Convertible Or Hardtop?

Hey,
I'm just trying to figure out what I want to do with my car, and this is one of the design ideas I am contemplating. I was thinking of making it into a convertible. Instead of a carson-top, it would have a steel top like the car in this picture:



It's either that, or leave it the way it is as a 3-W Coupe.

The car is a 1937 Packard. I have attached some pics of it if it helps you decide.

Thanks!

 

Keep it a hardtop and chop that *****. It's got some serious potential IMHO. A decent chop would look Bad ***

 

I dont really like convertables, but thats just me.

 

keep the top

 

It would be a crime to cut the top off! ALMOST a crime to hot rod it.

 

Just so we're clear, I don't have any problem with you driving around *******

 

i think you should sell it to me so i can give it a good home

 

I agree with Bugman, most cars look better with a top, though a convertible would be fun to drive. Anyway, I definitely would not cut the top off that car, chop yes, remove NO! But it's your car.

 

I think I would just lower it and put a Pontiac straight eight in it with an older gm 4 speed. Do the interior up nice, and a decent paint job and drive it til either I drop or it does.

 

hope this works

 

The car is super solid & has great lines. Converting it would be a big pain in the *** if you want the top to work. If you're going Carson top, do that if the metal chop goes horribly wrong. With the right chop that flows into the trunk, that car will make grown men weep.

Take your time and do a moderate chop and make that thing a 40's style custom to die for.

 

Look at Rikster's site for some good ideas. Zeke, my big, mean dog says he will bite your *** if you do it Old sKool RodZ style. You DO NOT want to incur Zeke's wrath. He hates OSR.

 

I really do not like cars with the tops cut off. so few people are able to pull it off without having it look like a car with the roof cut off.

 

If I were going to all the trouble to cut the top off, I would get a Plymouth Sundance or K-car convertible top and narrow/reshape as needed to make it fit and make it sleek - but still fold down. A carson top is one thing, but I mean.. I once saw a '72 Buick LeSabre in a junkyard that had the top cut off and a new liftoff top made from like half of a fibergl*** shield of some sort (or maybe it was one of those huts for veal calves?). I guess the point is anyone can make a liftoff top (chopping it and making it look good is another story). (Don't stick weld ****py fins on and paint it with a brush and add a bat-logo like that Buick did, either.... yikes)

 

drop it and drive it. the lines look good already

 

Here's some ideas.

 

Way too cool as a hard top.

 

damn, that's cool! and i don't even like tail-draggers. great photoshop.

 

As much as I love converts, and have sketched and built converts, the '36-37Packard was one of my wish list custom rods to build as a chopped taildragger in coupe form. Only go the convert route if the attempt to chop goes awry.I'm so jealous of that car...

 

[I think Hat Man hit it on the head. keep the top and chop!

 

Do the ch***is first, make it run, make it stop, make it driveable, FIRST!
Then decide if you still want to customize the body.
I think the other day you asked if you paid too much for it.
I was thinking, "not compared to what a restored Packard can go for."
But;
Hotrodded Model A Fords seem to be worth up to four times what a stock one is going for.
Hotrod a Packard and all you'll hear is "Why the **** did you do that to that Cl***ic?"

That one Ron Mayes posted falls within the realm of "Custom Coach Work" which is in the tradition of what rich people did with Packards when the Packards were new, but it's got to be that level of quality work to pull it off, otherwise you might as well have taken some scissors to that $7000 you paid for the car.

Do it right or don't do it.
Please don't **** up a rare car just because the "hard core rockerbillys" on this board dared you to.

If you get that far; Keep the top on it, chop it if you can pull it off and keep good lines, don't Carson top it.
That would just look like you botched a chop.
That car is quite capable of rolling at 120 KPH with the stock engine by the way.
A friend has a '39 and I've ridden in it a 80+MPH and it's smooth as, well, the luxury car that it is.

 

If you can make it as slick and natural looking as the car you pictured above, I say do it.

 

No Carson top please. Simce the nose on that Packard seems so long I would not chop too much. Might not look right......

 

leave the body as is.

 

Convertibles are theraputic. the chop-top looks fantastic! My thought is you should combine the two seemlessly. Keep people guessing when the tops in place. Enjoy it spring summer and fall. save $75 an hour for a the******. (give the roof a subtle tapper back into te bustle, Zephyr style)

 

Keep the top on. Just give it a little trim'n. KNUX!

 

Wasn't that just on here with a price of 7k?? doesn't matter drop it don't chop it. That car has great lines and the roof line doesn't look out of proportion as it is, but looks killer dropped!

 

Haha, no. That was another thread I made. I paid $7,000 for this car, and I was just wondering if anyone could tell me the market value of the car.

But, no. It's not for sale.

 

Here's one without the chop.