I have a 51 dodge coronet 4 door that's still kind of in the planning stages. Working on clearing out some other projects to get funds and space to dig into it finally. My game plan so far is a slant chop (2/3" or so), suicide rear doors and at least extending the front doors a couple of inches to cover the b pillar. While I don't mind doing the work to make a filler to just add a strip to the front door, I was thinking I may end up with a better proportiona by using a 2 door front door and shortening the rear door. Do the 2-door doors have the same general shape as the 4-door doors. I know the rear door post is slanted. Aside from reshaping that, would I be able to just shorten my rear door and move the b pillar accordingly? Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using Tapatalk
If you stretch the front door skin to cover the b pillar you run the risk of the added metal interfering with the opening of the rear door. Some big name modified an o/t Jag to get rid of the b pillar trim but it was a shit ton of work for not much reward.
That's the reason for the suicide rear door. I was originally thinking of welding the b pillar to the rear door and latching it like an extended cab truck. Then there's no post with the doors open. I can't stand how sloppy those types of doors shut, so I decided against that idea. I'll have to do some measuring to make sure it will work, but my plan as of now is to narrow the b pillar(inward). Then the edge of the front door should be able to cover it. I would prefer the front window be longer than the rear, which is why I started looking at using a 2 door front door. Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using Tapatalk
Here's a couple of "photo chops" I did a while back to get an idea of how far to go. I like the slant, but I don't think I want to go quite that far. Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using Tapatalk
There's not enough area at the c pillar to put enough hinge to support the door. Looking at the few makes that did the center door opening, they either had full length or close to it c pillars to support the weight, and at least a short b pillar for security. Two door cars are probably the path you need to follow.
The 2 door front door should work as you're suggesting, it's just a lengthened version of the 4 door front, the cars share a roof. But if you're planning to do a slanted B pillar, you could look for doors from a fastback, they have slanted pillars right from the factory. If you had a fastback donor car, you could make a really cool roofline using the 2 door sedan doors, skipping the rear doors completely, and using the rear section of the fastback roof as your new roof, but keeping your current sedan trunklid. Here's a couple photoshops I did of a car for another HAMB member a few years ago, this is using the back of the fastback roof (to eliminate the boxy sedan roofline), one with straight pillar and one with canted, although neither of them are chopped. I really like this look, and your car would be a perfect basis (since you have to start with a sedan to get the regular trunklid).
That's not a bad idea. I was looking at changing the rear glass to something with rounded corners (shoebox?) to fit better with the chop. My whole reasoning is to get rid of the flat top look and that solves both. However, I still want to keep it four door, I've got kids and it makes it easier to cruise with them. I think maybe I could keep my posts and section the skin. Definitely food for thought. Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using Tapatalk
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