I'm looking for pictures of 49-51 mercury 4 doors with shaved drip rails and I was also wondering what other people preferred ( keeping them or removing them)
I like them shaved. removed them from my '50 chevy coupe and almost all of the early iconic Kustoms they were smoothed off!
Shaved drip rails almost always make a custom ,or any vehicle- look worse. Most often it is only done because the person didn't know how to chop the car -saving them..... It often makes the quarter glass look like a old Camper window that was added as an afterthought....
To me, they look like an old bald guy without the rails. Back when, they shaved them when chopping the top because it was easier, and the show judges rated the end result on the number of mods, not the actual look of the end result.
small correction. Shaving drip rails from chopped custom cars dates FAR back from the car show judging days.
I agree, I have seen a couple where they altered the window to make it look good but most look like an afterthought.
I always love to learn something new every day. Today I learned that historical custom cars generally accepted as the most beautiful ever created have chopped tops that are nothing more than after thoughts or looking like old bald guy's.... Just to name a few, Hirohata Merc, Matranga Merc, Jesse Lopez Ford, Landon Chevy, Bettancourt Mercury...
I agree Kenny. I would say those cars are the exception rather than the rule. Plus the fact that they are exceptional in every way. Most of the newer customs I have seeen shaved look like Kenny described. It takes a skilled customizer to pull it off and make it look "right" IMHO
The Bettancourt/Zupan Merc. Frankonzogni's Merc, Dave Bugarin's Merc.............guys that didn't know what they were doing????????????My Ass!
Yeah and most of the "famous" couch builders back in the 30's and 40's also had NO clue that they were doing!
I saw a beautiful custom '50 Chevy with shaved drip rails. The only flaw? Shaved drip rails. It made the rear window look too small. To me, the drip rail add flow to the roof line.
Actually a few of them didn't..... as seen in their results. When I was a kid in the early sixties you saw very few customs being built. That was because they had morphed into such ugly "creations" ,that you could not even recognize the origin of the build..... having said this I believe the customs with the drip removed and the end resulting funny lookin rear quarter glasses could have looked better if they left the drip on and about 50 of the other mods off as well. Bad taste is not only a recent factor in building custom cars. If it is not improving the appearance ,it is going backwards and should be left off the build in my humble opinion..... I feel very strongly that this "modify everything till ya puke looking at it". styling was what very nearly killed the custom movement in America in the sixties and[ in a few cases later than that]. QUOTE=Rikster;8744640]Yeah and most of the "famous" couch builders back in the 30's and 40's also had NO clue that they were doing![/QUOTE]
I don't know if your reply was directed at me or not, but there are to many with back windows that look like this, where if the drip rail was still there it would look much better. I am not saying no car looks good without drip rails, I have seen many that look good, but to many look like this and if you like this look go for it.
The problem with shaving drip rails is in a rainstorm...water runs off the top right onto the side windows...and if you've ever driven in a rainstorm you'll know that a side window needs to be open to keep condensation off the windshield...shaved drip rails allow water inside the car at speed (or even stopped), instead of moving it to the rear of the car... Besides, I've always been of the opinion shaved drip rails hide the tops of the doors better than not (perfect example is the '40 Ford coop above) and you wouldn't have to round the door tops with drip rails... R-
Generally, they look better with the drip rails intact, but as Rikster pointed out there are many great customs with them shaved. I know that in the UK the archetypal hot rod/street rod is the Ford Pop (Anglia), and they really suffer in the looks department without the rails, which is unfortunate as they are about the first thing to rust away! The chopped '40 above would look better (IMHO) with at least something following the original lines - the moulded lip on '33-'34 Fords looks good and is fairly easy to imitate with some 1/4" rod and a bucket of lead.
How do you intend to use the car? Many of these iconic cars mentioned with shaved rails were also southern California cars where the weather is such that drip rails really weren't needed anyhow. I see you are in Chicago...drip rails were designed for folks with weather like you. If you are building a car that will for the most part not see weather, shave them if you want. If you are going to drive the car a lot rain or shine like I do mine, there are going to be days you wish those drip rails were there if you shave them off. Me? Depends on the car. I don't hate them on or off, but I agree with the above posts extra thought might need to go into the shape and size of the back window to avoid a large open space that looks like something should have been there.
Im glad Dick Dean followed the footsteps of the clueless customizers that came before him.Ayala,Barris,etc. Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app
I guess living in Sask you have never had to deal with drip rails rotted right off the car, the main reason my 47 lost its driprails is because of rot..... and it looks cool to me which is all that matters in the grand scheme of things.
You can actually put drip rails back on where its been removed, rather easily..... A section at the rear where it usually looks strange in a hard chop,[which usually brings on the removal]can be done [with a minimum of work]-OR- if you want to fix a rusty spot in drips or even the whole thing is not out of the realm of possibility.....its only metal.
That...out of the functional standpoint, Yes. Out of the "visual" standpoint, I feel the removal of the drip rail makes the side of the roof look blank and squared off, thus making the crown of the roof appear fatter to the eye, much in the same fashion as removal of any longitudinal side trim makes the whole car appear heavier and more boxy. Just my observation.
My 30 truck is shaved, but my 50 chevy isn't. I seen a 56 Chevy at Autorama last year that was shaved, it messed up the whole look of the car. So, for me it is 30's maybe 50's never.
Here is what I have going on currently and I think I like the way the drip rails look. Just need to finess them a little bit.