Do all customs have to be chopped?

now boys be nice!

we are not here to have a pissing contest and to talk shit to each other

I have done a good bit of research on glass cutting, and yes there are some people that can cut glass but A: you cannot really cut it a whole lot and B: it gets pretty expensive real quick in addition to the fact that if the windshield cracks while being cut you are shit outa a windshild.
other options?
you can recess the windshield in to the car the way a lot of oldtimers did back when.

I have seen this done and was honestly not too impressed with how it looked.
I am sure there are some out there that can do it well but the end result just looked a little funky to me.

as far as plexi goes...
imo not so much...
lexan?

 

I thought that was what the internet was for, well that and porn.

 

I have seen lexan done well but I like glass myself...
also lexan is not for a daily driver and will almost always haze eventually, even with that new fancy lexan witha thin glass layer (what ever that is?)


but you can always use the good ol shoe box ford back window.
imo it looks way better to do that than to cut down a rear window that wraps around.
like a 54 chev with the wrap around rear window, I think looks way better with a business coupe rear window with some sail panels

 

there are plenty of other forums out there to be an asshole for no reason on.
IMO the HAMB is not one of those.

I am sure if you asked ryan if he developed this just to give people a place to tell others how wrong they are I would be willing to bet that he would say otherwise...

we are supposed to be a community.
one that is designed to help each other.

not blast others.

just saying be nice.

life is too short.

 

No chop, drop the rear, skirts, shave handles/hood, lighten the top color.

 

now back to the topic at hand.

I feel that full tilt customs are way hot,
but I think a mild custom that is done very tastefully is the ticket...

less can sometimes be more.

clean and simple are like jeans and a white t-shirt...

never goes outa style and always looks good.


if there is one thing I have learned from bloodyknuckles
get it to a good point and drive it.

if you want to take it off the road and chop it that's cool but enjoy it for a while

you can do tail lights and grilles and stuff while you drive it.

and unless you live in south west. when the chop is done you need to put all new rubbers and widow fuzzies and antirattlers in it...

a good $1000 plus...
maybe I am just really poor.

but if I was to do so I would save up and get all the stuff I would need to finish it and then chop it so you can do it all in one felt swoop!

but for now try it as a mild custom and enjoy it.
you can chop it later.

 

now that has got some sex appeal!:d

 

MAYBE if you'd EXPLAINED what you had in mind...instead of simply stating it "could be worked"...

Not a pissing contest on my part...but spelling out what you have in mind, on a message board, sure goes a long way when you can't hear inflections in a voice or read minds...

R-

 

That car looks great, but when you consider WHY it looks great, the MILD chop has alot less to do with it than the other custom touches. Especially the grill treatment, side trim and color scheme.

 

yea the side trim is hot...

 

Well Ill do all the other stuff and leave the possibility of a chopped top to last. We will see.

 

wow, someone lost their sense of humor this morning... sorry dude. but next time check out the emoticon.

ohh I'm sorry, I didn't know I was required to give a step by step when I said the stock glass could be used to chop it a couple inches....

 

this thread is headed down the ......

 

Here's another opinion, use at your own risk.

Stock top on this car is a major contributer to the car's stubbiness and a mild chop would enhance the car's looks greatly if you can afford it and do it right;

Stock rear window is really short proportionately compared to the rest of the top and needs to be left the stock height, with the rest of the roof brought down to match it.
Slope of top sheet metal above rear window appears to be the same as the window, so moving the top sheet metal rearward by sectioning the top above the window and through the C pillar would allow the window to stay stock height and thin the C pillar to good effect. Amount of top chop should be governed by the amount of top sheet metal you can remove that's on the same plane as the rear window glass.

Stock windshield is way too vertical and is a major part of the car appearing "stubby". Laying it back, instead of chopping it, and trimming the header back to allow it to flow into the roof would transform the car's appearance.

This car's overhangs are quite short appearing and the low wheel openings make it appear shorter. Fender skirts would actually make this worse. By radiusing the wheelwells you would actually enhance the car's proportions provided you blend the fender horizontal feature lines into wheelwell openings or eliminate them entirely.

A monochromatic paint job would also enhance the car's appearance and early Chrysler wire wheels could look perfect with the wide whites.

Lower the car, but don't "scrape" the ground with it, and keep the rocker panels parallel to the ground.

Your other ideas sound like they'll work fine.

 

No! Leave it! :-D

 

ya i have a 52 and i have never chopped a round top. so im just going to do all the other stuff lower shave and such. then one day im going to chop it but there is nothing wrong with a mild custom.

 

Now that's just slick as all get out but I'm not sure about the lighter colored top.

You have to remember that back in Quote: The Day" few cars were chopped but most of the guys did some mild customizing including nosing, decking and lowering. I think that in my teens I saw one chopped custom on the road and thousands of mild customs running around. In this area you would see a few chopped cars at the big indoor shows but very seldom on the street.

Lowered, nosed, decked, nice caps or maybe some of the Factory wires that the high zoot Dodges of those years had and spend the money saved on a chop and fighting with glass on a really nice interior and paint.
The car's too flat sided to be without some side trim So I'd leave that.

 

Here's my '53 Victoria Custom unchopped. I think it looks fine.

 

cut it and see how it looks if you don't like it take all the pieces you took out and just weld them back in its just that simple

 

The purpose of customizing a car is to make it look better, not to do what everybody else does just so you can look cool. Personally I hate 98% of the cars I see with chopped tops. I also hate the looks of a car that is lowered so much that it is rediculous. A mild lowering and, if absolutely nessessary, a mild chop looks good on some cars. Dont be a copycat just to be "in". JB2wheeler

 

and there is me asleep in the front seat...

and yes the victoria looks great unchopped!

 

The only custom in recent memory I can think of that looked better unchopped was Dennis McPhail's Chevy.

 

I agree with most of these characters. Lower the thing, change the caps, paint, bumpers, grill, interior ect. You will be able to get a real feel for how you want to change this thing as you go. Looking at the photo shop pictures, you can see a little goes a long way.
Another thing to consider is the amount of skill needed to do a successful chop. Your car looks to be real solid with a straight body. If you have the skills and tools to do a good chop, rust and dent repair should be a cinch. If your going to do your first chop, do it on something that needs other body repairs, you'll pay a lot less for the car and if the project goes to hell you won't have ruined your good solid driver.

 

Build the car the way you want. You are the one who has to drive it, wash it, fill it up with gas and live with it. I don't think I could drive a chopped car on a daily basis, my neck hurts too much already and my insurance only allows for 20 chiropractor visits per year.

 

Lowering a car completely changes the look, so as people say have a play round first and see what you think. Here is my 51 victoria with just the front lowered, really have to do the back now. And maybe pop some bullets on the front wheels and wing mirrors on.

 

Clean ass ride... Mine is chopped 4" and i think of it as "MINE". Not a custom.

 

Good advice. The Green one seems to have that "bump" above the back window that a lot of early '50s cars wind up with. Keeping the plane of the glass makes a big difference on these cars. It takes out that "turret" effect. I, also think enlarging the wheel openings would be a great help. Nice car, by the way.

 

This thread brings a lot of nice unchopped Custom Mercs...

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=327873