I've been working on a wishlist for my next project. In my attempt to come up with my idea of the perfect rod I've decided on a 30-31 tudor. One thing I've noticed on most chopped and chaneled rods is a lack of space between the steering wheel and the door jamb. My question is, has anyone tried moving the jamb back and lengthen the doors to create space? I edited a few photos and think the proportions look ok but don't know if there other issues that would prevent such a mod from being performed. If you have any pictures, please share, a build thread would be even better.
Unless you're building a show car where the whole car has major changes to the shape and structure, MY opinion is you can only make the car look "odd" by doing something like that. These cars are all a bit different to crawl in and out of...thats part of the charm and part of being different than the toyotas and Hyundais of the modern world. If you're a Hot Rodder with a need for a little extra p*** thru room, adapt a 60's Ford swing-away column or something of the sort. For that matter, just use a splined wheel adapter and pull the thing right off. Don't mess up an entire body and create a months work to end up with an odd Rod. If your question was actually about doing this to make more of a show rod/one off than my answer would be different. But simply as a way to gain more room to enter the car? No.
Even before you "chop and channel" an A, find one you like and get the owner to take you on a 100 or so mile trip, stopping a few times to get in and out. Not much room even in a full height A. Might change your mind about what you want to do.
yea dont do it. it'll look all wonky and its alot of work. on top of lenghtening the doors you have add to the body oh and the frame also. Like Hackerbilt said a removable or swing away wheel is a good alternative.
If you moved it back a couple of inches, I dont think many people would notice. Model A guys would probably stand back and try to figure out why it looks a little different. That said, it would be a huge job for a couple of inches. Like was said, you don't just hop in a hotrod like you would your daily driver. With a little practice you will find the best way to enter. The pop off steering wheel is a big persons friend.
It can and has been done. As said, a couple inches would be hard to tell. If you peel the qtr skin off, you will see the B pillar is riveted in. You would have to move it back on the subrails. I actually have laid this out on my 29.
I lengthened the doors on my old '29 CC pick up. It helped a ton with room in the cab, but not much was left alone on that. Cab, bed, wheelbase, frame, and more was all changed up. And no fenders. I have a fendered 30 Tudor now and it seems like a ton of work on a sedan for not much return. The wheel on mine is somewhat close to the door jam, but its not a big deal. You would have to have a lot of table muscle to keep from getting in and out past the wheel.
Check out a Vicky- those doors are the longest of the A doors and I don't think they look odd. Is your plan to just stretch the doors and move the entire *** end back : Extending the wheelbase and stretching the roof ? Is your plan to stretch the doors and move the B pillar back and shorten the 1/4 windows?
If I ever have a place to work on it again, I will likely stretch the doors on my '29A CC pickup by a few inches.
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