Projects here we go, another chopped 54 chevy thread!!!

ok, so ive owned this car for about a year now and have been staring at it on how i want to cut it. wanted to keep the original backglass and lay it down. i just dont care for the hump that is created on the catwalk when leaned with out doing something to the trunk. i am in the middle of trying to get my own shop going so what better way to advertise what you can do then to chop your own car. yes, i know its a four door, thats what i wanted.
i was the bodyman at Bear Metal Kustoms on here for 4 years. so im not new to this type of stuff. i am the one that chopped his 1950 oldsmobile. so, here we go.

so first i stripped out everything from the doors and windshield. i left the backglass in because i wanted to get the correct flow with the glass and the roof line.


next, i cut out the detail line in the sailpanel and a section out of the top of the quarter to allow for movement.



next everything got braced and the cutting began. i first cut the roof skin from the top of the backglass. i went 3" above to allow me to have some metal to work with when rejoining them. then cut the back half of the car off. i am getting a lot of the backglass lean from moving the trunk.



once that was off, i cut out the top of the back seat frame from the package tray and removed it from the car. i will be putting it back in later on. now its time to remove the roof. i tried using a portaband, but the blade kept popping off. so saw-zall came out.

 

wow! man you sliced that bomb out. i can't wait to see how it will look like after the metal work is complete.

 

I couldnt figure out what was going on with the back glass for a second then I realized it was a more door, good luck with the chop!!!

 

then the roof came off!!!!






then my 2.5'' came out. didnt want to do a huge chop, just wanted to work with the lines of the car. just make it look sleek.




then throw it back on and take a peak.




now just get everything centered and start looking at what we have going on. needed to cut at the bottom of the beltline around the glass to get it to lay down a little bit more. now we start to see whats going on





ok, just realized i got sucked into the chop and started to take less pics. how i got the door pillars to line up with out having to cut and add a strip to the center of the roof, i just cut up on the straightest part of the top of the front sdoor frame and then all the way back to where it used to meet the backglass. then slid the whole thing forward. now its correct length with out having to add too much metal.

 

then it was time to call it a night. went back the next morning and pushed it outside to clean the shop and to get some pics of the lines. this is where we are at now.







now start getting the pillars to line up. i pie-cut the bottoms of the pillars and twisted the tops of the b and c pillars. the a pillars got pie-cut on tops and bottoms.











this is why i leaned the tops of the pillars instead of cutting them.



then time for drip rail piece. i took a section from the removed piece of the a pillar.







then i started with the door frames. granted, everything is just getting tacked into place except for the section just added. everything will get welded in once i am happy with everything.









then the section for lengthening the front doors.

 

now to the rear beltline and sail panel piece i removed. pie-cut the beltline to tweak into line with the rest of it. and trim down the sail panel piece to flow with the now leaned glass and the lines from the door tops.





and the now the other pice that was removed. things are starting to line up now.





and thats where i am at. now for some pics pushed outside.

 

yeah, i leaned the trunk area because im completely changing the rear qtrs. if i wasn't, i would have only done the area right around the decklid. to make these look right, you have to look at it just like a fastback. not easy ones to do if you want to keep the stock backglass

 

nice work

 

and here is the thread of the other stuff ive already done on it. after i get the roof all buttoned up, im going to get to the front end again. made a custom grill not to long ago.

http://jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=581213

 

Nice work!

 

Very cool and innovative way to deal with the back glass...cant wait to see the 51-2 quarters on it!

 

Nice work, you make it look easy. I like the chopped look on the 4-doors.

Bob

 

Great job on the chop.
Which way did you lean the trunk? Down to give more of a fastback look?

 

i actually raised the back of the trunk and moved it forward. the top profile of the trunk is a closer to level w the ground and the vertical part of the trunk now has a bit more angle to it. im wanting it to match the flow of the earlier qtrs.

 

Nice work!

 

looks good

 

Oh shit, I just realized this is a quadraport ........ Going for it ....... I like.

 

so, havent had much time to work on this. been doing other stuff so i thought i would put some time in on it. drivers beltline and surrounding metal is now all fitted and tacked in place.



then i went around and trimmed and tacked the whole roof skin back in place.







then i went around all the pillars and welded up the seams.





now, the front ones were the tricky ones. wanted to make sure everything looked clean even with out any glass in it. the driprails will be getting attention later on in the chop. not leaving those alone either











got the vin tag area back in too



had a buddy install the white walls for me and got it back down to my desired ride heighth.

 

Man that's friggin cool as hell!!! Super job on the chop! I love chopped four doors, they stand out in the sea of two doors.

 

I love this build ! Lots of thought went into your chop and it shows, very nice work!!

 

good work Jon.

 

That chop is badass! Good job

 

thanks guys. and yes, everything that has been done has been planned out w a lot of staring. i am pulling an all nighter on it right now so you guy will see pics tomorrow of the actual metal work. hope you guys all enjoy.

 

thanks guys. i appreciate the kind words.

 

Sweeeeet
"AND THE BOWTIE ROLLS ON"

 

Wow! super clean, very well thought out chop.
Nice freeking job man !

 

Holy sweet chop batman!