i am thinking about chopping my falcon this winter but i am not sure whether i have seen a falcon chopped before. i dont want mine to be the first one i see.
in my opinion, it's way too easy to **** up a good car. i have seen a very few very mild jobs on hardtops that looked pretty good, but the vast majority of chopped falcons look awkward. cars with a b pillar get that high hump where the roof meets the rear gl***, and that's only accentuated by a chop. you could slant the gl***, but that's likely going to look weird (although i have thought before about the kind of early sixties mercury effect that might have on the back gl***, which could be cool). also, any mods you do beyond just a straight lid-down chop are potentially going to mess with the unibody's structural integrity. could be done successfully but you can just as easily open a big can of worms. if it was me, i'd just slam it, shave a couple of bits, get some nice caps, tires and interior and drive it. i dig falcons, in fact a falcon ranchero is the only car i own at the moment, but they are what they are. i really wouldn't chop it personally.
thanks jazzbum i did plan on shaving and slamming it. and i have a line on some steelies with caps, and the interior is almost in progress. i just wanted to know if it was something that looked good. i am gonna keep the top where it sits
In my opinion, the majority of chops are done to excess. It's as if the owner/chopper wants to just shock people on how low the lid can be.....rather than actually strive for an inprovement in the cars proportions and "flow" of the body lines. Just because something CAN be done, doesn't mean it SHOULD be done. The Falcon pictured is an example of what I am referring to. But the concept is found on any and all era of cars that are modified. Before somebody gets their shorts in a knot, I have no quarrel with the owner doing what he wants and if it pleases him, so be it. But there are elements of design and proportion that have stood the test of time and when that good judgement prevails, the majority of the observers also find pleasure in the result. Ray
imho most Falcon/Comet or even Chevy II chops end up ****. there's only so much space to work with and cutting gl*** to fit is a ***** unless you like using plexigl*** for wndows. the ONLY cut Falcon i've seen that looks good is Challenger II from the Holman Moody shop, and they had to build a custom rear deck. it seems to me, that chops only look right on pre-60's vehicles. by the time the '60's rolled around, the makers were building cars that looked like hardtops and had expansive greenhouses. that's my take, anyway.
I've cut two. A 64 sedan 5" and a 64 sedan delivery 6" I love the delivery. Sedan not so much.(sold and wrecked) I just started working on the delivery again. (no pics on this computer, i'll find some if anyone really cares.) It sounds like you talked yourself out of it, BUT if you do chop it, you need to Know its a UNIBODY!!!! You can't just chop through the post and weld them back together. If it doesn't come apart do to normal driving stresses, it will come apart should you ever wreck it. If you don't know and fully understand whats involved in any sectioning repair of structural parts of a unibody LEAVE IT ALONE! FWIW the sedan although, totaled did not come apart in any way. The delivery is going on a frame, mostly because its rear motored.
If its a 4 door sedan or a 2 door post you could chop it to use a coupe windscreen , I have seen a few utes & a delivery done over here like that & they look cool as !! I'll post up the pics if I find them !
I think it's doable. I' always thought my 63 sprint would have looked good with a MILD 1-2 inch trim. never had the cajones to do it. if you screw it up too bad you can always make it a drop top
I say don't do it. I don't have the room in my garage this winter and I don't have enough gas money or beer money to make countless trips to your garage.HAHA Although that sectioned one doesn't look that bad.
I would try a different roof line off of a 2 door hard top car of the same era if you want to customize one. a Corvair Monza has a decent roof
Here's a picture of my 1961 Futura two-door sedan in progress. The chop is 2-1/2". http://www.flickr.com/photos/lateapex/4975369935/