A question for tall dudes

I have a question for all the tall guys with chopped cars....

I'm 6'4" and was wondering if my soon to be newest project will pan out? I am picking up a 38 ford pickup this weekend, which i plan to both chop and channel, but it got me thinking, ive never been in a chopped and dropped pickup before. is leg room going to be an issue? i mean i could push the seats back and remount as far back as i can, i'm not overly concerned with head room as i can probably pretty much sit on the floor.

i would just like some input from you guys who have experienced this first hand. I dont want to jump into something i wont even be able to comfortably drive!

would something 5W, or a sedan be more sensible as i can move the seat around wherever i want?

thanks!

 

My 5 window is channeled over the full frame depth, and Im 6'5" and sit in it fine.
(Mind you I havent driven it yet!)
Pics on the build up link below...

 

It also makes a difference if your tall in the legs or tall in the torso.

 

badass build!!!! killer stance.

well, my typical pants inseam is about 32-34 depending. i guess ill just have to buy this thing and then see.

the price is right, i mean its a complete 1938 ford minus engine, trans, and bed. it even has the unsplit bones.....all for $300 so regardless, im not passing it up

 

a friend of mine has a chopped and channeled a coupe
5" chop
4"channel
it looks killer... but i couldnt fit my feet, i had to hunch over to see out, and my knee was sticking in the door (no interior)
also 6'4" with a 32 inseam
tk

 

I am 6'-8" so I couldn't chop or channel anything even if I wanted to.

I drive a 52 f-1 regularly (a 38 has a cmaller cab than mine) and would like to have a little more leg room to be comfortable on trips longer than 45 minutes.... I couln't imagine how cramped it would be if it was channeled.....I plain wouldn't fit if it were chopped.

 

Leg room is always the problemo

6'6" x 225lb

my chopped 3" 31 p/u had all kinda room over my head

TALL SUCKS
Girls don’t fit
Cars don’t fit (cant build the ones you’d like)
Pants don’t fit
Hit your head on shit (scars to prove it)
Nightmares about shit close to the ground that need picked up (not low cars)
Every body wants you to get high shit down ( your one chance to be the hero)
People generally think you want to kill them
Others just want to pick a fight.
Go in the military, your in the front (so everybody can see you get shot first)
“do you play basketball?” all the fuckin time

 

when you get your truck go out and sit in it for a hour and see how long it takes for your legs to fall asleep. at 6'6" i have a tough time just having a roof at all let alone lowered. panels,sedan deliveries,wagons,convertables and vans are usually my choices.coupes are cool but.....

 

NO-SHIT!!! - I am 6-2 290#, I love a chopped and channel truck, but... like Johnny Cochrane says - if the glove don't fit.


Kind of a side question,

Why do the fat chicks always drive the littlest nut-buckets?

 

A friend of mine has a chopped & channeled 38/39 pickup and it seems like it has plenty of room in it. I rode in it for 150 miles and thought it was very comfy. He has the rear seat out of a Suburbone (sp) you are probably 5 inches taller than I am but I have short legs and tall torso. When he chopped his, he chopped the rear window but raised the window up a few inches so his rear view mirror would work. Don't remember how many inches he chopped it but it is radical. I also have a '38 Ford pickup but it isn't chopped......Gary

 

Your going to love the look of your chop and channeled truck. Don't pay attention to what any body has to say. Just think of the first big cruz when your 3, 4, 5 hours into a long run. Then you realize your back has cramped up and your legs are killing you so bad that you fear getting out of the car more then continuing the run. I love my hot rod...but I pay a price for any trip longer than two hours. What ever you do.........GO ALL THE WAY!!!!

 

You said it there brother - I'm 6' 10" and know all about that shit, and NO, god damnit, I don't play basketball!

I fold up pretty small, but would SERIOUSLY heaitate before considering building myself a pickup. Newer trucks are a tight squeeze, I can't even bear thinking about trying to get inside an old truck cab even before it was chopped and channeled.
If your heart is set on a pickup, you might consider making an extend cab with a donor truck. It might not be the most traditional, but if done right, they can be cool as hell.

I'm working on collecting the bits and pieces to build myself a late 20's/early 30's fenderless car. Since I'm going to be using a lot of donor pieces to make the body, I figured it would be in my best interests to build it around me, sneaking an inch or three in wherever possible without screwing up the overall look.

Let us know what you decide to do, but think VERY carefully before chopping and channeling yourself out of a nice truck.

 

I'm 6'3" and have a 1938 Dodge pickup channeled 4 inch and chopped 3inch I put Bomber seats raised in the front about 4 inches and down to 1 1/2 in the back,pedal room was by far the most difficult thing to work out(with a clutch)I cut the side of the bellhousing to gain the extra room,You will have to spend alot of time just sitting to get the steering wheel ,seat and pedals right

 

Sit in and ride / drive in as many as you can before you make that first chop! Heck, I once thought I wanted a chopped 34 pickup. NOT.

I sat in a few chopped coupes at Daytona last year. They sure get shrunk up. One owner offerred his opinion, either chop it, or channel it, but not both, if you expect to drive it more than a over a hundred miles a day!

One workaround I plan to use on my next build... is to channel the body over the frame, but then also recess the floor pan to be even with the bottom of the frame rails. The xmsn / drive shaft will still be fairly high and need to be tunnelled, but the seats (especially if pedestal mounted like a van seat) can be set down below the top of the frame rails into this new recess and thus save a lot of head room. A lot of sporty cars and early / vintage race cars did this - essentially building low "foot boxes" that sat into the frame. Many old board / track racers had very high frame rails, with the driver's cockpit / belley pan well below seat.

Have fun, Gary

 

Don't plan the chop or channel yet. Get the frame done, set the cab on, then build the truck to fit you.

 

gnichols has good advice. Mine is to get the seat as low and far back as possible. Seat type and location makes a huge difference. I used a junkyard 1980s GM bucket seat to mock up my '53 Chevy (which I only chopped two inches) and when I installed late-model Chrysler buckets it changed the seating position for the worse. My car is fine for me (I'm 6'3", 34" inseam) but it was even better with the other seat.
I would agree to chop OR channel, but not both. I have a short friend with a chopped 4" and channeled 4" Model A coupe with the firewall recessed a couple inches and I can barely get into it and I could never ever drive that car safely.
My advice is to find the seat you want to use, mount it in the truck, sit in the truck, and decide how much lower the roof and window frames could be before you run into problems. That's your maximum chop. That's how I did my car. (Unlike a guy I know who chopped a '39 Chevy coupe without every sitting in it and now can barely drive the car.) Better safe than sorry - it's a lot of work to go through to end up with something you hate to drive.

 

There's not many things funnier than a tall guy (of girl) all hunched over driving a chopped vehicle especially a truck. Always got the expression, "does this dress make my ass look fat" which soon turns to "I don't give a F*ck what you think" if you stare too long......Ya, I'm tall and I don't give a F*ck what you think of this opinion.

 

I'm a little over 6'. I fit in the T almost like it was made for me. I have about 3/4" between my head and the crossbar in the top. I have put probably 3,000 miles on the car since last September and I have hit my head on the bar twice. My car is very comfortable. Made several trips ( 250 miles / over)in the last few weeks and found the car still fun to drive and did not get tired of the closeness required to have a passenger in the car.
It is chopped 8 inches and I am not sure as to the channel depth.

 

let me just say i was NOT expecting so many replies so quickly! I sincerely appreciate everyone's responses.

Earlier today i was actually planning out in my mind something of a "floor drop" as mentioned above, recessed the the bottom of the rails and then having a larger raised tranny tunnel between the 2 sides of the truck. We'll see how i fit i guess, and no i wont make any hasty chops before thinking it through. if all else fails i'll give it to my brother....or sell it again.

and NO, i dont play fucking BASKETBALL!!!!

thanks guys

 

and thanks for the good laugh, all true....

 

Did I get the shit in the correct order? Or should cars be first? I’m torn or im drunk (on vacation, going to LA in a few)

 

it depends on my mood.

or if i'm drunk

 

Being only 6ft,and now over 65young,I've built and drove more then a few rods,I made all my own fit well,like has been said,droped seat/floor ect. But also never over choping the top so it ends up looking like a dam cartoon with only a slot to try and look out,I have no idea why that looks good to some one,undrivible always looks wrong.
I just like driving too much to have to be all bent over. Just take your time and make it fit ya.

 

Have you seen something called a "stock floor body drop"?

I'm doing one on my '42 Chevy cab.

Not channeling the floor up at all. But I am cutting 2 inches off the frame and making it shorter in the area that runs under the cab. You then need to box up the chassis well to give it its strength back that you.

This way you net a channel but dont lose any interior room. Be realistic about the frame though, it still needs to be strong so the car doesnt fold inhalf, but yu can steal a litle bit from it.

 

On the 31 I stepped it down under the cab
this was the first mock up with frame kinda there.
2x3 & 2x4

 

The most important thing is to make the car fit you. There is nothing worse than driving an uncomfortable car. You will end up getting rid of it a lot sooner than you had planned.

 

I'm 6'3" and have driven a chopped 32 Sedan, No problems on the fit and I have been in my buddies chopped 39. That said, why chop it? plenty of other ways to get the correct stance and look cool. My 29 Sedan is unchopped and unchanneled, and while I thought that I wanted that, I have come to love the way it looks without doing anything to it.

PS, I don't fucking play basketball either .

 

ill do some mock ups, and spend some quality time just sitting in the thing I suppose.

thanks for the replies!

 

No kidding !!! I was an advisor to Vietnamese Special Forces . They were 5'2" and I'm 6'2 . I might as well had a neon sign on my head that said "shoot me first"