One of our good customers brought in his latest project for a little hair cut...
It's a dry rust free 1941 ford (short door).
The before pic, we had already stripped all the inner trim, glass and rubber seals. A 1x1 frame was tacked into place (door jams to dash and jam to jam) to hold the body while the roof was off.
The first cut is marked with tape...
The rear window section was the first to go...it will remain the stock size but layed down.
No going back now!!!!
The roof is removed, at this point we thought 5" would be a good look but that changed a little later.
There was a lot of time test fitting the roof in order to get a nice flow and look to the chop. There are many more bad chops than good ones so we took our time here. This is much later after we took another inch out and moved the front pillars slightly. Here you can see the slanted B pillars going into place, as well the roof in it's place.
The rear of the roof got an extra little slice out of it. Many of these cars have the drip rail removed (much easier to do than keep it), we decided to keep it as it makes the roof flow a little better.
Another big jump here, This shows the black section on top and the lower section in bare metal (taken from another vintage vehicle hood to get the correct profile) Also note the side panels that were run thru the "English Wheel" to fit.
Also note most of the welding is done on the door posts and the corners are now finished.
Next is the hammer welding, that takes a lot of time and patience, as well as good ear protection. Laurie spent may hours getting right.
Not shown in any of the pic's is all the inner trims and vent windows that needed to be shortened ,trimmed, welded and made to work. This is the part that takes a lot of time and you never think of it when looking to have someone chop your car.
Some filler to get things perfect!
And last...a pic with a little primer on it. Off it go's for body and paint!!
Looking for a chop? Suspension clip swap?Custom car? metal work? send us an email
petersonvws@hotmail.com