This 1940 Chevy has its regular home in San Angelo, TX but its owner brought it up to Colorado a few days ago for me to chop. His original request was to remove 4 from the front and 6 from the rear because he "saw one in a magazine and that's how it was". Before anything else, the first thing I wanted to do was to brace the body. I also removed the paint from the areas to be cut to make for clean welds during re***embly and then laid everything out on both sides equally with a sharpie. It may be difficult to see the blue lines on the bare metal in the pictures, but they were quite visible to me. As many of you know, the temptation is to get at it and start cutting right away but thats a mistake in my opinion and even on this one there were a couple of places that I changed things once I stepped back and looked at where it was headed. My first cuts were to remove the rear curves from the rear-quarter windows and save them to put back in later. With those pieces gone, I went at the A and B pillars and brought er down. You can see the difference from the rear. The roof is only clamped on at this point, but since the owner was still in town, I called him to come look at it so he could decide if he liked the look before I started t*******, fitting, and welding. He said he could visualize the finished product and was pleased with the look. I couldve gone farther since the way you see it here is 3/5 front/rear, but its easier to take more out at this point than it is to add it back in because you went too far in the first place. I'm glad I laid out both sets of marks and used the smaller drop first. That was yesterday. This morning before work (mid-shift), I welded the A pillars and tacked the rear-quarter windows to hold the main roof secure and then laid the rear window down and forward ala Cleatus. (Thanks for sharing ) Ive got two cameras running almost full-time while Im doing this. One is a Sony Handycam that uses an actual tape. The other is web cam on the garage PC but without a network out there its just saving to a file so itll be a bit before I get those pics or video online since I'm focusing on the work at hand. That taillight blank isn't my work. Still a whole bunch of work to do on it, but you can get the overall look from these and I wanted to get something online asap for those who knew this was happening. Time to go to work. Boys have football on the weekend. I probably wont get to do much for the next week or so, but Ill keep you posted as I go.
Hey these photos sure bring back some memories. Glad that post could help you some. Looking good so far.
Talanted chops always amaze me, and this sure is another one! Very very nice job, and the slope are perfect from what I can see in the pictures.
Looking good. You don't see very many 40's Chevy's, and that makes them a little more unusual when you do.
' hope they were good memories. I'm having a good time with this one. Laying the window down the way you did made things a lot easier than trim, fit, trim, fit, etc. This roof had a few issues to begin with and the original sail panels didn't come out quite the way I wanted so I cut them out and am going back at it. Me 'neither but I've got no control over "done" or even running. The owner had somebody there bag the rear and there's a lot of floor work left to be done, but I think he might feel more motivated to keep on it once the chop is done. From here, it goes back on a trailer to his shop.
Thanks. The overall look is coming along as hoped. I've been toying with the pieces from the rear-quarter windows as I go along just to make sure I don't pull things out of proportion. I don't want to slant the "B" post any more than it already was so it has to go where you see me holding it below, but I'll work that joint in the top of the window to make a better transition when I get there. ... and I won't even do that until I get the piece from the rear of the window ready to go in so I can look at both of them in place at the same time. I don't want to end up with a porthole here. As it is, I'll do both rear sail panels and then move my way forward.
I know it’s been a few days since I’ve posted, but I’ve still been busy on the chop every night. After getting that left sail panel tacked in, I went over to the right side to cut, fab, fit, and weld in the other one so I'd have two sides that match. Once I had the roof sitting the way I wanted, it was time to go after a “B” pillar so I set the top part into its new location about 6″ rearward from where it used to be to get its fore/aft alignment set. Here's the width mis-alignment as viewed from the rear: And what I did about it: I chose the area right at the bodyline since this new lean will have to transfer over to the door too. With all of that done, a filler piece was added in between the two and the rear quarter-window curve was adjusted to remove any kinks that would’ve otherwise been created.
So last night the owner stopped by to take a look at the progress since dropping it off on the 28th and to discuss a few things before heading back to Texas. Before he showed, I was working on a filler piece for where I had to stretch the top of the door opening. Getting that "B" post in allowed me to cut out some of the bracing in the door opening, cut the top off the door, and close it. The picture is an ants-eye view looking up at the top of the opening with the prep-work not yet done and and the piece not yet added. And as is usually the case, progress on the car came to a screeching halt as we got into the general what ifs and Id really like to add-on type of conversations that come about when someone is looking at something like this. (It's also the reason I'm working with the overhead door shut )
Thanks for all the encouragement. My full-time job has gotten in the way a little, but the owner has left it with me for a little longer to have the floor done too.
The Jalopy Journal
