No offense Jesse,but this is what a bad chop looks like. Since the top wasn't moved forward,it looks like the roof has a flattop. 5w's don't look good chopped.
I have some better pic's of Tet****'s 36,but I can't find them....The pic's of what it looked like after he m***aged the body are much better than this one
This one looks OK. In the first one it looks like way too much chop and that makes the roof look too long and flat. I think you need to be careful to keep the quarter window at a reasonable proportion too. Leaning the C pillars forward is a definite plus also Pete
Here are a few shots of my 36 3 window. It has been chopped 2 1/2 inches. It was chopped similar to Marcel's work in the Street Rodder article in 2005. I think retaining the roundness at the top of the door a is very important detail in the chop.
Looking good 58'. Are you doing the work? I remember you were looking for someone to chop it. Keep the pics' coming.
Track down a copy of May and June 2004 street rodder. It has a 2 part pictorial of Marcel's chopping a '36 3 window. It not a step by step guide, but it will show you alot of what is involved. I used it as a guide for mine, with a little inspration from Cole. This was a rough 5-window, thats chopped 3" and is my first chop.
....Some other guys have kinda said this,but, I think you're missing the point on why people love these cars....It's because the car has that long trailing *** that makes these cars so elegant and flowing....and to chop the roof down a little accentuates the flow even more....and then if the fenders are slightly lengthened, you end up with a long flowing gown of ***ually ******ic proportions......just thinking about this finds me looking for a kleenex.......
It did start life as a five window. The few pictures I did have were lost in a computer crash. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Good fit and finnish on a custom is not street rod mentality only! Taking the time to get panels to fit right is really important on a finished custom, look at the early customs from Barris, Ayala, etc, the fit of the panels is always quite good.
You bet I will be bugging you with some questions. This is what I am going todo with the coupe that I just got out of the desert a few weeks ago. Very nice work. You can click on my name to see the post of the car that we pulled out.
There have been many more bad chops on '36 3Ws than good ones, and the comments above explain why. I wanted to lose the "surprised" look of the stock side windows, but not wreck that nice curve. Donn Lowe cut mine 1 1/2", and it turned out just right for me (DRD57 photo): You're right, but the necessary surgery would be right up there with sectioning as a really big-league effort. Big ***, you betcha!!
Many Old Fordies know that Ford decided to move the engine forward 8" in the ch***is in '35, and that took the windshield and controls with it. Their motive was to get the rear seat down off the rear axle, and if you compare the profiles of a '34 and '35 Tudor sedans you can see the difference that it made. On coupes, it moved the whole cab forward relative to the wheelbase and overall length, producing the short hood/long deck that's being discussed. I thought that if you moved the cab to the rear by that same 8", a '36 would have a silhouette similar to a '34 (but with a curvier roof), and how bad could that be? Then I realized that, apart from the "vertical sectioning" and the serious skills that that would require, the body's plan view would have some weird side effects, and re-engineering of the steering, pedals, and gearbox locations would also need to be done. I learned that Chip Foose was having a similar notion, and I believe that this car was the result: According to its owner, this thing is chopped (with the A-pillars laid back and the rear of the top lengthened) and wedge-sectioned. I think it's a good looking non-HAMB car, but not necessarily a lot better than one with less extreme modifications.
It has always bothered me why the 35/36's had the door jamb 3" ahead of the seam between the fender and the running board. Here is a photo I was puttsing with about a year ago.
50Fraud, Thanks for the Ford design history lesson, I never knew about that 8 inch engine relocation. The Foose car looks nice, but I'm not sold on the door window shape. Did anyone else ever notice the full 1940 Ford style trunk lid that was on the '36 Coupe to Roadster build Boyd did for some beer company a few years back? It was never mentioned on the show, was it a '40 lid or something rolled out from scratch?
Wow, '36 Ford 3/W getting to be like belly ****ons! Just picked this one up this weekend, now loosing sleep on weather to chop or not! Lon
Now that you mention that it is odd looking, maybe it was planned by the factory to take your attention away from the huge back half of the car.
myke do you have anymore photos of that chopped 36,that is the ***s right there! perfection anything would be great
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