Has anyone done a chopped bubbletop?

yeah.... bubbletop is not 59-60 where I come from. I include 61 as well as 62-63 just cuz the top is the same, but I see what you are saying. when it was the onlyhardtop-top available there was no need for the term.

chopping any 62-3-4 chevy should be a crime. I'm not seeing how any good could come of this idea.

 

dont do it!! unless you can get the glass figured out, cause it would suck to have a lexan windshield

 

2-3" section...

 

this would be closer to 5". too much.

 

Yeah, the bubble tops were only '61 and '62. I think they are the nicest factory top profile ever produced on a car. To chop one you might as well rip the top off it with a back hoe and reattach it with a staple gun. It's gonna look like butt no matter how much skill goes into it. Hell, I can't think of any major mods that make any '61 or '62 GM look that much better. Those cars look best with subtle mods that make you have to think really hard to know just what was done to it.

 

Perfection....



Not only is it chopped, but the bubbletop was swapped.

 

The only way a chop would look good on one of these is if it were very mild, such as on Jimmie Vaughn's Cad. Here's the Olds Photoshop chopped 10%. I personally like it better stock.

 

Is this one choppeed? I think maybe so, but with stock size rear glass.

 

Huh?

1961 Buick


1961 Olds


1961 Pontiac

 

Yeah Tom....looks chopped to me too.
Look at the thickness of the roof above the side glass...maybe it's just the angle of the pic?

 

just bring it down to Mother Earth as much as possible...they look so damn good the way they are

 

Go chop something else, and leave the Bubble Tops at piece. They are rare enough anyway, fugg up something else.....

 

IMHO, a bubble top's top is what makes it such a stunner. Taking anything out of that top just takes that much away from the car.

 

I've got a '62 impala I cut the top off and installed a '61 roof. I thought about the chop idea at the time... Use the shorter impala winshield, and lay the rear glass foward. ALTHOUGH, even laying the back glass down a little might result in the "bubble " part of the glass ending up in a less than flowing location! The red and white car is chopped!

 

chop it! there are enough restored 62 chev "409" bubble tops out there that I woulld do something different and chop one of those too.
All 61 gm fullsize 2 dr hardtops, except cadillac had the same "bubble top" roof, so they are nothing special.
It was only in 62 that they carried over the 61 roof on the belaires, and lower end pont,buick,olds that made a true "bubble top".
Imo the bubble top roof is tall, the side view offers a massive expance of glass, and I think the thing to do would be to use a 62 impala windshield(2 in shorter) and chop it down a little bit.

 

I understand where you guys are being somewhat 'purist' RE the bubbletop term (Chevy only; to differentiate between the '62 bodystyle# xx37 bubbletop roof, and the newer xx47 '62-3-4 Impala 'hardtop convert' roofline), but the term has loosened up quite a bit in my observation to include all '59-61 and the '62 Chev xx37 2-dr hardtop roofline.
To clarify: the only '62 GM with this in-question roofline is the '62 Bel Air, style # 1637. '62 Impalas were all 1847s: the '63-64 'hardtop convertible' roofline.
Buick, Pontiac & Olds did NOT offer the 'bubbletop' roofline in '62.
Cadillac's last 'bubbletop' is '60; tho still coding the '61 CdV as a 6337, that had an entirely unique backlight :

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vV5GDDk4WIM/Rpnilmaq5GI/AAAAAAAADgY/1Rw9yWk3HpY/61-Caddy-Custom-002.jpg

 

As far as I remeber they did one on the boyd coddington show a while back and if my memory serves me right they chopped the top of that one. Im not sure but go ahead and check it out on google or something

 

1959/60 GM's aren't "bubble tops". That's a term specific to the 1961 hardtop roofline, which carried over to the '62 Bel-Air. All the hardtops use the same shorter windshield; the bubble top cars just look taller.

That said, I've seen the "Pro Touring" styled chopped '62 pictured earlier (the red and white car) and the proportions didn't look right at all in person.

 

Morel to this thread, DO NOT EVER EVER CHOP A BUBBLE TOP.

That would be like taking the Dagmar's off of a '55 Caddy.

Next.

 

Meh; I made the (financial) decision not to chop my B-59, but I see nothing in the least wrong with this :



With all trim in place and a real subtle cut (IIRC- this B-59's chop is only 1.5")- it looks slick & all the lines & detail are still there.

 

Let me clearify myself.

Do not chop a 61/62 Bubble.

 

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The green buick was chopped by David Guymon and he told me it was one of the easiest that he has done. The bitch part is all the stainless. This car is beautiful in person and as with all his cars the proportions are perfect. I think the chop on this car enhances the car and makes it look like it should of came from the factory.If it was chopped too much like most you see it would have ruined it just like so many cars out there.

 

David Gymon = chop god!!!

 

I guess I was 50% wrong about the 62 bubble tops, no olds or buick, but there was a pontiac:

 

There was a piece in R&C following Guymon chopping that B-59, and in there at least he detailed how he tried hacksawing, then torching, then finally using a cut-off wheel (if I have that order correct) to saw thru those A-pillars; they're triple-layer steel at least on one side. The impression certainly was it was at least tough there.
Obviously there's a minimum of pillars and all of them are covered by stainless- so that's a bit easier (stainless aside) than having wide painted sheetmetal pillars.

Agreed tho- it's perfection.

That's either a Canadian body (sure don't look like a narrow track car), or a custom (phantom ??), because no U.S. Pontiac records list a 2337 Catalina body.

http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/main.php?g2_itemId=107864 is the '62 Pontiac brochure online- no mention or depiction. I seem to recall that pic on here before being dismissed as non-factory.

 

Found this:



Copy: >>"1962 Pontiac Catalina Bubble Top-$95,000, Very Rare Bubble Top, totally rebuilt matching 389 engine.....
This car is One of a Kind. The Bubble Top was installed by Greene's Classic Cars, making this a very Rare Car, there is 0 miles since restoration. This car is a National Show Winner, and is featured in the Car Craft Magazine June 2008 issue, there is a 5 page ad which describes the build of this Rare Car."<<

Same car ??

Out of the 162 '62 Catalina Super Dutys, exactly zero were bubbletops - they were all either the 2-dr sedan #2311 or the 2-dr hdtp #2347.

 

hey losboulevardos,all the pics you showed are gms and all were 61 or 62s right?,i,ll rephraise it to all gms 61 62 bubbles,.richie.............

 

Thats what I was thinking. The only bubble in '62 was a Chevy Bel Air. And they are RARE.

 

are you with me on that james?.....richie..............