I sent my 49 off yesterday to get chopped. I had to leave town for work but I sent my son down to the shop to take pics. Charlie ****erfield in Melbourne Florida is doing the chop for me. 5 inches in front and approximately 6-7 in rear. I've followed a lot of posts here on Shoebox chops and I know its been done to death, but I think Charlie's approach is a little different so I thought I'd put the pics up. Hers the car waiting for the wrecker to go to the shop.
I like seeing a lot of Bracing inside. So many don't do that and create a lot of un-necessary work in the end. Looks like your in good hands. The Wizzard
More pics forthcoming. As soon as my son sends them to me this evening I'll post them. Everything you see here happened today.
Is he moving the windshield opening up? That makes a shoebox chop killer. So many have a nice chop and this stupid small windshield that makes it look clown car-ish.
He leaves the windshield opening where it is, but removes a lot of the crown in the roof. Thats why he takes the roof skin off when he does the chop. When he puts it back on it lays a lot flatter than it did before. It has the same effect.
After being on the HAMB for a little while,I've seen a bunch of Shoebox chops,this is the first one I've seen done like this.Is this something that was popular during a certain time frame, or just personal choice? I'm anxious to see the end result.
I think this might be similar to what Metalshapes did, it looks like a helluva lot of work but its decrowned when its done. Stuff lines up well, looks like its a ton of work but its going to come out nice!
im curious about the tabs on the roofline... are those individual tabs or was a strip tacked on and then cut into tabs?
I'm curious as well. I understand their function but why 3 seperate pieces? Roof structure, relief strip, then the roof skin. Why not relief cut the roof skin to meet the structure?
I'll try to answer the question as best I can. Charlie, the guy doing the chop came out of Michigan. He told me he learned how to do it this way from another guy up there, I'll try to get his name. He does it this way for several reasons. First of all he wants to de-crown the roof. He said that you can do it it with the top in one piece, but in his opinion its very difficult to do and keep it consistent. He will make relief cuts in the skin and drop it back on the car. If you look at the earlier pics you'll see that when he chopped it he spread the windshield frame about 1 1/2 inches. The side windows also stayed in the same plane as the original, instead of having to lean the posts in. When he cuts the skin and drops it back on, it falls into line with the original cuts on the sides. The tabs, which are individual, are there to keep the skin in place till its welded. Also, he likes the access it gives him to weld up the interior work on the pillars. The sides structures are stiffer than a wedding ***** right now, without any of the rest of the roof on it. I had some doubts when he told me how he was going to do it, but I've seen his work for years and trust him implicity. A lot of his cars show up in magazines on a very regular basis. I met him thru Gary Moore, who has owned litteraly hundreds of cars down thru the years, and Charlie does all his work. Gary basically said just shut up and write the checks.
The Jalopy Journal
