Derek's 1950 ford coupe shoebox build and introduction

Howdy Derek, welcome to the board, I love the shoebox bro. You are really doing some tasty stuff, dig it. A buddy has a 56 Caddy coupe de ville that I sold for him and is headed your way. Your car is one I always have had on my, best of list. Congrats and enjoy the coupe. ~sololobo~

 

thanks mate, cheers, yeah the shoebox ford is a sweet car. everyones sending cars over from the states, its so cheap to at the moment and american cars are too expensive to buy here.
des

 

lookin awesome mate, amazing what droppin it a few inches will do. we'd better put another leg on the spit soon. have you painted your plates yet? If not i should bring mine out and do em both next meet. blue an white looks schmidt.
will be heaps better now its on the road.

 

Wow nice shoebox.from one Aussie with a shoebox to another, welcome to the club .. I am glad your keeping the flathead

 

hey mate, cheers, i love the shoebox its awesome, gotta keep the flathead, always looks and sounds the part, ive had people telling me to put a overhead valve v8 in it but i cant, love the flatty too much already.
cheers

 

had a small club meet on friday night with 5 of the Eldorados and pulled the engine and box out again, rear main again, (the rope seal last time was not right, too small diameter)
going to do all the gaskets in the engine and gearbox and really clean up the engine this time in metallic gold and set up my triples, it wont go back in till the triples are set up ad it has headers on it so i can do a twin system mandrel bent exhaust for a nicer note with a big possibilty of flame throwers, probably most deffinately getting flame throwers.
polished intake and chrome acorn nut set, maybe ali heads but i like the look of the stock ones painted.
threw a chook on the Eldorados club spit and had a box of budweisers to get is through the night.
good times.

 

Ryan Ford of kustom linez, and Ahron Jeffrie of waddingtons street rod restorations hard at it waiting for the chicken to cook itself.

 

well, this has been discussed regularly between me and the other guys in the club about whether its getting a chop or not, personaly i am a big fan of un chopped coupes, but i am also a big fan of chopped coupes done correctly, well thought out, researched, and planned chops are the key i think.
the other day the qaurter window rubber was a bit tight and on closing it back uo the window cracked a little, only a 3 inch crack but then opened it and it crack around 9 inches, i sold, if that window has to be fixed may aswell chop it as me and Ahron discussed.
so thats it, i stripped it out today and got it all prepared for the roof chop sat afternoon and sunday, Ahron, tex and the chicken man are bringing tools, welders and enthusiasm to cut up my shoebox.
i have done a shit load of research on the hamb and other websites, i feel there is a bit of negetivity towards chopped coupes, but there are plemty of examples out there that show when done right and not rushed you can get a mean lookin chop and stance,
i only have a couple things that are musts, its going to be a mild chop of around 3 and 4 inches front to back, something like that, anything to be=ig the qaurter windows end up to small and can look funny, also b pillars must be leaned, must be, one they look cooler this way and give a better flow in my opinion and two, it gives your more quarter window space, thats it.
anyone feel free to give your 2 cents input.
so it will be chopped and engine cleaned uo and back in to cruise as is for a while, leaving the paint alone for now, i dont expect to dp this really quickly, i want it to look right and finshed off with all stainless and glass being put back.

 

Well you're absolutely right.....there is a lot of conterversy about coupes being chopped....2-door sedans..YES....coupes NO....top ends up too short for car ...out of proportion...heres hopen you do your homework and it turns out well....Mine is 51 coupe, lowered with cut-down 51 Merc skirts, bull nose...future plans call for 54 Pontiac grille, decked (license moved to bumper with 49 Chevy gaurd) and front badge removed...(I like the bull nose look)

 

looks like a cool build thread your putting together..love the shoe boxs and tri powers also..keep up the good work

 

hey thanks, yeah i see alot of mixed feelings but it can be done and look good, i am doin a shitload of reaearch and have found a few that have good proportions, i think if you chop e to much and dpnt get the quarters right it can wreck them but i wont be happy till it looks right, there are alot of cool chopped coupes out there just some that arent done right, but also its all up to how you want it to look.
sounds like a cool car, i like the licence plate on rear bumoer and a smoothed out decklid. looks nice
cheers

 

thanks mate, its good fun doin this thread and seeing what people say, i like constructive critisicm not negetivity, i think it will turn out good. keep posting dude.
cheers

 

You have some good mates helping you it will turn out great. I like the look of the b post slanted ,the sidey with the triples so cool. No chopped show this year? ...Rod

 

Congrats on getting your spinner and wlecome to the HAMB..
I love the coupes un-chopped...they just look so........"cartoony" unchopped. Here's my old 49.
I had to do some trimming of the rear body cross support to clear the driveshaft with 4" blocks and also had to open up the drieshaft tunnel and weld a strip into the top for more driveshaft clearance. I flopped the spindle supports and heated them to bring the geometry back in specs. Cut the coils too.
I fab'd up mounts for a trans am/Z-28 1.25" stabilizer bar up front...made a world of difference in handling.

 

Very cool great to see every one chipping in to help
Cheers scotty

 

yeah mate, our club is a great group of guys who when they can get in a give ya a hand as much as possible, just cause we all love the same shit and enjoy hanging out and working on old shit.
no chopped show, you mean for the spinner, it'll be there, i live by myself and sit out in the shed till late, its amazing how much u can get done, it may not be 100% but i plan on driving it there, at worst trailer, but i live in castlemaine and am from newstead originally so it aint far ha ha.



QUOTE=Deu55;6575458]You have some good mates helping you it will turn out great. I like the look of the b post slanted ,the sidey with the triples so cool. No chopped show this year? ...Rod[/QUOTE]

 

ha ha, they do look a bit cartoony, with the big bubble top, but they look cool to, then again you would say that rediculously big chops on tudor sedans look cartoony, but thats just me, yeah thats cool, i plan on baggin mine cause as cool as it is to say na fuck bags ill just drive it low everywhere, its alot cooler to just pump em up and get over shit without scrappin everything, it makes mcdonalds drive through very hard sometimes with there little speed humps ha ha
cheers mate

 

you say beer and meat for a little help and people come running, if i said to you come over and give us a hand, ill have a slab or two and a spit going in the corner of the shed, what would you say? ha ha

 

I would say what time???!!!?

 

Derek,
Great coupe bud. exactly what I will be looking for.
Look forward to watching the build unfold.

J168

 

Ha ha ha cheif012, exactly my point, not mch u can't get mates to do when beer is involved, but I've found the key is to not have to many otherwise work slows right down. Ha ha.

 

Thanks mate, plenty of em about in the states and so cheap at the moment, yeah I look forward to seeing the progress on it myself too.
Cheers.
Will put pics up Sunday of how te roof is going, it won't be anything massive as coupes can look funny chopped to much but just enough to improve the look.
DES

 

i hope my fellow hambers dont mind me borrowing a couple of there pics, hers is a few coupes that have nice chops that i am getting ideas from, let me know what anyone thinks,
WHO SAID COUPES LOOKS SHIT CHOPPED.......................

 

And some more

 

This is pretty extreme but looks good

 

Sweet write up Des! its gunna look sweet chopped mate!.. when ya starting the chop?

 

As I say to my fellow Vulture & Compadre, Shannon Cato 'We are winners in Spinners'. I must have wagged school on the day it was stated that only Tudors look cool chopped. Hell, if you have got balls of steel go the hardtop look. Airbags are for accordians & the Johnny come lately's......oops. Apolgies to anyone I have offended. Got my coupe taildraggin' & riding nice with drop spindles/steering arms/reverse eye springs/lowering blocks & gas shocks (thanx Mike Ahrens fer the specs via Mr Cato). Great thread, keep it coming. Mr Trad Gestappo Rodder.

 

thanks haddy, were starting sat night and all sunday on the chop see how much we get done then as much as possible after that when ahron and tex can come round and do there welding panel beating skills.

 

ha hah ha ha ha, thats spot on, i was messaging shannon the other day and he did inform me that your always a winner in a spinner, hey im all for chooped coupes, i reckon they look awesome, some people on the hamb seem to say "tudors yes, coupes no" but i dissagree otherwise i wouldnt be doing it, its all in the amount of the chop and planning, but most of all its what you want you own car to look like, hey its my winner spinner and ill do with it what i like ha h ah.
keep watching mate.
cheers
des

 

ps hard topped ones look sick but i also dig the slanted b pillars.
and i have balls of aluminium id say, nice and shiney when polished but by no means hard.