We did alot of head scratching about how much more should come out of the already 3" chopped windshield area, threw some ideas back and forth, then Tom whipped out his "sharpie" and marked out the plans.... Once agreed, we started cutting the doors.
Looking forward to seeing the before and aft together! I've got a low mile complete 3 speed W/ OD with all the trimmins if interested, and just over the mountain from you!
As most can probably imagine, the ideas were flying around the shop as the work began... What about this? Have you considered...? As the conversation went from Carson tops to hardtop, canted B pillars and on and on, I mentioned having some second thoughts about the 265 chevy... I have a complete Olds 324 engine with a cool set of Offy finned valve covers that I was reminded of on one of our stops on Saturday. We stopped to see an old time hotrodder friend about some spare sheetmetal pieces, a better windshield frame and other miscellaneous stuff. As we were looking at some of his current projects I realized that I had an opportunity to take my car to another level with some key components that were hanging on the wall! here we go again! It was giving me a headache as the gears in my head spun outta control...adapters, transmissions, NOS Fenton Headers?! Oh no! I took Saturday night to think it over..... Photos of the results to follow.... Here's an old pic of the 324 ...
It's late... 11:10PM... We quit on the car for tonight, but my mind is still hard at work. Tom did a great job on the re-chop! I couldn't be happier with the progress. I have learned alot and look forward to the rest of the build. I will post more pics of the completed chop tomorrow. Plans for tomorrow include cutting down the garnish moldings, rust repair in the p***enger door bottom, more finish work on the chop and welding in the filler panel in the roof. The cowl vent was filled sometime in the past and I am trying to decide whether to put it back in or not. We have been talking about ideas for extending the trunk lid, but want to give careful consideration to this modification since the rear of the 35-36 coupe was such a beautiful design to start with. Anyone have pics of cars with extended trunk lids? I have seen a couple that I like but it never hurts to see some other ideas. Please post pics here if you have them.
At some point you will have to decide if your building a custom or a hot rod, tuff isn't it! Forget the license plate & tail light holes in the one...................... I have a complete set of 4 dr. moldings if that would make it any easier to modify the garnish moldings............... Also have a custom made roof insert with slight crown but may not be long enough? Looks like you guuys are doing just fine without any help!
Thanks for the input, parts offer and photos... It's gonna be a custom... at least that was the thought from the start... Planning to run skirts, etc. Trying to decide if nose up like an early custom or nose down... Original plan was nose up taildragger... I still like that look... I also have complete set of sedan garnishes... When will you be here with that roof insert?! Weather is bad, so you better get going!
Also on the list of things to do today is fixing the upper right corner of the rear window opening... Some of the "bad" left from original chop.
The Jalopy Journal
