I have my 51 chevy I just got going. after pulling out the door gl*** and vent windows I decided I like the look of no wing windows. I seen pics from various mags with people who have done the same. But never with windows in them. Can this be done? And if so I dont know if I want the task of doing this mod. Any help is appreciated.
You'd have to have gl*** cut for both sides with enough meat on the bottom to ride in a relocated front window channel - it might be possible to do it with the stock guts, but I would see if I couldn't adapt something else in there and get power windows while I was at it - either the guts from something like an '80s Suburban or GM van, the cable drive deal from some late 90s-early 00s GM sedans, or one of the aftermarket ones that copies that, for instance. The toughest part is going to be locating a front channel down in the door that's parallell with the back one; you might have to do some fill work in the arch where the vent was, too, to get a top channel and have no gaps.
The REAL hard part is to make the opening straight! I believe the vent window is at a bit of an angle inward towards the A pillar. Not a straight shot you can fill with extra gl***. So since you can't just straighten the opening from the window forward, you'd have to make it straight starting from the far edge ( where it meets the quarter panel) all the way to where the vent window starts at the A pillar. Whole new opening...and then match it with the interior garnish molding as well! Not difficult, but a lot of metal work!
Please don't do it! It is just too much of a street roddey thing and detracts from the look of the car. But as people say, its your car. Doc.
I did this on my '53 Ford after the chop. It wasn't hard to do, just had to make a new channel, but the '53 Ford doors are straight, where the Chevy ones have an angle at the vent window area, as mentioned. I don't see it as "streetroddy", it adds to the smooth look, if that's what you're going for.
Well its not that I wanted to go streetroddy with the car but I seen some cars from Dead Sleds (Crows 51) and a few from Troublemakers CC and kinda wanted that flavor. I dont want stock. My 50 Fleetline is all stock and there is just no creativity in a stock build. Mainly its a 50's to 70's type of build. I may reconcider the door gl*** thing. Seems time consuming. I was just having a hard time looking at the side rear view mirror cause of the wing windows. Maybe I will just relocate the mirrors higher.
Cut out some plywood and see if you can make one flat piece work. With the vents out there's certainly some fudge room in there. Fill the gaps as needed.
Hello bandit1950... I am in the process of doing that to my 50 Wayfarer. I did it years ago to a 53 Chev. truck. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=492556
I looked at it on my 50 Pontiac 2 dr sedan - if you're going to use flat gl*** it moves the front edge quite a ways in, and as ChopOlds said, you can make new pieces for the door top and modify the window frames, but it just seemed like too much work for what I wanted. But if it's what you want, that's what makes the (rodding) world go around.
Make your gl*** about 4 inches longer below the start of the angle of the front of the gl***. cut the arms of the window regulator off to center the lift at the bottom of the window. this will let the gl*** move up and down without binding. Get some flex channel and you can make the top channel in one piece. Put a stright piece up the back of the window. Takes time but not that hard.
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