Hey guys, I have been searching for weeks to find any info on chopping a 53-54 Chevy Hardtop. Any real information for the hardtop chop seems to be non existent. Can anyone help me find any pics or write ups or point me to someone that has the info? Planning on using the stock glass. Having a really hard time seeing the proper way to do this. Thanks
lower front and rear glass down into body - use open metal channel to support bottom of glass -line channel with rubber or use stock rubber - use stock rubber around upper glass that is visible - use split stock rubber across cowl/rear deck to seal with and look stock
thats about the only way I am seeing how to do it is to move the rear glass down and forward and completely re make the whole area on the rear deck to match the new shape of the bottom of the rear glass as it will now be smaller around at the bottom since the whole thing has been lowered down. And the bottom front corners of the rear glass will be towards the inside of the body a lot more which seems like a problem. I have seen people talk about leaning the rear glass but that will not work once you start tipping the rear glass forward the angle of the glass completely changes and it starts moving away from the angled roof line on the sides and lower corners. But If I knew I could get a piece of lexan molded to fit the window opening I would be happy with that, it would save a huge ton of work I would just have to make the body line up in the chop area and leave the deck area and everything alse alone
I assume they heated half at a time, with the door open. I remember reading about their burning their hands in the process.. [I never heard mention of a buck being involved.]
I guess if you have more money than fabrication skills, or know someone with the skills, lexan is an alternative - you will need to make the buck for it to be formed with to get exactly what you need - how about acrylic: ad in Street Rodder magazine - amhotrodglass.com
Here is a link. Maybe an earlier year than yours but it should help. Torchie http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/chevy-hardtop-chop.940978/
I have some pretty decent fabrication skills but I don't want to try and dive into making this whole channel and rear area unless I had some specific explanation of things and some pictures of how it's done on this exact car, I have way too much work put into this body already to dig my self a hole in the wrong direction so to speak. Yea I've checked that out before Torchie it's a bit of a different situation than the 53/54 one piece tempered wrap around glass area. I haven't looked into the cost of having something made to fit my opening yet since I am still deciding which way to go but if it would fit nice and look similar to glass I would gladly pay 1500
Your other option is to slide the rear glass intact, forward. If you look at the pic of the stock 54(Sorry it's so small) you can see the bulge in the roof area right above the rear window. You can bring the rear down quite a bit, moving the window forward into the roof by cutting out the bulge. It will also give you a better flow to the window/roof area. The angle of the rear window will remain the same. Or as you have stated you can have a new rear window made to fit a smaller opening if you choose to go that route. Torchie
American Rodder magazine did an article years ago with chopping a 53. They moved the top forward and never even took the headliner out of the car. The magazine is buried somewhere in my basement. Maybe someone else can help out here. The car was red....
It was a hardtop. I'll see what I can find....they chopped it at the front, cut the height out of the dogleg-looking back pillar and slid the top forward. They only removed the last row of the headliner when they moved the glass.