Hot Rods Chopped tops . . . . .

Yes Ted, that would be tha Moose, and his old 32 sedan. First thing to do was wak the top. ha. ha. I'm trying to find a pictures of that 39 chevy coupe too. He came to Cumberland Md. in the 80s. A cool Rod, and I thought his name was Tony, do you remember ?

 

Several years ago we went on a Zonie Motors tour to Yellowstone. We parked our '66 Olds Toronado next to Magoos chopped Merc somewhere in Wyoming and Lois pointed out that the Olds was actually lower and our windshield was four times higher than the Merc. She made several comments about the restricted view of the countryside! Here's the Merc at one of our get togethers in Durango

 

I haven't found pictures of that 39 Chevy yet. But I did find a couple of Kenny Smith's 39 Buick. It's parked beside my Delivery at Nats East 82. His friend was Tony , who had the 39 chevy coupe. Does anyone have any pictures of Ken's other Rods? He liked heavy chops too. Some of us likes them heavy, mild, or not chopped at all. That's what makes Hot Rods so much fun. Ron...

 

so you felt the need to tell us how you "don't give a shit what we think" twice, right?

 

Before I cut the top on my old 33 pickup I tossed the seat in, sat on it and had the neighbor kid measure distance the gap to top of the truck. Left an inch for clearance and chopped it that amount. It was 5.5"
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A lot of us were there, back in the day, love this chop, very well done, also, well said!!

 

2"

 

This might be a good reference in this discussion. Personally, I haven't decided if I'm going to chop mine or not. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/model-a-coupe-showing-different-chops.869524/

 

Looks perfect.

 

After reading threw this thread and seeing some of the posts on Big AL I find it hard to believe that there are Hot Rodder's out there that apparently do not know anything of or about Big AL....Unless I read them wrong?

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Extenze.

 

I chopped my Pick up 2 3/4 " , I have to tell most people it's chopped. Different story with my coupe though.

 

One more .

 

IM000749 by edcodesign posted Nov 1, 2010 at 6:29 PM

4" chop, 52 sold a while ago.

 

The majority of guys here weren't even thought of yet. Heck for some even their parents weren't

 

I guess that is true.... I'm 55 but I grew up hanging out with the older hot rodders , I was more into the old cars while my friends were buying Camaros I was buying old Buicks, chev's etc. I also had most of the muscle cars of the day Chevelle SS, Olds 442, 66 Charger ,70 Cuda , 67 Buick GS , 55 and 56 Chev and many more close to 100 different cars and that was just in high school....And I have always collected magazines and books on hot rods of the past anyway here is a little history on Big AL that I dug up....

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This 37 Ford was chopped back in 1948 .

 

You nailed it with this one! Perfect IMO. Always prefer a 5W over a 3W as well.

 

Some of what you see is also based on you perspective. Take these two photos of my avatar taken from different angles. To my mind they make the chop appear more radical in the one photo even though they are both the same.




I am sure the visor has some effect on the frontal view. In either case the chop is four inches.

 

Ron, I like your panel now, but THIS is BOSS! You need to go back to this look!

 

Drag cars are one thing - Street cars are another. Toooo radical of a chop may look cool to some folks but safety has been compromised. Difficult seeing etc etc. My Roadster is chopped 4 inches. I can see well and it is comfortable.

 

Not all of the guys who were into Mini's went overboard. When I built this one in the late 70's restraint was the name of the game in the chop (which was done by Dick and Kieth Dean) I even had them Lower the rear window to keep it the original size. (also featured a 331" SBC, Heavily narrowed and chromed Vette Rear end and many other "Hot Rod" styling cues

 

P-Wood - I'm glad you brought this up. I have thought about it a few times but decided that it would probably start a bit of a shit storm (and it has) and am glad I thought the better of it.
But since you did, here's my opinion.
There are a couple of things that come to mind - One is the Some is good, more is better, too much must be just enough mentality. I find that to be a pretty useless way to go about anything personally. And that seems to go pretty much hand in hand with the ones who feel they need to stand out that much more in a crowd. I don't suffer from that malady either.
There are those that are either trying to emulate Bonneville car looks for the street or in some cases don't realize that those cars weren't street driven cars - they were race cars. And like Most Real Race cars, they kinda suck at being street cars when take to extremes.
For me, when I do any modification to a car I try and ask myself "Am I really Improving the car versus just changing it?" It It's not improving it, then why bother - just to be different (which these days seems to be like everybody else). I'm not saying I haven't made mistakes with this, but I at least Try not to.
As for Chopping in particular, I think there is a sweet spot for every car, and it's different for every car. For instance a 63-5 Rivi looks best some where between stock and maybe 1 1/2" - beyond that they look ridiculous. A 56 F-100 same thing, maybe a little more. Fat Fendered Fords- the majority look better Un Chopped or with just a little off the top, but most never get this right in my eye. Model A's, 32's Model 40's can go a bit more for sure, but they still have their limitations before the proportions of the car are ruined.
As with all mods, if the Chop is the only thing that really draws your eye, if that is all you really see, then in my opinion you went too far.
Not everyone will agree, and I'm good with that. Peter asked for opinions, so I'm expressing mine. If it offends you, sorry, that was not the intent but it doesn't change it - it's still my opinion. And if that's not good enough then I will gladly give you back what you paid for it.

 

Don I learned a long time ago that everyone is entitled to my opinion. HAHAHA

 

Ahhhh, you know I know better. I wish I could find a picture of my then new '85 Nissan for reference. But you have to admit, later in the game with the vast majority of VWs and the graduate mini truckers, MORE was always BETTER! Many of those guys crossed over to here, and brought that with them.

By the way, I kind of agree with your statement above about the chop being the only thing you see being too much. Case in point would be back in the resto rod era, when you might occasionally see something like a '32 three window, with Tru-Spokes, or even better Zeniths, cowl lights, dog radiator shell mascot, bumpers, luggage rack, AND A 5" CHOP! The Sesame Street kid's tune "one of these things just doesn't belong here, one of these things just isn't the same" rings clearly in my mind... That chop right then is as wrong as salami ice cream. Wrong context.

You could say that of several individual modifications. But, put the right batch of "too much" modifications together in the right proportions and context, and suddenly "too much" becomes just enough. Take that same 5" chopped '32 three window, loose the cowl lights, dog, bumpers, luggage rack, and the Trus. Louver the hell out of it, (I know a guy, by the way!) drop it low on 16" bigs and littles on steel wheels, small evil headlights on a dropped bar, and set it on a healthy rake. See? Now "Too Much" is just enough, and it's all context.

 

Surprised me!


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For sure......This truck belonged to a guy I knew years ago... I didn't like it myself...In person the proportions were off, don't get me wrong I like chopped cars and trucks but this one the top had no tapper from the belt line to the top it was to square and flat that's my opinion....The top on the previous step side one I like.... I also put together a V-8 luv years back,it run a 350 ,M-22,narrowed 9"the engine had been built by Riverside boat and marine in Cal. Dyno sheet said 597 HP at 7600 rpms it was fun....

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My '36 Sedan Chopped 4" back in 1979.

 

Tooooo much for a deuce coupe.....

 

I know that you know that I know that you know better, I just didn't want to be lumped into the typical stereotype

Yep that one is WAY over chopped and doesn't work - perfect example LOL
I never Dyno'd the 331" in mine, but it did run High 11's on street tires at OCIR