Chrysler 4 door Chop

not trying to highjack...any more pics of this build somewhere? Got a 49 4 door also and I'm scavenging for ideas. Thanks..

 

I´m thinking you really should have left the B pillars alone, but its done now,so...

I would say it would be a good idea to extend the catwalk and push the back of the roof forwards a few inches, to avoid a super thick looking C pillar and you really need to take lots of crown out of the back of the top of the roof, to get some flow going.

Heres my take anyway.

 

it would look more proportionate if it was lowered a bit with that severe of a chop.

 

set of 2 door doors, move the top forword just a bit to elongate the trunk, lower it and skirts.

 

I even like the 1950 rear fenders better. Eliminate the wrap around bumper. Does anyone know if these bolt on?

 

Here's some pics of the Chrysler I did if it'll help you at a little
http://picasaweb.google.ca/brenthoitink/49ChryslerChop02

 

out of control! hahahaha

 

It has been a few weeks and I have been working weekends to get this done.....By the way I learned a very valuable lesson this weekend.

If you son comes up to you with your welding helmet on and says "Luke, I am your father" and then he proceeds to ask you what the buttons on the side do. Just telling him not to touch them is not enough! Check to make sure that he in fact does not. Mine decided to change the setting all the way down to 9. A few hours latter while using it, I made a few welds and thought... that was very bright, a couple more and WTF, why the hell is it so bright? Looked at the side and saw the settings were turned all the way down and thought...this is not going to be good. So today I am writing this with sun glasses on in my darkened office.

On with the progress. B pillars:

Decided to slant them. First I cut the pillar out with an angle.

Then I mocked up a piece of cardboard to get the mesurements on how to cut the post. YES white sports tape is great for holding the end of your thumb on until your wife finds out.

Then marked it on the post and cut.

Welded back in:


Well the rear door hits and I will post those adjustments tommorow.

 

Here are a few pictures of the back:


then Tacked in:


If you look closely you can see theat the drip rail is not perfectly in line. I spent 4 hours trying to get this to work. The problem is that the piece the went in there is totaly different in size than the area it went in to. Not to mention that the drip rail is as thick as tin foil....Any ways I fixed it. I took my cutoff wheel and cut the whole damn thing off! You have no idea how good that felt!

Any way there was no rust but lots of dirt. Wire wheeled the whole thing and will show you tommorow the results.

This is what my solution for the rear door is looking like:


This allows the rear window to still work and at the same time makes it more in proportion to the front window:

 

I have a 50 windsor 4 dr. You guys are giving me some very evil and expensive ideas! Damn it! all I wanted to do is drive my old car and have some fun. Now?........I'm just sitting here twitching.
The chop looks great! I want to see more pics!

 

Good lookin' flibber, I dig that grille

 

Here are some updated pictures. I have done a little bondo work and I need to block everything but you can start to get the picture of the final results:

 

Nice work, Windsor. The rearward taper of the roof looks much better with the slanted B-pillar than in your original photochop.

I may have missed, but is the drive-line stock? I assume it's a 6/auto?
Will you be hopping up the flathead?

 

Thanks,

Photoshop is a great tool to get an idea of what you want, but someone said earlier that you will look at it while you are working and change as you go. He was absolutely right. The best part of Photoshop is that it is so easy to use. I can't draw these cars freehand. It is a big project and just flying blind having never done this before, without some visual concept of a final result, would have prevented me from even trying it in the first place. So at least it got me off the couch and excited enough to make the leap.

thanks agian
Brandon

 

Great job Windsor.
Looks awesome!!

 

Looking good! You´re on the right track!
I´ve never liked these boxy rooflines on these otherwise nice Mopars. You did well and improved it a lot!
Chris

 

You sure that window will roll up with the B pillar leaned that far forward?

 

here is a picture of the window inside the door

 

It is inline 6 with fluid drive, painted it up perty, I will take some pice this week.

Not sure if I want to get to crazy just yet as I am going to drive this to work every day. Have seen a couple of dual carb and header systems that look nice but can't seem to find any info on performance. I will be lowering it a couple of inches and going for disc brakes up front!

 

The chop makes that '50 almost look as a newer 300 looks good, they all need to be choped

 

Windsor,
It all looks good. I used mine for daily trans for several years and had no problems. The drive line in these things is actually pretty well engineered for around town. They are not real freeway fliers unless you have the overdrive though. Anything over 55 mph is a little too wound up in the rpm's.{for me anyway} I cant wait to see more pics, both in progress and see it done. My 50 windsor 4 dr is looking at me with fear in its headlights right now.LOL

 

Measuring and marking how much to chop:
4 hours

Cuting and welding the top back on:
16 hours

Getting the f**king doors to line back up and having a consistent 3/16 gap on a 60 year old car:
2 months! and counting.....

I am more and more impressed on a daily basis of the guys that do this for a living.

I eliminated the stainless aroung the middle of the car and cut off the drip rail.

I decided to change the rear doors. I liked the way the old design looked from the back and side but from the front, it just didn't flow properly. I wanted to keep the rear windows working so I had to figure out how to make the vent windows work. The rear vent windows opened at the divider rail and since it was now slanted there was no way to get the hinge posts perfectly aligned. So I cut up and welded the rear pasengerside frame, and welded on the front driverside hardware which opened in the middle. I am going to have these powder coated gloss black along with the divider to make it match the window.


Overall I think it looks better with a larger back window.

Picture from the front:



Picture from the rear:


I saw a post where someone was asking if $4,000 was a fair price to chop a top. I don't see how anyone could make a profit at 4k with all the labor hours involved. Granted, I eliminated the drip rail and slanted the b pillar, but this is still A LOT OF WORK! Don't get me wrong I am really enjoying the challenge. But if I were going to have to feed my kids and keep the lights on with this kind of work, there is no way 4k would justify all the work involved....Again my hats off to those that do this professionaly, everything looks easy to do until you have to do it yourself.

Brandon

 

Looks like you did a great job!!!! Do you have any updated pics?

 

Trying to have it all primered this weekend I will post some pics on Monday
Brandon

 

I think I have ADD...Hey look a chicken

Decided to not only to chop the top, remove the drip rail, but also blend the rear fenders to the body, french the front and rear headlights, shave off the rear door handles, and remove most of the chrome trim. Now I am going to give it a new grill.....I thought I just wanted a dependable daily driver WTF

Here is the new ass-end of my car.



Another view from the side:


One from the front:



Frenched headlights still need a little work but they are getting there:



From the front:




Thinking about rolling the pan and adding a 1950's corvette grill..any ideas?

 

Brilliant!!!! What a change to that previously, awkward looking car...

 

Finally somebody chopped a four door mopar like that and slanted the pillars. For some reason I rarely see that on any four door. It makes a huge differents in looks. Awesome.....

 

Thanks!

I can't tell you how much work it was getting all those damn doors to line back up. They weren't really concerned 60 years ago about the spaces between the doors and the pillars. I had to either cut or weld additional metal on every side of all 4 doors to get an even gap around the door. That took about 5 times as much work as the chop itself

The guys that do this professionally have my respect and admiration

B

 

That looks awesome! I like the forward lean of the headlights. An early vette grill would be sweet.

 

Can't wait to seen it! I think you did a great job...