Technical Making head room in a heavily chopped coupe

Haha!

 

Definitely traditional, think Stepdown Hudson. My MGA had plywood floor boards attached to the inside of the frame also. If positioned correctly the little Guide prisms do a good job of making traffic lights visible. I've also used my wifes little make-up mirror in an emergency.

 

Another thing to think about, not all 5'10" men have the same length inseam. You sound real solid on the look/chop you want, but an inch less chop might make a much better driver, (read less chop,more fun) Make it comfortable and safe for yourself to drive.

 

You can do all the stuff you are planning but at the end of the day vision is a factor of windshield height versus distance back from windshield.
Most other changes will turn out to be cosmetic and provide only marginal improvement at best.

Stick to straight flat roads and no problems, it is the up hill stuff that I found to be the worst and of course traffic signals.

I do admire your dilligence all the same and what you are doing has got to help...

I guess that is why slant windshields came into being as well as guys cut out the header panels to gain a little.

 

I was thinking more about this today while on the way to work. Even dropping just the area around the pedals might help a bit.

What I really need to do is have the wife measure my length ***-to-noggin, and foot-to-knee when I'm seated in another vehicle..just to see where optimal would be.

 

very good points, thank you.

 

3 in chop, 3 in channel over 3 in tubing, seat 1 incn off the floor in back 2 in in front, I can see o k but its tight on the staging lights........... not a coupe but the same in the front

 

A heavily chopped car is hell to drive, have owned one and driven many, think hard about driving it, not about how it looks with you in it. Its your car, but its better to own a car you like to drive rather than a car you can't see out of. Lighten up on the chop for the first build, rechop it later if you're still convinced you want the look. Been there, done that. Good luck with the build.

 

Are those little viewing prisms legal
where I live you must be able to see the traffic lights without a prism or you get put off the road

 

I have never heard of anybody being told they are illegal buy the police. Not where I live anyway.

 

This "A" coupe is owned by a friend....it has a T-5 in the **** pit, with floor under. He drives the wheels off it. Pic is from Torque Fest 2013.

 

On my unchopped model A tudor, I ended putting the front spring back to stock eye and lowering my seat about 1 inch trying to achieve better vision.

It seems part of the problem is caused but firewall recessing which then pushes the legroom thing back, plus most of us are little taller or longer in the legs compared to the guys in the 1920's & 30's etc...

It is a little scary racing down a steep hill not being able to see anything up the road coming in the other direction or the speed of cars travelling in the same direction, it sure helps reduce your braking distance with limited long distance vision.

 

Thats because you live in America.. you may as well not have laws in comparison to what we have here..

 

Here is a pic of a "T" with a dropped floor. On my modified, I put the master cyl. under the seat, and dropped the floor lower.

 

I've never understood the chop, channel, & drop 1" tube on top of the ch***is. It's easy but robs another inch. I've fought for 1/4" sometimes to get things to fit. Ill be damned if I'm gonna squeeze me to fit. That's one I've the reasons I got a Vicky. The doors are the biggest and the floor is dropped.

 

This pic is the interior of my '32 sedan with a 4" chop. The seats are early Mustang with stock seat mounts on a stock location floor. I'm 5'11", old, portly and I don't sit "straight-legged". The car is very comfortable to drive, the only visibility problems are a result of rake. With some forethought anything is possible. I'm aware that a '32 is a little bigger than a Model A but the principle is the same.

 

Good luck with finding a solution. I saw a guy at last years Round Up and he was squeezed/poured into a little bobber truck. It was the funniest thing I had seen in quite a while.

 

Gottdamn right, Merica !!!!

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All good comments. I always wanted a "cl***ic" heavily chopped and channeled coupe. A neighbor let me sit in his heavily chopped/channled 34 coupe. The seating was comfortable, but you sat so low that I literally could not see the front wheels or anything of the car past the dash rail. The "mail slot" rear window was useless, rear view was possible only through a small "peep" mirror. Lessons learned: Consider the view low and out the front, the sides and rear. Ride or sit in a car close to what you are considering, you will learn a lot. Good luck.

 

Sometimes, cool is a pain in the ***.

 

Well, I guess my 34 is going to be a useless pain in the ***!

 

It's gonna be cool as hell first though!
Then who knows. Your first few miles will tell you the rest of the story.

 

I don't care what anybody says,that is one of the toughest looking coupes I've ever seen.
Sometimes driving the baddest car on the block means being a little more dedicated,that's all...

Scott


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It'll be the kind of pain I'll get used to! Heavily chopped cars aren't for every one thats for sure but my policy is "To much is never quite enough".

 

If you plan on choosing comfort over style you might as well buy a new Cadillac.

 

I think you can have both, it's just a bit more head scratching and extra work without going to a new Cadillac. But a ctsv was on my "Santa get me" list.

 

I was expecting to read you were 6'3'' or so.
I didn't read where you said how much you want to chop it.

IS heavy 4,5,6?

My coupe is chopped 4" and was on an A frame, unchanneled. I am an even 6 foot, and have about and inch and a half above my head. Cant see the stop lights, but that is fine.

I used a caravan seat sitting ontop of the stock riser with a piece of 1" tubing under the front to tilt the seat back a tad. I have the seat even with the front fo the risor, I trimmed back the package tray about half its depth.

I am currently putting this body on a 32 frame.

Althought I didn't put a lot of miles on the A ch***is, in driving it, I only had one two things I didn't like, because I sit low and back in the car when I drove it my head is right beside the pillar, and you can't put your arm on the door sill cause it is so high......that may be a joke to others, but it does irritate me actually. The other is the seat is aways back in the ****pit, getting into it, as in fitting your *** between the wheel and the door frame is a little tight, but then to have your seat be way lower and further back is a little more harder getting in and out.

In an A it is a tight space already, to not be able to rest your arm outside the ****pit DOES make it feel a little tighter compared to driving a stock A.


I unless you are going 6 inches or so, I doubt you need to drop the floor.


With all that said.......CHOP it anyway!

 

That's a kick *** looking 34! In a couple years we'll have to together and ***** about our bad backs and kinked necks.

Maybe a L***ale flathead one day, that's probably as close as I'll get.


This was bugging me, so I went out and did some measuring. I need 32" from the seat, and with a seven inch chop (which I believe is close to those pictured in the first post). I chucked the stock riser, and at just above the subframe level I have a few inches (3-4) of headroom. Not bad; and I seem to be close to center on the windshield.

The kicker I think will be the drop from knee to foot, which is about 18" over about 19.5" front-to-back (optimal), although even a small drop would probably help quite a bit.

Thanks for the pic, This is right in line with what I was thinking. Looks great.

 

A heavy chop screams race car, and so does a transmission in the **** pit. It gives a hot rod a raw mechanical look. The floor under the transmission is as much for the look, as it is for more interior room and comfort.