Hot Rods Chopped tops . . . . .

Love the car, HATE the owner's attitude. !!

 

????? what the hell did you say??????

 

My 32 is chopped too much in my opinion, but being that it was done in 59 and the chop/build style fits the time period perfectly I wouldn't think of changing it. I will simply be it's caretaker in the style it was meant to be.

 

It looks like bobbed rear fenders too. I like it.

 

Hi,....., wow !!PETE EASTWOOD,.!!! interested in my thoughts on chops,!!!....that's way cool!![emoji851]
First thought that came to mind was generated from a mag article about P E power spinning his ' 32 - 3 W C 180 degrees to turn around in an alley!!! That's a cool maneuver!!

Second thought ,..based on something I'd read,....,
P E built a '34 frame for a customer,(? T Prufer?.. Cop shop coupe !!?)
Who when he ( Prufer) looked at it stated something along the lines of ,.." well 1/2 of it looks ok",... at which point P E cut the frame in 1/2 &, flatly stated " which 1/2 do u like..,!!
Yea!! , Ya gotta dig that [emoji851]!! I did!!

Sooo,.. Somehow ,...it took all day to digest the 90 ,or more, response comments & thoughts posted,..!,..
for me to get thru to my conflicting third thought..


Hotrodding generally tends to not b subtle ,..
or mild ..
or practical!!

Badass chops generally r not gentelmans chops.

Badass Hotrods r not generally gentlemans Hotrods.

I gotta respect a guys opinion who's an accomplished builder of many badass cars & driven many miles in them!!

So..in sorting the thoughts..,
........Im for a top chop that looks correct , in proportion with the body, & has at least adequate visibility &, headroom, & elbow room...,& ... a good seat with springs , where I'm not getting backaches/ neckaches ,Ect., ...,
I'm for enough chop where the chop makes it's statement ,..
Hotrod,..
Driver,..
Badass,..
not ,..as the young guns might refer to it ,.."!!Stupid"!!




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Carefully using the "rat" word......it looks like a rat chewed the rear fenders.....badly done bob job unfortunately.

 

I agree. That's the rule used on my cpe. 3 1/2" on the B pillar a bit more front and rear

 

I'm almost 72, 5'10", vision isn't as good as it was and my back is bad cause of car and plane crashes. My Model A (avatar) is not a Lexus but I LOVE driving that hotrod!

 

I've had Folks ask my why I only chopped 1.5 inches out at the A pillars. Proportions baby. Any more and it would have looked smashed. The top always looked to tall stock. Still in progress.

 

It's all in the proportion, the correct or appropriate relationship between the size, shape, and position of the different parts of a hot rod or custom, this Merc is perfect!!!

 

Mine's 3.5". I'm comfortable inside with buckets on Speedway seat tracks.

 

I'm hope'n this turns out bad ass

 

There's the secret formula... if it makes you car's ass look too big, then the chop is too severe! Gary

 

I like the 25% window, 75% body side proportion on most cars. Just keep the drip rails if it came with them. Most cars look funny without them.

 

For the record my "A" Tudor will get a 5" chop. It being an "A" and being a sedan frees up some room and puts the windshield where the driver sits at about 7 1/2"-8", which my first one was 35 years ago. I used to be 6' 1" and due to back problems it's more like 5' 11" 1/2 now which will also help. It'll be a fun 100 mile radius car, can't see myself going 500-1000 miles in it, like back in the day. I'm just a youngster at almost 58 in a couple weeks , but have managed to beat the crap out of my body for most of that. Oh yeah, welcome to WI.

 

After 2 hours in my Model A I need to exit that machine, get back on my feet and stretch, gett'in old!!

 

If your hot rod ends up in a ditch, upside down and on fire, would it be a good idea if you could crawl your fat ass through a window opening to escape?

 

Its pretty much been done as far as how much or how little. I try to keep an open mind to all and it probably evolved with the wind and speed as factors and migrated to the street. Its a personal thing to what one likes. Chops are a fact of Hotrod/Custom Culture and there really is no rules...except the laws that would disqualify at track or street...

 

King bees as well, period perfect. Could be a very slick, distinctive car, Are you going to re-do the bob?

 

this sums it up, as soon as something becomes trendy, the attention whores show up, and things get more and more outlandish, and eventually the trend topples over under its own weight.

 

Two big cultural changes for rodders in the last several decades:

Street rodders, the ones that get into magazines and become exemplars at least, have raised the bar greatly on radical mods and on craftsmanship...but not necessarily on taste or driveability. The cars we see on magazine covers are very often over the top, and usability seems to be very low on the list of concerns. Sculpture, not cars or racers.

Second, in traditional times rodders and their cars were pariahs. If a headlight was too low or a muffler too loud, the next cop along would be DELIGHTED to meet you. Remember the cop in the cartoon in HRM?? "excuse me, Sir, I need to go back to my car and get another book of tickets."
Now, every cop in the country owns a Harley with no mufflers and is sometimes a streetrodder as well. Driving past with deafening exhausts, 1/2" of road clearance, and 2" tinted winshield will get you a thumbs up.

 

Some of my thoughts on this.
In the golden era of hot rodding that we all appreciate on this board (40s, 50s, and 60s) I'm guessing the average age of the guys driving hot rods was in the mid 20s. I would also guess the average age of most on the HAMB is mid 50s. Guys that drive hot rods were/are looked upon as hoodlums! So doing something that your Mum wouldn't approve of was usual. They wanted their cars fast and loud. Customs were more about aesthetics, improving the looks and making it look sleeker. As we get older we tend in most cases to mellow, we don't or can't do those things we did back in our youth. I think that comes into play here. The number of comments about making it harder to see the lights etc out of a hard chopped car means we aren't prepared to put up with that stuff any more. Some of us still feel like a twenty something trapped in an older body. I'm 58, and always try not to act it. I've always seen hard chopped hot rods as mean and sinister. I chopped my coupe 5". I took time to get the quarter window to flow right. I don't think it looks over chopped. Yes it's hard to see the stop lights, I squint through the hole where the windshield wiper should be! That inconveniece is more than made up for by the thrill I get driving my hot rod and feeling like a hoodlum! I've included a picture of my coupe for inspection. Excuse the too tall front tyres, and the fact they are radials, these are my winter wheels/tyres. I use Firestones in the summer. I drove it to work today. It was cold, 18 degrees, and notice it doesn't have side windows, but it was fun. I know I'm alive when I drive it. Yes I'm an old fart but I refuse to act like one! Along with the comment " if the music is too loud , you're too old", " if it's not chopped hard, you must be a restorer".
None of this should be taken too seriously.
Cheers,
Stewart.

 

I kind of like this one, maybe if it were chopped another 2"I would really like it. Well probably not another 2" would make it a roadster.

I think that we have actually posted a couple of race cars or race styled cars and in that instance for me a top that is hammered to the max is good. My problem is that anything I own competition inspired or not has to get driven. Well not really a problem, driving them is what they are for. But where it stands for me is that daily driven cars are not show cars and are normally not as extreme as weekend cars. You get no show points at the Walmart.

 

Pete, I am with you on the heavy chops that the RB have built their business on. I appreciate their work but their style would not suit me or my needs in building a Hot Rod. I have owned a 3 window coupe chopped by the master Steve Davis and a Deuce sedan chopped by a backyard builder with a gas torch. Both were chopped mildly 2 1/2" and 3" which still provided a comfortable cockpit and good visibility. As we know, the owner dictates the style of his Hot Rod and while heavy is not what I like, there are many who have to have the latest "Badass" look in their builds. I like all styles of Hot Rods but I am very conservative with the chops.

e
Steve took 2 1/2" out of the top and slanted the front posts back.

Chopped 3" in the 50's by a back yard builder with a set of torches. Perfect welding and proportions.

I thought this one you chopped had the perfect proportions for a sedan.

 

Many years ago I pinstriped a chopped 50 Merc for a guy ( he was about 5'6"-I'm 6'). When it was done he asked me to bring it to his house. When you put down the visor (it was sunny) you couldn't see anything-almost hit the dash. Drove it to his house but was very nervous. I would not have wanted to drive it much farther.Maybe after time I would have gotten used to it.

 

Some guys just think they want to get their moneys worth. They think a 4" chop is worth more than a 2" chop because it is more noticeable.

 

This is my 34 with a 4 inch trim job


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My 32 sedan is chopped 3.5 and I really like it. My 32 3 window is hammered like 6.75 and I love it..Vision is great in it. Too me any chop needs to have the seat set up just right or it sucks, no matter if it is 2 inch or 6 inch. If you are not setting in it right you can't see out.

 

1957, my pal Wimpy bought a chopped '32 Five window in Oakland.

Ad read: '32 Ford hot rod coupe. No fenders, full race Mercury engine. Top chopped 4-1/2".
$550. Firm.
Wimpy jumped at it! His Dad drove him up there (45 miles) and he looked it over carefully. Exhaust was made up from flex pipe, and a hole was acet. torch cut thru the frame on both sides, just above the last 4" of reveal, with 1.5" of flex pipe showing...IHCHH! But Wimpy used it. Got the guy down to "Five and a Quarter!" (Wimp's words)
The windshield was MORE than adequate, in these 16 year-olds' eyes...we thought it was Beautiful!
Engine developed a miss, I checked it and said the right head had to come off...(I couldn't WAIT to measure this 'Full Race Merc'...)
Burned valve, adjustable tappets...they were ALL tight...I adjusted them, and replaced the valve, ground the seat and all was good.
The Full Race Merc was 3-3/16" STD, X 3-3/4". Whopping 239" of raw stock Ford stuff.
Pots & heads, cam was a 'race type' bases were ground WAY down. Didn't remove dist. to check.
But the chop was perfect. Inner jambs were ground and finished, just as the outside. Only welds visible were around the insides of the sheet metal at 'C' pillars...
I always envied Wimpy, my '32 Five window was not chopped.

 

I'da made a fast back out of it and painted it black.