Customs Chopped 58 buick , roof solution!!!!

If you're not concerned with keeping it "HAMB friendly," I've seen roofs from newer cars adapted to older ones. Maybe a '67 Impala? Get one of the photoshop guys to whip it up for you. But, it will be a ton of metalwork either way. Not really doable unless you are good with a welder & tape measure.

 

It's been two years and you still haven't found a roof that will work for you. Sounds like it's time to get rid of this car and move on to something you can enjoy.

 

I'd love to see a chopped '57 roof on a '58

 

Last option is to make a pickup or convertible of it.

 

Well there You go, the first time this has been pointed out in this thread.
The "Special", like what you have, is a smaller-body car than the Cadillac.
Buicks came in various sizes that year, the Special/Century -series being the smallest, with its own, unique backlite design etc. The "Super/Roadmaster 75" being the next size up, and the LIMITED being longer yet, with its extended deck. The large-body Buicks had the similar-appearing roof to that on the Cadillac.
No roof from a Cadillac is going to be a direct fit for Your car. Neither is anything from 1956, as "close" (?) as You may think it looks.

Look for a 1958 Buick Special/Century roof. If You must investigate other possible donors, look at 1958 Oldsmobile 88´s. They at least appear to have the similar backlite design to them. Take measurements first, before cutting into anything, though.
Depending on whether You´re looking to swap the whole entire roof, OR just the windshield opening to be grafted onto the back-half of Your existing Coupe roof, the front half of a Small-Buick/Oldsmobile 88 4dr HT (=and by "hardtop" I mean a pillarless 4dr) might work for You. In the ´50s, the (pillarless) 4dr Hardtops typically shared the height of windshield with the similar-series 2dr hardtops, despite the roofs being longer (as in fore-aft).

 

i am young! i have time, plus i dissapear to europe for 10 months out the year so its not sitting in my face laughing at me!

 

I've been wondering how your car was coming along. Hoped it was done. How is the Caddy conversion coming along ?

 

Looks like you need the roof from a '58 Buick Special or Century or '58 Olds (any series). '57 model year of those same models would work but in '57 the rear window is completely different (three pieces) so you'd need the whole rear window section, including the tulip panel. Cadillacs and "senior" series Buicks (Super, Roadmaster, Limited) use a different body shell and won't interchange with your Buick without substantial expert metal surgery.

Good luck with the project!

 

Cant you make a fiberglass buck that fits then get someone to match it in perspex?

 

If the salvage yard is scrapping out, and you just want it to be different, pick the top of your choice and take it with the entire A-post, C-post and package tray area.

The thing is you can keep the stock front windshield frame and adapt another roof to it, too, so if you can get a glass to fit that you're golden.

58 Buick Special, Century, and Olds 88 would be a direct match as far as top and glass go, same shell.

Worst part is I scrapped a '58 Special a few years ago - albeit a sedan, it had good glass and top in the shell when it left. And it was a bare shell, I saved just about everything out of it.

 

Thanks for thinking of me! teh 59 was put on hold for now, becuase teh 60 flattop is being made into a full funtioning convertible as we speak! i finally decided that i i just dont have the time or garage to go do this stuff, so i found a guy in North Carolina who is getting it done for me! he will be taking progression pictures as the build goes along so that will be my next topic.

 

that actually makes a ton of sense......hmmmm

 

thanks everyone for your input and help with all the suggestions and pics. i finally found a guy in ohio who has two 58 buicks and is willing to sell me the tops!! ( yeahhhhhhhhh!!)

here are the pictures of what the two cars look like, i think that the black one would be the best donor...now finally onto thinknig about the motor and the 59 dash installation!

 

UPDATES!! found a 58 buick special with back and front glass!!! side trim and all....will use the roof and front and back windshields...all else will be up for grabs. here are some pictures of the car!! first set are roof pics...

 

here is the rest of the car....pretty rough....

 

Nice to see updates on old projects, glad you found a roof. Bob

 

thanks bob, the biggest challenge for this car was finding a roof with a good front windshield. the front windshield alone is about 600, I got the entire car for 1k!!

 

update guys! got the 1958 buick from Des Moines, Iowa. car was alot nicer then i expected and has all the interior pieces i was missing from the chopped car and the side badges. here was the car when i pulled it from the weeds....

 

car was wrecked along the passnger qauter, so thats annoying, has the stainless though, so better then nada. windshield was good, has the door panels and rear seat which i was also missing. here is how it looked after taking it through a truck wash....

 

Wow, 9 years later. That Buick will be awesome, keep us posted!

 

Slow builds are the best!

Bob

 

Stainless doesn't get chromed, it gets polished.

 

Damn, that's what you call patience!

 

WELL?

 

Oh man that HT looked too nice to chop up but we all know photos are deceiving...

 

I'd love to see or hear about some progress on this project. I think the donor car is perfect, even if you just use the whole donor shell on the other frame and weld in sections from the unfinished chop car.

 

Any updates on this???