Nice weekend to chop a 34 5 window coupe.

Welded up the driver side and did some more grinding and sanding today so Greg can take his baby home and play with it some more. Still to do are weld the cowl strip solid and fine tune the door gaps. Also a little bondo work. We worked at a casual pace and so far I have 50 hours and Greg has about 40.

Here is how the top of the B pillar looked when welded and ground.



A couple of pics of the inside of the door.

 

We retained the upper inner structure. It helped keep everything lined up when pulling the top half of the A pillars and it helped keep the windshield opening lined up. The curved part had to be cut along with a bunch of strengthening creases so that it could be bent up and attached to the roof. The cut areas will have some patches added later.



Here is the driver side front corner welded up ,ground and sanded. I will post some pics later to show how we tackle the door gaps.

 

love it .....

 

Love the Willys peaking over the cowl of the 34. Neat picture!

 

Eh, I dunno...I think it needs another 3/16 or 1/4 inch more taken out of it...hahaha...looks great man, and no doubt worth the hours you guys have put into it...

 

Fantastic job, that car looks tougher than a two dollar steak.

 

Awesome job...thaks for the updates and pics on the chop. We all know how time consuming it is and then add the fact of taking pics and writing about what your doing....very much appreciated!

 

Really nicely done and documented! Thanks for sharing Kev.

 

I am impressed WOW! Thanks for taking the time to showcase your talents and give us a step by step account of this amazing chop! This of interest to me as I am going to be re chopping a 34 3 window. I got this car with a 2"chop It looks silly! im going another 3" for atotal of 5" Im definetlly using some things learned here to get the job done!

 

Killer! Always wanted to see how the A pillar/cowl area was handled on the "layed back" style of chop. The guy that owns it has to be one happy camper. Thank you very much for posting. Still pissin me off, California boys choppin a top OUTSIDE in November/December .
Have a good one, John

 

Wow, I would have never thought of all the work that goes into a chop on a 34 5W coupe. Kev thanks a ton for posting this up. I learned a lot, you guys make it look easy. Maybe some day I will get the chance at chopping one Thanks again!
Brent

 

Like I said earlier, this is not the only way to lay the posts back and I'm sure it is alot less work to not cut the cowl apart but we like the way it looks done this way. I found some more pics of that Sam Barris chop from earlier in the thread. I will scan and post them soon. I also have a magazine article somewhere showing a 34 5w chop where they split the roof above the door and moved the front section forward. If I ever find it I will scan and post it too.

 

thats friggin awsome man!

 

Hey Kev I would love to see what the Sam Barris 34 looked like when it was completed! I noticed on one of the captions it said it was on the cover of r&c?

 

Hey Kev I would love to see what the Sam Barris 34 looked like when it was completed! I noticed on one of the captions it said it was on the cover of r&c?

 

I love these threads,always interested in how the top is blended back to the bottom again. I've done a couple of Tudors but no 33/4 coupes yet. The info is stored in my memory bank. Thanks for doing this for us.

 

For cutting....a torch is permissable but not advised due to rough edges

 

I think cutting cowl makes the chop look much more natural. If you have a hundred hours what's a few more hours. Looks great what an improvement.

 

I would be scared to death to start a chop with what they used back then(torch). Those guys had balls, but i guess you could afford a mess up or three when 33-34 bodys were probably $50.00, intead of $8000.00.

 

Nice work Kev, I like the realistic approach to metalfinishing.
That said, gaswelding is a bit unusual these days.
Be good to see it once finished and painted.
Mart.

 

I love gas welding. The standard way to weld sheet metal for years. As you can see old habits die hard! This was taken about 32 years ago. I forgot to mention what a big influence the Nov 73 Rod and Custom magazine was to me. The chop top issue. Jake was chopping his 34 and it was his first chop. I was very impressed. Small world because he was at my BBQ a couple of years ago. He is way at the top of my hot rod hero list! That magazine was full of traditional stuff, right in the middle of the resto-rod trend.I loved it! Even smaller world, when I came on my first trip to the USA I attended the Western Street Rod Nat's in San Jose. I was 19 or 20. I was asking around trying to bum a ride down to Santa Barbara, someone said ask the family in that motor home, they are going to Santa Barbara. So I did and they gave me a ride, it was the Fooses, same guy who did the hammer welding story. I ended up staying a couple of nights at their house, VERY nice people! Chip was just a kid and I couldn't believe the artwork on his bedroom wall! I was lucky to meet his younger sister Amy who later died of Progeria. Even Smaller world, years later when I got married it turns out my mother in law was in Sam Fooses high school class.
......



My first chop, '46 Chevy pickup. (don't tell anyone about the uneven windshield shapes). My first few chops left a little to be desired. You never stop learning this shit.

 

I bet this is the 34 in the Barris chop article, see how the posts have a point added on the cowl.



Most look like this one. They all look good to me!

 

Kevin for president!!!!!!!

 

What did I ever do to you!

 

Whatever it was it must have been awful. I'll make up for it by nominating you for "most coveted garage on the HAMB"...................that should make you feel better.

Frank

 

Damn i just read all 12 pages of this thread and..... Wow im speechless.

This is one of the most coolest thigs ive ever seen.

 

i ment that with the utmost of respect

 

Great job Kev! Thanks for posting this thread.

 

Awesome work kev!!