Hello all, Vincent here from central California . I got a 1950 Plymouth deluxe fastback . I am looking to bring the roof down by 3" . This will me first attempt ever chopping , so I was hoping to get some guidance on it . Any help is greatly apprenticed . Thanks in advance .
Read up on chopping Chevy Fleetlines, there's a few good threads about it and the principles will be the same as your fastback Plymouth. It's a difficult car to chop, usually involving sinking the trunk lid deeper between the rear quarters, since you can't really disrupt the slope of the roof into the trunk like you can on a regular coupe or sedan.
now, about the only thing I've chopped is a couple chickens heads, but if I was going to chop a car, I wouldn't start with that one.
Yeah, you probably couldn't find a more difficult car to chop than a 50's fastback. Unless it was also a fordor!
Craigslist ad, next year "1950 Plymouth project car. All the hard work has been done. No time to finish. Trade for Harley, guns or best cash offer"
I agree, that is a hard chop to do. Better to have some experience under your belt before tackling the fastback body. At minimum if you attempt it, have some friends with experience along. The basic plan is like the Chevy/GM cars with similar shape, so study those chops thoroughly before any cuts on your Plymouth.
I have seen one done and it does look real good if done right......but......that is a real tough one. You end up having to section through the trunk area or sinking the entire trunk area down into the car. do a google search for Brad Masterson's fleetline, that would be a good one to study. There are progress pics on line of him chopping that car and it is a ton of sheet metal work. Here are pics of before and after Of Brads fleetline. look at how much it changed but the back slope is very much the same, only the shape of the quarter window changes....
Thanks for the heads up on the difficultly, I do have a good friend helping me on this who has done chops before and even he stated it is very difficult . He and I are up to the challenge and will update how it goes. I got this car for 500$ everything was there but the engine were seized so I am putting a 283 with a power glide in it . We plan on repairing the floor plan this weekend , other than a few rust spots the car itself is solid . Thanks again for info.
If you have the resources, get yourself a side shot of the car on 17x11 paper and a pair of scissors. Calculate 3" and cut it. Do the same for the rear shot. This will give you an idea of what's about to happen to the car and you. Tim
The photo-chop is a good idea, but some of the real problems are going to be with compound curves and stuff changing width/angle as you try to remove height...which is hard to see in profile view. I'd suggest spending a few bucks on a couple of 1/25 scale Galaxie Limited '48 Chevy Fleetline Aerosedan models, and chop those first. Plastic is easier and faster than metal, and potential problem areas will leap out at you, before you do anything drastic with the real car. If all those "hard work is done, no time to finish" guys had practiced with plastic first, they might have been able to re-sell their cars as potential projects rather than scrap metal and parts.
If you can't be talked out of it, chop the top first before restoring the rest of the car. Chances are you won't have to.
You can do it, just take all the help you can get, take you time and move slowly. Your best bet for chopping it is probly going to be cutting the A pillars, and the b pillars and slicing out at the C pillar down and around the trunk lid all the way to the tail panel and around under the trunk lid meeting the cut from the other side. This would allow the entire rear upper section of the body to sink down in between the quarters as the entire roof move forward to line up the A pillars. this will bring the entire roof down the desired chop amount and leave the curve of the roof un altered and just lowering window height. This is the method that I believe Bill Hines uses to chop a fleetline Chevy and also the way Brad Masterson's green Chevy fleetline is done. It eliminates having to section a curved and sloping trunk lid and re-contour much of the top. Only needing to re-align the A and B pillars and create patches for the drop into the rear quarters and around the trunk lid. Still a tremendous amount of work, but probably I think it may be less overall metal work. You can do it! wish I was closer, id bring the beer and my favorite grinder with a cutoff wheel to help!
Thanks a lot for the support Jason , my buddies has a close friend that has done plenty of chops and we will definitely be bringing him in when possible . Unfortunately for me his buddy charges for visits/ consultations but being that this is his line of expertise I don't mind paying a little to make it go smooth. I will post up some photos when I start the chop. Thanks again everyone who has offered their advise .
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