" chrysler wheels with silvertown wide whites on them. They say they'll fit on my car but i'd like to make sure. Can anybody tell me if they'll bolt up? I just want them for rolling the car around. If I like the way they look I'll get new stuff. Also, I've got 2 good fibergl*** fenders for a shoebox if anybody wants them. I've given up trying to sell them.
I dunno about big differences, but I really wanna do a Badbob/Fordolee chop on one. IMO its the best roof ever done on a shoebox. I did not however know that Hewey Lewis was Bad Bobs son!
That's ****in hilarious!!! My son just asked me who Huey Lewis is, LMAO!!!! He's just a funny kid.... And to be perfectly fair, it's a Todd Zimmerman(Fordole500) chop,so I take NO credit at all. He did a great job...
Well Bob, ya better put your gl***es on then! The photo angle of the Zimmerman chop, and Charlie's arn't even close to the same. Any time a Shoe is chopped, the roof panel begins to take on an "Elephant-Man" kinda look if the crown of the roof isn't addressed. Some like the look, some don't, it looks like Charlie don't. Vertical B-posts, look as criminal on chopped shoes, as they do on chopped '49-'51 Mercs. All that work to get a good flow in the Sail- panel and A-post shot to hell by a damned tent poll of a B-post! Compare the Ayala/Bettancourt Merc to the First Barris Merc, and tell me I'm snortin' bleach? S****ey Devils C.C. "Meanwhile, back aboard The Tainted Pork"
You're snorting bleach. It's different strokes for different folks. Slanted B pillars look kick*** from a side profile, but make the roof look stupidly short from front 1/4 angles as well as sometimes rear 1/4 angles. Even gives the quarter windows a stubby look. My thought is sacrifice a little flow from the dead on side profile for a car that looks good around the 360 degrees of view. I did just chop my 51 Merc with straight B pillars tho, so I might be biased.
Chops looks good, but that looks like a ton of work (then again, you get what you put into it, right?) nothing beats the look of a chopped 'box!
I agonized over the B pillars. To slant or not was literally the last decision made. What finally tilted me to the slant was when Charlie told me I could slant the pillars and still have an operable back window. I dont know if I'll make it operable, but I probably will.
Unionville, I think ya made my point for me!!! It's the balance of the quarter window shape to the canted B-post, that makes the all too critical flow possible. Hell, I think I could coach my wife through a chop with jus' a vertical B-post! Cuttin' the posts, and jus' movin' the lid foward won't get ya a well balanced chop, although it's done out here on the Left Coast everyday!!!!Sadely. S****ey Devils C.C. "Meanwhile, back aboard The Tainted Pork"
Actually the shoebox that is on this message board(black with flames) was not chopped by Tod Zimmer-whatever!!!!! It was chopped by a friend of mine named Chris Johnnson. He use to live in the high desert and sold the car. Pretty much all the modification you see on the car were done by Chris "Emperors" car club. Just thought I'd put the truth out there since people always try and claim all the custom **** they did or do and they didnt!!!!!!
You don't have to have canted B-pillars to keep the proportions right. Check this out: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=239775 I know it's a 50 Pontiac, not a shoebox, but when I chop mine, I'll do it like this. It keeps the original lines and looks like a factory job. Best damn chop I've seen on here or anywhere, and I've looked at a ton of them.
I've been pretty slack about posting unfortunately. We've had plenty of progress, none of it on the chop or body though. The car went back to Charlie ****erfields shop to be fitted with rack and pinion steering. I gave up on flogging the stock box, or tying to find a Volvo unit. Complicating the install was my insistence on keeping the stock column and steering wheel, along with NO POWER STEERING! Charlie made it work. We got a rack out of a Pontiac Sunbird that fit pretty well and used the fatman kit to hook it up. I built the engine for the car 3 yrs ago and stuffed it into the corner of the garage without ever running it. I pulled it out over the holidays and built a test stand and ran it. Worked Great. Its about a month away from hitting the road. I am undercoating it as we speak and will put the rear axle and gas tank in it tonight. I finished the front brakes last week. The body work will have to wait till later in the year.I'll post some pics tonight
Rick....... you got a few guys just chomping at the bit here to see how the car is coming along.... I hope you have do***ents (Photos) of your steering installation... These really help in determining how Im going to do my 50 Shoebox........ Rich North Jersey
Rick..... Seems like there is a bunch of Posts on Chopping the Shoebox Ford, but thats where it ends.... So I was thinking since you are still in Project Mode..... How about going a little deeper into your Project. After I wrote my last reply I had some thoughts and would really like to see a "How To" on your window installation... Not only the cut and fit of the windshield but how you will handle the installation of the door and quarter windows... I would like to see how you will handle the sloped post and the manual or power that will raise and lower the door gl***.... I think that a bunch of guys could benifet from seeing how you will do yours.... Thanks Rich North Jersey
Very cool post. Really interesting way to chop the top. I haven't seen it done like that ever even thought I know other guys have. Cool to see something different. Can't wait to see more about the car as it makes progress.
Heres some pictures as promised. It seems I've forgotten how to post pics so they show in the body of the post, but I'll get that squared away. Heres how the car looks now.
Heres the Engine Test Stand - Not quite finished. I've got about $300.00 bucks in it. Here is my son about to get his eyebrows seared off. I've also gone and put bear claws on the car. I'll get pics of the Rack and Pinion tonight. Im having the gl*** put in next week, Ill try to get pics of that.
This looks sick. I am trying to figure out how to come up with a Merc i have been watching for along time.
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