Technical Have any of you cut up a car with a hatchet?

Bear with me on this one guys. I found a '35 or '36 5 window buried in a river bank. The car is beyond fucked, mostly buried, full of fill, and crumpled like a beer can but it has a nice set of trunk hinges and maybe, if I'm lucky, a salvageable rear window regulator. It's very hard to get to, no power available, and it's full of stone and sand. I want to cut from the open area on the roof down to the trunk opening taking out the whole rear window area. I can't use my cordless saws all on it because the car is full. I can't use my portable torch because the whole state is a tinderbox. Do you think getting medieval with a hatchet will work? How would you do it? It's a bitch to get to this thing. I only want to go down there once. Yes, I am serious. No, I wouldn't pass a breathalyzer right now.

 

Chopped up a 1954 FJ Holden with an axe once.

Stilled buried in my back yard

 

Nice. Did it suck or was it easy?

 

Yeah, go with an axe. Shouldn't be that bad, had a scrapper that cut a '68 Fairlane hardtop shell up in about 6 hours (but he did use a hacksaw a few places). Did piss off the neighbors, it was a bit noisy.....

 

take an axe and big pry bar too, what could go wrong?

 

Bring some meth.

 

A big single bit axe and a 3 pound hammer to drive it with. That way you can aim your cuts and do a pretty neat job.

 

Ibuprofin for the ride home too!

 

I once hacked the entire front end off a later model car with a hammer and chisel late one Sunday arvo when we ran out of cutoff wheels. My mates thought it was hilarious, there may have been some alcoholic beverages involved. My arms hurt almost as much as my head the next day.

 

Years ago I watched a guy chop off the rear of a 36 Ford Coupe to make a pickup..
Al he used was a tomahawk..

 

What he said. Make sure it is sharp. I would take 2 with me if I had them.
I have hacked off many panels at the local pic-a-part. (they make you strip the interior if you want a quarter or roof burned off)

 

couple good cold chisels with wide flat blades, a file to sharpen, a 2-3lb sledge. and a friend to help.

 

the37kid told me a story one time about hacking a part off of something like that, but i don't remember.
the chisel and hammer are the way to go.
ear plugs
safety gloves
goggles
good work shoes
hornet spray
water

 

Late winter '68 I totaled my '54 Ford against a tree and had to dispose of it fast, saved the eng and tranny, the rest to the local town dump in pieces. Cut up most of the body with a fire axe along with some buddies taking turns swinging. Even fueled with hydraulic sandwiches it was hard work [car had come from West coast - NO rust] but got the job done.

Ed

 

Rent or borrow a gas powered cutoff saw with a diamond blade or a metal cutting abrasive blade.

It will make quick work of that coupe and won't distort your prize.

 

...but lots of sparks!

 

The car is full of...what?
Why can't you use your cordless? I've cut out tree stumps with a cordless sawzall and it still works like a champ years later. Dirt everywhere.

 

A wood splitting maul for the rough stuff and a hammer and wood chisel for the more precise cuts is what ive used for the creek bank scavenge............also bring vice grips,gloves, and eye protection..........a bottle of water and mosquito protection wouldnt be bad either.

 

I'm sure u can borrow a small portable 110v gas generator for a small axe sharpener.

 

In about 1969 I owned a 59 Caddy DeVille that I wasn't driving anymore. It was under a carport and one day a young guy asked if he could have it for scrap. Not sure why I agreed, but I did. When I got home from work the next day the Caddy was cut up into a bunch of manageable pieces and my Mom told me he had been out there all day with an axe, cutting the hell out of it !

The next day some of the pieces were gone and the day after that every scrap piece was cleaned up and gone. I have no idea how he chopped the frame up and all of that other heavy stuff, but he actually did it.

Wish I had that car now !

Don

 

Back when we used to run demo derby cars (before cordless sawzall's) we kept a torch set on the tow rig. One night at a show they came up with the "No torches" rule, and strangely enough, the main sponsors crew had a big tent with EVERY air tool available, and a huge portable (road construction size) diesel compressor. I remember hacking the rear of a 73 Pontiac off with a splitting maul to get ready for the next heat.
Yes, it can be done.

 

A panel cutting chisel works best for sheet metal. If you can beg borrow or steal a gas air compressor and an air chisel, you're laughin'! We have cut 'em up with a Skil saw, but it wrecks the saw.

 

Back in the 1960s there was a football player on the Oakland Raiders call "Hacksaw" Reynolds. He got the name because in a fit of rage he cut up his Caddy with a hacksaw during training camp.
It can be done.

 

Thats a hard one to believe, that would be like getting mad and crocheting a sweater, only a little less intense
I think I would have been over it after cutting only the muffler off

 

When I was young, my neighbor kids had a '49 Ford that they would tear up their dad's hay fields with. He told them if he caught them again, he would cut their car up. They did it again, he caught them, and cut the car in half across the center roof with an axe. He left it sit beside the shed to remind them.
It can be done.........

 

My pal Les Codd and I cut the whole long roof off an Olds wagon (about a '65) a sharp chisel and an air chisel bit, and two 16 oz. ball peen hammers.
Two hours in the heat, at Moomjean's...20 feet of 22 gauge steel cut, went steadily, the sides seemed like a mile long.
The air hammer bit worked great with the ball peen hammer, but if I were to do it again:
I would bore a cold rolled 1" X 3" steel rod to slide over the 1/2" shank, easier target for that hammer with your wrist in 'harm's way'.

 

Hornet spray; a must.

I SO wanted to do this to OT '72 Vega that my wife insisted on keeping.
That POS caused so much anguish, I had serious thoughts about parking it in front of the local GM dealership and after some well-placed hits with an axe, I'd let anyone else take out their frustrations (number of which had to be in the hundreds) out on it with the same tool or a heavy maul, just charging a dollar a hit.
To this day, I still think it would've been a money-maker.

 

and what about a battery powered sawsall?

 

I say forget about it. It is not worth the aggravation.