Growing up in Orange County, my hero was a skinny mexican kid named Rudy Rodriguez who drove a bright yellow 34 Ford hotrod. Later the coupe belonged to Axle of the shifters. I remember as a kid, I would sit behind the wheel of that chopped 34 and just wish I could hurry up and grow up so I can drive my own hotrod. I built a bunch of lesser cars to build up to the 34 but I eventually built my dream and will start another real soon. So lets get into this. This chop technique is not new by any means but it should be noted that there are several ways to chop the top of a 32-34 ford and I hope to explain the differences. Street chop: what I did, lowering the top and adding to the roof section to make the A pillars apear straight. Lake chop: chopping a bit more and bending the A pillars to make up the difference in length making the front glass lean back. I did the street style because it always looked better to me and I also had another roof to cut the needed metal out of. In this picture you can see that I am going to cut the 3 inch section out and then go straight down and cut across the belt line of the back of my roof. Once the top is cut this way, you can slide the roof into the body without having to re-weld and re-form the dome section of the roof. I have a good friend that cut straight across the rear portion of the roof and is still messing with the re-shaping process! Oh, Please let me post all the shots before you post, I hate it when there are a bunch of questions before the post is done. Let me finish!
Now, in this shot you can see that the body was mounted on the frame and cross bracing was welded in so that when the lid comes off the whole fucking body doesnt spring out of shape. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP You can also see that the roof fits nice and with this method, you can see if the top is low enough. If you want more material out of the top just pull it off and trim it lower. Once you are happy with the height, the back is just about ready to get grinded and tacked. The doors are chopped with the roof but set aside until the top is done
were are we? oh yeah, now you have a chop you like so lets cut the roof in half and make the A pillars match. This is where guys like Gene Winfield show their shit because they make all the needed pieces by hand. I had the center section of another coupe and after taching the front in place, I measured and cut original 34 ford steel to put in the void! I also used the same technique for the doors. with a little tapping and slicing, the back lines aleady look pretty good. Notice the large piece of stock used to keep the roof straight as the welding is going on.
the doors go together the same as the roof but the gaps all need to be kept in mind. I cut the door top in half and then welded the front and the back in and added the middle when I was happy with the fit and gaps. In this shot, I went to lunch in it in bare metal and lead. I also used cat's hair because I like the way it sands. It is starting to look like a hotrod! Well, from across the street anyway.
So, after about 60 hrs. of smacking, sanding, and pounding, you should end up with a roof that looks bone stock. I am real happy with the results of this chop. I was lucky to have a doner roof to steal metal from. That probably saved me about a weeks worth of work and it would never look as good. Still a few more shots!
the front window is kinda easy. By simply unscrewing the frame and pulling out the corner braces, the frame can be re-chopped at 45 degree cuts and the corner braces are then slid back in and screweed together. In this shot I am re checking the fit before it goes to the glass guy.
in this shot you can see that the top was dropped straight down and not far. This is one of many ways to do this body style and I always liked the way they end up. Many people like a more aggressive, lower chop but I wanted it to look mild. As you can tell by the chop photos, the front A pillars would have been leaned back over two inches with a three inch chop. When the lake style chops go real low, the A's are leaned way back and the car takes on a totally new look. I spent my whole life thinking about this chop and after all these years, Rudy Rodriguez still drives a better car! Damn him!
well thats it folks, this is a shot of Chopper Vern's super chopped 34in the lakes style. The chop is not hard either way you decide to do it. The hard part is cutting up a body you just payed ten grand for! Take your time and do your homework over and over and over! I studied this car for 25 years and I am only 32! I love 34 Fords. Next tech week I will show the channeled floor process. Thanks for your time, Paul
Great Tech Post! I still like your car too. Balls out Hot Rod. Do you need to brace the inside of the roof as well before it is cut from the car? Justin
I braced up to the bottom of the window as seen in the shots. The body is like a rock after that. Remember this body is also bolted to a finished frame. I prefer to chop a mounted body.
Could you please leave the mask on during the next photo essay? Maybe you should cut that extra roof into strips and sell it as "The Gooch 34 Chop Kit (tm)"...???
I still have enough roof material to do another car. My wife also requests I leave the mask on... what gives?
did you pie cut all the reveals, and hammer all the seams, or did you fill them with lead and/or bondo? How strict were you with the metal finishing? just curious where the 60 hours went. tp aka zibo
I thought it would be a fairly quick job to chop my 4 door Morris Eight. All looks fairly basic, cut this, pie slice that, tack here, tack there, no worries, couple of days work, no problemo Maaaan, but the time I spent fine tuning edges, trimming, inserts, making fillers, bending, squaring, checking, grinding edges clean, licking cuts (from the edges I never ground smooth), standing back eyeballing, checking, rechecking, thinking, tacking, standing back eyeballing some more, check some more, measure some more, on and on and on. I suppose, in time, I could get a lot quicker, but I can easily see where the 60 hours went. I two doored mine as well, seperated the skins and welded 'em in solid, cos I did not fancy spending two MORE days chopping the rear doors down to size too The little 'side door' was an afterthought, checking out my newly acquired metalworking skills
I agree on the "street style chop" thing, that other 34 looks like a salt body on a concrete chassis.
[ QUOTE ] did you pie cut all the reveals, and hammer all the seams, or did you fill them with lead and/or bondo? How strict were you with the metal finishing? just curious where the 60 hours went. tp aka zibo [/ QUOTE ] I was pretty anal about the metal work and even dressed the welds on the inside. 60hrs was the whole job and I thought it was pretty fast. The only slicing was at the A's a small bit and right behind the door. The roof crown is uncut and left alone. 32LIMEY, that's harsh. Let's just say they are easier to ship in one piece. done or not. How about the Jaguars you guys export to us?
Really good post. Thanks! If you're doing the lakes chop, ya gotta' run a hood and sides. Just looks real weird w/ out them.
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