Model A coupe chop vs. my height

I've been hovering around a Model A coupe and I need to tell the seller if I want the body sooner than later. Problem is, I'm 6 foot, and I would do a hard chop if I get the coupe, probably in the 6 inch range. Am I gonna be able to fit in the dang thing if I do it? I'd like to log some miles in it, but "comfortably". Here's a pic of the direction I'd like to take after dressing out the surfaces. Late 40s salt coupe (sorta)

Any advice for chop vs. your height would be helpful

 

i say GO FOR IT !!!!!!! deal with the pain later. if it come's out looking half that good you'll have something there! i am 6 foot..... i chopped it 4" and channeled it 4".... it's a squeeze but you get used to hearing the snap-crackle-pop when you get out of it after a while!!! LOL good luck, mike

 

I am 6 foot two inches ... so I understand your concern. I do not like them chopped that much ... myself ... I think restraint is the word ... about 2 inches maybe 3 at the most ...

I like them chopped ... but NOT looking like they are chopped to the casual observer ...

But it's your Model A ... sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do ...

 

You photoshop guys kill me that is ****ing awesome.

 

"comfortably" is a realtive term. Relative to what each person is willing to put up with. Your not going to know until you've done it or at least sat in similar car.

loudpedal has logged a lot of long distance miles in his Model-A, so it's been done.

 

I'm six feet even. My '31 is chopped 4" and channeled 4", and it's a tight fit. I wind up looking through the windshield at about 2 1/2" below the top edge. And this is sitting on the floor. Be prepared to sit on a very thin cushion and have a less than optimum view out the windshield. P.S. the distance from the floor to the roof is 36".

 

I'm 6 foot even and I'm chopping my A coupe 4". My suggestion is; chop it a little (4"), get in it, check it out - if you want it lower, wack off some more - it's your call. As far as long range driving in a tight cab - some guys have a higher pain tolerence than others.

 

Well, I too am a 6 footer and 59 years old, so ergonomics is important...so design it where you can be as comfortable as you can make it, 'specially if yer gonna travel in it. As for my car, which is unchanneled, I'm whacking the roof 3" and will have some headroom (not a lot...some), sitting on a bench seat of my own design, and should be able to stretch out to full leg with the seat all the way back...at least thats how it pencils out.

 

im 6'3 and fit in my 6in channeled pickup i say youd fit if you dont channel it if i would have chopped but no channel it would be the same room

 

I once drove an A coupe that was chopped 6". I'm aprox. 6' tall and was AMAZED at how much room there was. My p***enger was 6'4" and he also fit well. It was NOT channeled, it was on deuce rails. I wouldn't have been worried about driving it everyday. If I were building one, I wouldn't chop it that much, because I like them a little taller, but I could and I'd be fine. The seat was from a Dodge Caravan. The seat will have a lot to do with how well you fit. If you're building it yourself, make sure you position the pedals carefully. You just have to build it around yourself. The roomiest coupe award might go to the 26-27 T coupes...even chopped severly, they have great space.
Sounds awesome. Good Luck,
John Joyo...

 

I agree with JunkieVonJoyo - as long as you don't channel, you should be fine. I have a short friend with an A coupe chopped about 4 inches AND channeled another 4 or so inches, and I can ride in it as a p***enger but I could NOT drive that car comfortably (I'm 6'3"). If it were chopped 6 but not channelled, I'd have 2 inches more room and at your height that should be fine. You really might want to try sitting in the car with a seat mounted and tape on the windows and windshield and see what you're willing to put up with. I ended up chopping my '53 Chevy an inch less than I planned after doing that.

 

I'm 6'2''. My last ride was a '34 Ford pick up...Channled 6" and chopped 5". Pretty much sat on a plywood and foam seat about a half inch off the floor. Grinned everytime I drove it, even on the hundred mile between stop drives. The p***enger (my wife wasn't that happy till she saw how much folks loved it! Cut away son......

 

Why not try something different and DON"T chop it! What is wrong with a stock height roof? It will stand out in a sea of squashed tops. Remember you can change the shape of the coupe but the human body is doesn't change. You still have to bend and fit. I know hotrods aren't meant to be plush and cushy but, whats the point in building a car that is a pain to drive? Take a piece of cardboard and cut it to fit inside the car. Set up your chosen seat and fit the cardboard overhead at the height you think you'd like. Sit in it several times over several days and decide if thats comfortable. Not just a height that you can fold into for two minutes at a time. Move it up and down till your find what works for you. Cars have been built and sold after a lot of work, time, and money because the builders didn't build a car they were comfortable in. If you plan some long seat time this is even more important.

 

Also depends on your other size.

If you are a BIG guy and tall you can't bend as well

I am 6'2" and 180 lbs.
I took 8 inches out of my 29 P/U and channeled it 3.5" and i fit really good in it ( just having pedal issues)

There is some really good and sound advise here in HAMB land .

Take time research what you really want to do and go for it.

 

My '31 coupe is chopped 3 1/2"...the leg and head room is ok, but the visor seems to block traffic lights, street signs, etc...a lower seat might help, it's still the original.

 

Mock the car up.

Build the seat or set up the seat you plan to use.

Then decide how much chop you want.

What's gonna be involved here is how your torso length compares to your leg length.
A lot of guys are about the same height sitting down and the disparity between their heights is seen when they stand up.

I realize that 6" is a bad-*** chop and a lot of guys want a bad-*** looking car, but aiming toward the subtle side can pay dividends.
A 1" or 2" chop would be noticeable, but most wouldn't really spot it.
They'd know something was done, but probably couldn't put their finger on it.
And . . . it would be a little different from all the other chopped A's out there.
You gotta ask yourself if you really are a one of a kind guy or a follower of the latest trend.

Aside from retaining interior room a not-so-radical chop is an easier sell if and when you decide to sell it.

Ergonomics is probably the single most important thing to work out in a hot rod.
At least it is in my opinion.

Friend of mine built a very nice hot rod, well done, great drive-train, the whole magilla.
He chose poorly when he grabbed up the first pair of bucket seats that came around and he chose even poorer when he put the pedals in.
He couldn't stand to drive the car more than a half hour at a time.

It wasn't just him either, I drove it through two towns and a longish highway jaunt when I helped him move.
Geezuz . . . never again.
For me or him, he sold the car and built an A roadster with reasonably well done ergonomics and it's a fun little car.

Why bother to build them if you can't stand to drive them?

 

I chopped my Tudor 5" and there is plenty of room, a coupe would be tighter of course but I'm under 6' anyway.
The car has to look right first, worry about comfort later.
Love the picture of that red coupe, it blew my mind!!
Good to see another one up on the rails.

 

For ONCE it's good to be only 5'6!

Mark

 

Yeah, this is a tough one, since I don't have the car (yet) to mock up. I guess I coud opt for two other details. Leave the roof off. Or do a roadster.

 

Hey, if anyone could engineer/design the interior to fit a tall guy in a chopped car it'd be you right?

I think if you start with an empty interior you ought to be able to position yourself to fit, but then if a short guy/girl needed to drive the car it should probably be adustable to.. that little windshield may be a hard target to hit just right with your line of sight, and then a short dude would be staring at the dashboard without a booster seat.

 

Roadsters have their problems too.

When my 32 was first up and running I had a set of RodTin re-pro 32 roadster seats in it.
Trouble was, it put my line of vision just over the top of the 2" chopped windshield.
Air flow went up and over fairly well, even so, tip your head back too far and another ball cap is lost to the road gods.

I built the seats in the 32 and they're working out fairly well.
Leg room could have been improved by utilizing a thinner back cushion and/or setting the back cushion into the trunk area a ways.

The 31 roadster on 32 rails project I'm doing now uses a two p***enger seat from a mid-90's ChryCo soccer mom van.
With the new base mocked up, the seat tips up in front a bit and the rear cushion is almost in the trunk area.
Since the seat is manually adjustable over a 7" range, the trunk area will be firewalled off so the seat can go back into it a little ways.
Right now it's about right for me - @6' tall and 32" inseam - as far as legroom goes and the seat height has me looking right through the center of the 2" chopped 32 style windshield frame.

The seat is very comfortable and p***es the garage vroom-vroom test just fine.

As far as my 5'2" wife driving the car, we'll have the upholstery guy make a square 4" thick cushion upholstered to match as we did in the 32.
That works well for her and doesn't take up much room in the trunk.

One good part about a roadster is, if you run a top you'll want a little bit of a wedge to it.
Partly for style and mainly so airflow pushes the top material down instead of ballooning it up.
If you need another inch or two of headroom it's easily attained by raising the rear and middle oak bows up a touch.

Take a look at the two pics I've attached.

Kinda hard to tell how well I fit in the first one cuz I'm releasing the E-brake.
There is room to bring the top down another 2" - 3" if preferred, but I like it the way it is.

The 2nd pic compares my chopped 2" 32 top with my pal's un-chopped 29 A.
His top proper is a little higher overall, but especially higher with his un-chopped windshield frame.

 

I'm 5'10, fairly portly and over 50 and have ridden in a A coupe that was chopped 5 and channeled 3 with a firewall notched for a BBC, can you say UNCOMFORTABLE! Might be ok for the quickie spin to the 7-11 but anything over 30 mins would be a severe pain in the back and neck. ***Not to slam the guys coupe....it's an awesome ride!**

Drove a stock height A coupe that had a v6, so no firewall mods, last weekend that I was trying to buy and it was pure heaven as far as driving comfort. You could lose at the most 3" and still be fine.

If I spend the time and cash for a traditional rod, I want to be able to drive it everyday and anywhere.

My .02.

 

I'm 5'7'', I like everything chopped 6 inches and it's usually even tight for me. My next project is a 34 three window. I will be sinking an *** pan in the floor as I can get the comfort factor right for long hauls. Luckily you want to keep it up on the rails, you should have plenty of room exspecally if you lean the pan back. Buy that body, and start chopping a little at a time. But make sure you know how your going to sit to obtain the most room so you can chop the **** out of it. Good luck!

 

How good is your back??? About 20 years ago I built a beautifull 31 Coupe, chopped and channeled---looked absolutely gorgeous. BUT---you had to set on the floor with your legs straight out to drive it. Lots of fun for a 20 minute blast around town, but for any 1 hour trips---forget it. To set for any appreciable time with your legs straight out like that absolutely kills.

 

I meant to point out that my 31 on 32 rails project has a 4" firewall recess.

With a little thinking ahead in pedal placement and with the seat back where it is, there's plenty of legroom with the seat in the middle of the adjustment range and in fact it may go forward 1".

 

I dissagree, but like a few people have said, it's all about how one person's body is comfortable, we are all different. My 30 roadster is channeled and sit's 3 inches off the ground. My legs are flat and straight, and I love it. The furthest I have driven is 5 hours each way, I was fine. Like I said, I will recess my *** into the floor of my next project to accomplish the most room and comfort.

 

You can also gain a little room depending on how much your seats are laid back and how deep they're mounted. I have a friend who's fairly tall, drives an 'A' with about 5' of chop. He's got a bomber type seat in it laid way back and sitting on the floor. It looks coll but I'm not sure I'd want to spend a long haul in it.

Good Luck!

 

Thier is nothing comfrotable about driving a model A. If the chop is going to look like the picture you posted go for it. That looks great!

 

I just got out of my 8" chopped Model A with a tape measure in my hand. There is 3" from the top of my head to the roof and I'm 6' 0". In my opinion, foot rests are the key to being comfortable on long drives. Like was said before, it all depends how your body is comfortable. I sit in my coupe like I do the Sunday afternoon easy chair. My Girlfriend has logged tons of miles with me in the thing and has N E V E R complained once. Now if you ask me, if you are talking comfort, that says it all.

 

I'm 6'2 and not small. I mocked up my '28 pickup and with a thin seat & back, I think a 4" chop would be all that I could stand. Stock firewall, and less than 2" of foam to sit on. I would think a coupe would have more room.
Eric