Here is one that should fit the program, although it is mild. The car is a 30 plus year old restoration, and is totally stock other than a 12 volt conversion. The owner wanted it chopped but not radical. I talked with him over a two year period and he was nervous about cutting it, and this was also one of those deals that the previous owner said he would sell the car as long as he didn't cut it up. The plan was made and he brought me a really nice photoshop pic of it. The first thing I did was to lower it 6" in the back and 5" in the front with shackles and added panhard bars to help with the sway. It actually rides and handles pretty well. Next I lowered the trunk handle and license plate 3 " and laid the plate forward. To make this work, I had to cut down the trunk latch which was a challenge in itself. Once he was ready for the chop I started to check door gaps and body lines and found the left door line to be 3/8" below the line on the quarter panel. We pulled the carpet and started poking around and found the rockers and floors to be patched to death from rust and covered in tar. Needless to say we replaced all the floors, rockers and bottom of the cowl before we cut the top off. The basics of the chop were 1 1/2" out of the windshield, the c pillar was sliced vertical and angled back about 1" for a better flow. The big change was 3" out of the crown and reshaping the bubble over the rear window. This took the high hat look out of it. The door glass stainless and vent windows only needed minor reshaping and the rear window trim stayed the same other than moving it down 5/8". The stainless around the back had to be lengthened about 1" on each side. The other request was to not have it look to fresh. The paint was only redone from the belt line up and the painter did a remarkable job of making the new match the old. The final piece of the puzzle was when he took it to a local show where the previous owner who is well into his 80's was going to be at. He figured well there isn't much he can do now about his old car being cut and brought him over to see it. The response was amazing, the guy loved it and throughout the day kept bringing friends over to see the car. It was a great feeling. A lot of people don't even realize what has been done, but the ones who know how ugly these tops were really love it.
Wow! Beautiful, beautiful car! I really dig the approach you took on this car. Just perfect. Nice job!
Good looking fleetline! Have any non-edited pictures of it? Not sure about those late taillights, but what ever floats your boat.
I like the tail lights.......but i dont love them. im going to get one more summer out of the car before i tear it completely apart and re-vamp a whole bunch of things. havent quite figured out what ill do for the tail lights just yet. absolutely open to suggestions.
The car overall looks great, I really dig the paint. I think a chrome grille, losing those side mirrors, and some taillights set into stock bumper guards would be killer. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
And drop the rear end an inch or so. I'd also go with the tails-in-the-guards suggestion, or possibly make your own Lucite lenses to fit the curves in the rear panel. Basically keep the theme you have now, just get away from the flat motif.
Yep side mirrors are getting tossed this weekend. Going with 53 54 mirrors I have in my stash. I like the lights that blend into the curves idea. Im going to give that one a think or two. And as for cleaning the whites.......honestly I like my beigewalls hahaha. They match the wear the paint has. They're sears allstates. Originals, not re-pops. Came out of a warehouse. Before I got them (for nothing) they hadnt seen daylight in over 30 years. Have had them on the car for over a year now with no problems.
Hey, I'd rethink the runnin of 30+year old rubber at ANY speed! It'd be a big shame to stack up that fastback '' Shev-o-lay '' when a front tyre walks off the job. I'd try and cut and buff the paint again, to pull up more shine from the clear, but even the oem tail lamps wouldn't be a giant step backwards.
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