Apparently the Ernst Chevy and the Landon Chevy both have their windshields laid back as part of their chops. I have a '51 Chevy coupe that I plan to chop in the future and I can't figure out how you would lay back the A-pillars without causing all sorts of problems at the cowl. Anyone know how they actually do that? I would think cutting the cowl loose to let it come up in the middle would cause a funny bulge at the hood in the center, and I would think that laying back the pillars without doing that would cause fitment issues along the center bottom edge of the windshield??
Photos of the cars I'm talking about. I always knew the Hardtop had a laid back windshield, but just read the other day in Kustoms Illustrated that the Landon coupe was also laid back. Is that correct?
how far to you plan on laying it back? I wouldn't worry about cutting the cowl. worst case scenario you would need to trim the glass in the lower outside corners.
You are correct the windshield would not fit if you laid the pillars back. The whole window frame would have to move making the cowl a mess. You have to remember alot of what you read in the old mags was not correct!
First, you can probably only do a mild lay-back without major reshaping. Pie cut the bottoms of the A pillars, and angle them back. Once the roof is back on, hammer the lower pinch welds back, so they are in alignment with the upper pinch weld. That, too might have to be hammered forward to be pointing at the lower. Make your pattern for the windshield AFTER this has been done! If you don't go back too far, it's not a problem.
The man that built the dead on Ernst 2nd version clone is a HAMB member. He also knows the man that is the owner of the original Ernst custom. You might be able to contact him. His user name is FASI Good luck. Torchie.
I did that on some of the chops I did, I some times leave the windshield frame attached by a small tab in the middle of the cowl, I always cut just bellow the windshield in the section of metal that goes upward, which allows me to pie cut the sides then it's only metal massaging and welding no metal forming involved on this side of the chop. I did my 50's station wagon that way : 3" chop and stock tampered glass windshield. But on a Chevy there ain't much metal between the windshield and the cowl, you might need to cheat a little by raising with a jack the middle of the windshield and cowl to cheat (being careful as not to bend the frame) so you don't end up with the sides of the windshield dipping in the cowl. To do that it might require a small relief cut in the gutter area of the hood and of course a small massaging of the hood itself so as not to end up with a bump there. It really depends on how much you want to lay it back, but a small cut already moves the top of the windshield a lot, you might not need to do what I described before. Two more things, you can expect major work on the roof and dash when you lay your windshield back. Beware also that with the glass in you might end up with some screws from the garnish moldings or dash or defroster impossible to reach to put in or remove... Once again it really depends on how much.
I cut my 48 cad sedanette top. Top of the windshield back about 2 in, by cutting the "A" pillar almost all the way, just left the front face metal attached. Laying it back 2 inches lowered the roof at the drivers head 1 1/2 "
I wasnt planning to do it at all until I read that the Landan coupe was also laid back. This is not something I am determined to try, more like curiosity as to how it would be done. I did not monkey with the angle of the windshield on my '53 and it looks fine to me, but the profile on the Landan Chevy is just so damn sleek that it got me thinking about it. I am not convinced that it really is leaned back on the coupe though. As always, thanks for the informative replies.
You do not want to fool around with the cowl, or bottom of the windshield on these cars. Doesn't look right when you change cowl angles on a car with a V shaped windshield! The reason I said to make your pattern for cutting AFTER you do the angled A pillars, is that you DO have to take a wedge out of the bottom sides of the glass when you do one of these chops with angled front windshield. If you think these are tough, try a real wraparound job! Marks Cars 001 by chopolds posted May 19, 2014 at 3:17 PM Marks Cars 001 by chopolds posted May 19, 2014 at 3:17 PM
Looking at Lee Olson's chevy I don't think the windshield was laid back and it pretty well matches the Ernst hardtop. You would have to park your car beside a ragtop or hard top to see if there was indeed a difference in windshield angle between the two. As hard as it is to lay back the flat windshield on my pickup I'd hate like hell to even think of trying it on a sedan.
There still is the option of not worrying about the windshield and just working on the design of the car then have a custom made windshield, on a wrap around that would cost a kidney, but on a flat, or v like a 50 Ford that would be cheap, on a curved windshield like a 50 one piece Chevy last time I checked was around $ 1000. Expensive but still "cheap" compared to the build of a show quality full custom and not far off from some new cars windshields.
I appreciate all the helpful advice on how to actually do it (I love learning anything!), but I am beginning to suspect that neither of those two Chevies has a laid-back windshield until I find proof to the contrary! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
In case you didn't see my post elsewhere on the subject of the windshield being laid back on the Ernst car, it is not laid back. The top is slid forward to rejoin the "A" posts. The rear center glass is laid forward, and the end glass has to be remade. I had mine done in aircraft acrylic plastic. Looks like glass and is scratch resistant. Hope the helps.
Thanks, FASI. I did see your post on the other thread and just didn't think to post a final update on this thread. Here is a summary for those following along: several books and magazines make reference to the windshield being laid back on the Barris-built Larry Ernst Chevy are WRONG. I believe it was printed once in a magazine at the time and just got repeated over and over since then. Thanks to the HAMB I won't tear my hair out trying to figure out how to do it. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
The Jalopy Journal
