Dumb question? Why does nobody have sideglass after they chop the top?

oh noo i'm cheap, ****in lazy,a bit obese,****y,a ****on pusher,did i mention cheap and fat.The arrogance of the top end builders is incredible.If only we all had tons of money 24hrs a day of free time,i'm sure we'd all put side gl*** in, except for ***holes like me that would leave it out just to spite you guys that say you need it

 

im not a fan of not havin side gl*** but to each there own..but when you live were its never colder then 60 then i think that has alot to do with it...not alot of people im my area would leave it open...theyde freeze to death!!

 

okay, i'll revise what i said about lazy. only HALF of the chopped windowless cars are done by lazy guys. the other half are done by guys too dumb to finish the job.

there, i broke my broad generalization down into two not quite so broad genrealizations. pick which one fits you best.

 

both for me, hehehe

 

OUCH!!!!LMAO

 

too bad some others are sarcastically impaired and will get even more offended at my comments.

 

Dang Ray,

Let me bring you some smaller brushes...

I don't get offended by different opinions, usually not even if you call me Lazy, just don't call me Jack.

 

Lexan........................

 

Sidegl***? We don't need no stinking sidegl***-

 

I hated the lines of the folding top on my vert, so I built a carson. and just flat didnt think the lines i was looking for (smooth and flat on the door and 1/4 tops) didnt go with the rollup windows, so I just molded them off, ala roadster, and I am very happy with it, and so are a lot of others who see it. **** the rain, I carry a towel to wipe down if it gets wet inside, and it gets wet only when I come up to a stop light...as long as I am moving it goes right on past. I did what I wanted, not to hack it up, but because thats how I planned it.

 

Are you still considered lazy if you use chicken wire in place of side gl***. Could that become like the happy medium? Or maybe one of those nascar side widow nets for a race feel. Or if you still wanted that reflective look you could opt for plastic wrap. Also maybe instead of chopping the top you could just sit on a milk crate on top of your seat so the roof line looked really low.

Disclaimer: These are all jokes, or trying to be, written in the early morning hours of a Friday. Please do not pull up a bunch of pictures showing Mickey Thompson putting plastic wrap on something trying to prove me wrong.

 

If you are refereing to flat side gl*** it is not all that expensive. I had tinted gl*** cut for my A sedan and the price for 2 door gl***, 2 rear quarter gl*** and 1 rear windshield was $212. I cant remember exactly but I think they installed new clear gl*** in my frame for $80. So 6 peices of gl*** for $300 is not expensive. The side gl*** on an A sedan is pretty good size.

 

Yes indeed.

my experience is that when you get that far you're burned out and ready for you next adventure. But that's just anohter one of those excuses and gotgas nailed it.

 

It's been way over a year, maybe weven two since I painted my '54 and I still haven't done the side gl*** because I'm lazy as ****.

 

OK! So I wanna chop the top on my 51 Merc convertible and have working vent , door gl***, and rear quarter windows. Which of you good folks can do the job? Thanx.

 

when talking about customs, side gl*** is all about the quality of the chop and if the mechanicals are all straight. A chopped hardtop almost never has gl*** for this reason. A 41-51 Mercury has B pillars and easier to put gl*** in than the dreaded 39-40 Mercury. The 39-40 Mercury never has gl*** in it when its chopped and the ones that do almost always use the curved rear window technique like the Matranga Mercury.
Gl*** should be considered before the chop, not after. Side gl***, headliner, and garnish moldings make the difference between Viva Las Vegas cars and John D'agostino cars. Period.

 

What he said.

Rockerbilly or "Rat" Kustom is an oxy*****

Rods may never be finished but Customs aren't custom until they are.

I think a lot of chopped cars don't get gl*** because they botched the chop in the window area and it's now impossible to fit gl***.
The chops where the sail area is cut loose and pulled/stretched out to meet the 1/4 panel probably put a twist in the 1/4 window area that flat gl*** will no longer fit... Am I right, you guys who did that?

 

I can do it but then it would be my car ( read my byline)
You can do it you may have to learn a thing or two along the way but I've been playing with cars a long time and if I do it I'll still learn a thing or two along the way.

Get dirty my friend.

hey Doc you're right. I was gonna say you weren't but then I wouldn't be right.

You can stretch the roof back enough to make a fast back out of a coupe and still put gl*** in one but it take a certain amount of planning/designing and reshapeing.
The quarter windows are the worst ones to make work after a chop. I've seen a bunch of 'em that the quarter windows were there but they didn't go up and down. You can still make 'em open by hingeing them like a '53 stude post car. But its just not right in my eyes.

Chopping is way more than giveing the roof a whack it takes a lot of for thought. There's an art to it and I might go as far to say that the true custom builders are the real artists in the hobby.

As for me I'm lazy I'll just be a wrench. I've built a custom or two and some of them actually came out as envisioned, but I've never been able to build one for myself.

 

This is obviously a West Coast issue 'cause I couldn't tell when I saw a chopped top anything without side gl*** on the Right Coast. Of course I realize it never rains in California so I guess that could be the reason for the absense of gl***, other than shear laziness. My 34 sedan has a 4" chopped roof and has all of it's gl***, deep tinted all over with power up front. Of course we get rain and snow here in addition to the sun, plus it gets damn cold on those January cruises especially in a car with no heater.

 

No mate, I understood the point and probably should have just posted instead of quoting.

Thinking about it overnite I guess I didn't "just have" to respond to the who's a craftsman who's not and shouldn't have got my bruks in a bunch. I should have just turned this box off and gone back out to the garage.

I guess that lately I've seen a lot of "what's right, who's right" going on instead of the what I've done, what would you do". Guess I'll have to look through my bush case before I generalize .

Mark-Anthony

 

A custom without side gl*** is like a hot rod without paint. It probably isn't done yet, but it's good enough to DRIVE!

 

Out of all the answers, this is the best. Thanks to Johnny1290 for asking, I always wonder too but just never ask. Thank god for the HAMB where someone always asks the questions I have and some that I haven't even thought of yet.

 

You are right, DrJ. That twist did show up on one of my door windows but less so on the quarter window.

Imagine the sail area is pulled out and let's say you get 5 degrees more lean in the sail area. When you lean the B posts to connect them again, the B posts just happen to get 5 degrees more lean also. I think the twist problem can happen, but less so in the rear quarter window because many are essentially a triangle shape. I don't think you can twist a triangle.

The twist can show up more on the door window since it has 4 sides. I do have that problem in my p***enger door. I must have the door frame twisted slightly because the gl*** sometimes hits the edge of the fuzzies instead of going right into the channel.

 

Exactly what he said

 

Shop time is expensive;

You can't find a good gl*** man 'round every corner;

AND

"Fittin' gl***
Is a pain
In the ***!"

The guy who owned the one horse gl*** shop where I used to moonlight, said that. I think I'd agree.

 

The gl*** and trim is the hard part...esp. if you didn't do the chop right...and lots of these NEWBIES don't do it right. It's the details that make or break a custom. If you don't have them, it ain't done. If that's what you like, fine, but don't get all pissy and ****, if someone calls you on it! If it's not finished, it not finished, that's OK.
I have a 55 Olds, severe wraparound windshield. GL*** one. WITH side gl***...actually with WORKING electric windows (factory stuff modified), yeah, even the rear quarter windows.
Talk about a tough one!

 

Funny thing that used to happen to me, I give a quote, and the customer says "my old gl*** guy would do it for half that" so I say "have him do it". Customer says "he went broke and is out of business"..Its a good day.!!!........OLDBEET

 

man o man i knew that this thread was going to open a can of worms ,lol.I wash my car to much not to have windows and it rains alot here in Kentucky.my chopped Lincoln had the side gl*** gone and it ****ed to get cought out in the rain.you would get out to go into a store lookin' like you just pissed your pants.but if you are in Cali or down in Texas ,I can see not having any side gl***.it never rain that much.only reason I'd put it in ,in one of those places is so I could run A.C. Oh yeah.the one about a hot rod never being finished?get off the computer and go to the garage!

 

Hi Got To Get In On This When U Use The M Word You Sound Like A Goldchainer. Money Rules The World But Not Mine Or Most Rodders. Were Dumb,poor,and Haven't Started Our Social Security.damit Man We Just Want To Have Fun And Not Have To Pay For It

 

What the man said. Here in Pennsylvania,we have lots of rods and this stuff called "weather". I,too,have rarely,if ever,seen a chopped top without gl***. My '31 A has a 3" chop, gl*** all around-tinted on the sides and back and power windows in the doors.

To each his own,I guess. Necessity is the mother of invention.