Projects ‘51 Mercury Botched Top Chop Repair

Hooray!

 

Looks like this project landed in good hands.

 

The way things are going I might have to rethink my old boss's go to line "you can't make honey out of dog shit" Very impressive work so far. Can't wait to see more progress.

 

…..even when the bottom 6” of the body is rusted away!

Looking really good…this Merc is back on track!

 

I’ve got one I hope to chop soon. But the rockers come first.
I was taught to repair structural, align gaps and metal finish a body before any custom work could start.

 

And that's what a lot of folks don't get!

 

Is this the one that was in the back of Dougs shop before he closed up?

 

This is the only way to do the job right, anything else is just Hack Work by people that shouldn't begin to start with.

 

LIKE PUTTING A PUZZLE TOGETHER......WITHOUT THE LID!!! HAHAHAH

 

Dang, that Merc roof looks 100% better already.

As far as gas welding the top, I welded mine with gas in 1980/81 and the structural welds never gave me an issue with not the easiest life for my truck over the years. The issue for me was not thinking some things out as well as I have should. I've learned ten fold on how to do things right since then.

 

Nothing wrong with gas welding but I must admit I'd tack with mig and then gas weld to finish.

 

Alrighty. Now where’d we leave off?

Not knowing what was where and how it got there. I got the car leveled up…




So I could run a string line and make sure everything was centered up…



Needed some work to get the post lined up once the roof was centered…




Got it all lined up…



Since I didn’t do the initial layout and cutting. I wanted to make sure that everything was the same side to side. So I made a paper template. And then transferred that to wood.






With the wood template I can just flip it over to the other side of the opening and make sure they’re the same. And once they are the same side to side. They’re ready to tack in place…

 

Solid update. The windshield glass template to check side to side is a great idea that I'm not sure I've seen before.

 

Did it once on a 32. Made the WS template out of MDF. It was sturdy enough to hold the roof pieces in place. Template was made from an unchopped windshield frame but shorter. It was used during a brookville body assembly and during construction chop. Centered the pattern with the body centerline (laser) this helped align both un-welded a-posts.

 

That windshield opening template shot is one I am saving for the info file. With the Here is how Clutch dumpin Dan did it.

 

Looks like yer just about ready to start welding the glass.

 

I have a couple chopped tops worth of experience at this point. But it’s all just metal. Measure twice, straight edges are your friend and only take pictures of the good parts

Good eye. This is the one.

Worth doing in my opinion. I like to double check everything is the same side to side when chopping a “round” car. And once the chop metal work is done the template gets trimmed down to use as a glass template.

Ah, that’s an interesting idea. I like that a lot.

 

So with the roof all centered up and tacked in place up front. I got the c-pillars trimmed and tacked in place. I made a wood template for the rear window openings like I did for the windshield. I’m glad I did as they were rather different. Some trimming off the c-pillar got them lined back up and even.



With the roof in place and tacked in good. There was still some thinking about rear window openings and position going on. So I opted to keep things moving forward and went to work on the b-pillars…



Got the doors fitted up decent. Then got the pillars slanted forward and tacked in place…



And the same on the drivers side. I’ll come back and do the corner radiuses later…

 

Save coming along really well.

 

Awesome . Keep them updates coming

 

Nice work

 

Inspiring.

 

Man, beautiful work. What a save!

 

Great save and nice to see all the pictures with explanation of the process. Showing what is required and how to do it correctly may help another person doing their chop. I like that window template idea and flipping it side to side to check for same opening. Going to have to remember that idea.

 

Wow you are doing an amazing job saving that car.

 

first time you have the car out somewhere the previous owner will be telling his pals he chopped it.

 

Really impressive work so far. I'd have been thinking about trying to source a new roof and start from there, but your ability to save that hacked up roof is all the more impressive. Aside from the horrific chop that you're saving, the car actually looks really nice. Keep up the good work

 

That Merc is lucky that you found it!! Nice save.

 

Bitchin'!