A Nice Haircut, or, Chopping a '37 Ford Coupe

As many of you may know or not know, I LOVE a nice haircut. Especially if it's nice a low. Well, we have had this '37 Coupe in the shop for some time now. It all started out as a nice Hot Rod. Only the owner changed his mind a couple of times, and it's gone back and forth. No chop, no custom, full custom, Hot Rod, chop it, don't chop it, etc. etc. Like most projects, it was hard for him to "see" it. After him moving to Atlanta, then Arizona, and a few renderings, the move was made to chop it. And chop it we did. I now this tends to be an unpopular body to chop for some reason, but you all know how I am when I get the go ahead to get out the air saw and use it! Here are a few photographs of what we've done so far.

Layout photographs:

We laid out the a pillar in the usual fashion. Selecting the two points that were similar in width as well as the same width across the car. In theory, the two points should be the same or close when the chopped sections are rejoined.



Next, we used the same idea on the "B" pillars. Notice that they aren't laid out for a cut in the same place. These will be rejoined later, and also give strength by using an offset seam.



The sail panels were also offset, not only for strength, but also so the panels would once again line up after the transition panel was once again married to the roof.



Next, some bracing was added for obvious reasons. Notice we also braced to the quarters. I know this isn't the normal thing to do, but the car had been in a pretty bad accident. So we chose to brace the quarters, and then remove them later after we'd reattached the roof section to avoid any unknown stress in the body:



Then to my favorite part, the chopping!!!!









Voila, instant roadster

 

So, now for the part where some of you might scream, "oh no!!" Here's a shot of us cutting the transition panel and bottom of the rear window section free. This is moved forward 4" and then reattached to the roof. The roof line remains unchanged, from the profile save for it's shorter.





The spot welds for the rear braces for the decklid hinges are taken out with a roto-broach, and then cut. These will be sectioned 4" and then re-installed as original. We'll add a rubber spacer like many factory panels have to reduce vibration.

 

Time for mock up:





Here's what measuring three times and cutting once does for you:



More measuring. Remember, the tape is your friend, and at times like this welding before you measure a million times can be your enemy.

 

cant wait to see it done! looks good

 

Tacking and some intermediate metal finishing. I prefer to metal finish as I go. It might seem like more work, but tacking, then metal finishing, then welding a little, then more metal finishing (wash, rinse, repeat) can really tell you a lot, and save your bacon if your panel starts to buckle, shrink, etc. while you're going. I've gotten out of many a jamb ahead of time with this practice.



A little welding here and there. Remember to jump around. I start tacking at about three inches, then an inch and a half, then half inch, then quarter, etc. Then weld in between. This isn't my idea, many an "old timer" preached this to all of us. I always listen.

 

Here's a metal finished shot. Both sides are done at the sail panel. We've elected to leave reshaping the back window until we're done with the major parts of the chop. Some would say finish an area at at time, but I prefer to get the superstructure of the car back together, and then move to the detail parts.

 

thats exactly the way i would chop one!
cant wait to see a full profile shot!

Zach

 

great looking chop..the proprotions are perfect,,tricky to make a 37 look nice,,but you pulled it off well,,,,,,i always felt that the deck area would look better lenghtened,,now i know it does...

 

So, because this is a "custom," here's one of the interesting points of the car (to me and Rocco at least). We elected to "reshape" the body slightly. If you look at the quarter panels on a coupe from above, you'll notice that the quarter has a slight "lazy S" in it from front to back. Rather than widen the transition panel, we chose to simply move it forward. So it's in the same place in relation to the top, but forward on the quarter. Rocco and I have been joking all week about the "186 subtle changes we're making to the body." That number doesn't really exist, and we're not keeping track either.



Lots of "jump around welding." I seem to be using lots of quotation marks on this post. "Hmmmmmm" I'd draw your attention to the relief cuts I made at the bottom of the quarter window. In order to get the dimensions of the body back, and make all this work, some reshaping of the window bottom and quarter were in order. The window will have the right proportions, and it's a small change that most won't notice. I'm pointing it out in case somebody else wants to do their chop this way. I'm not saying you'll need it, but we did to maintain the shape of the quarter below the window.



And some metal finishing and you end up with this:

 

Great tech
keep the pics coming

 

That chop will look like it was factory made. I guess if one doesnt know the original height of the roof, he will think, its original........excellent work indeed!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm welding up the p/s quarter tomorrow, and then the "A" pillars. Boring photographs if you ask me. But I'll post some. I can't wait to get the "B" pillars in and see what it looks like. Definitely photos of that will be posted.

Here's one of the car before the chop.

 

Some nice work there but the 35-8 5 windows just dont look right chopped, still havent seen one that looks right.
Some 39-40s look good but NOT MANY!
(Yes I know 36 was the only year a 3 window was built in those years)

 

i hate you guys.

i might be stopping by in the near future, at least in august for the garage days swap "part two".

it really went back together nice.

 

Nice work. Can never see too many of these, always, always ideas to learn from.

 

Looking Great!!

 

Nice work. I was trying to figure why you staggered the cuts,but now I see why. You better post your progress! I want to follow this!!!

 

you keeping those wheels lol, but the work looks great and its gonna be awesome...keep it up!!

 

bob as i understand it if you stagger the cuts it will make the chop much stronger.

 

Nobody builds 35's

 

Top notch work!!!...great step-by-step pics.

 

Thanks guys. I'll post more as the car gets along. Yes, keeping "those wheels." At least the style is ok, just the size is too big. I wish I could have convinced him to go with something more era correct, but then again, it's got an SBC in it.

 

somebody is!

 

VERY NICE WORK!

Thanks for all the photos and descriptions.

Looking forward to seeing more.

 

Kevin and I have been discussing for a couple years on how to chop a Ford coupe and keep the factory profiles. I'm glad it worked! He and Rocco are kicking some *** on this one.

 

looks great guys, as usual. can't wait to see the final form.

 

You do mean work. I wish my sheet metal work would come out like that.

 

I'm a nobody.

 

Very nice work. cool to see it well do***ented too

 

So, are you going to move the B pillar straight back, or angle it?

Looks awesome so far