Art & Inspiration Chopped Tops

I like about +3” off the top.

 

Pretty pitiful I know but all I got at the moment, the best Rod & Custom cover ever "Chopped Top Issue".

 

My 28 Tudor has a 3” chop, minivan seat that I made a new seat riser for that is just 3” shorter. Storage under the seat still but not as much.

One man chop so I use the hoist.

Moved it back a little but I can fit good at 6’2” and even sit in the back seat.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

Chopped my 49 COE 4 inches front and back, kept pillar angles stock. Took 2 inches above and below the rear window and kept it stock height. Vent windows reworked and operational. I had to quarter the roof and add strips lengthwise and widthwise.

 

I liked the looks of some chopped vehicles but never thought I really wanted to own one. In the early 80's a friend had a solid Tennessee already chopped 37 Chevy Sedan that was for sale at a very reasonable price. I bought it with plans to do some work and make a flip to finance my other projects.
Fast forward a few years and having the chopped sedan and 2 other 37 Chevy's for sale. A day after our 37 Delivery sold I returned home from work to find the chopped sedan pushed out of the barn. My Wife and kids used shoe polish and wrote "Lynn's Dream, Not For Sale".
Like other builds the 37 became Family designed project. I added some mild body fabrication changes, suicide doors, power windows, AC and the Family picked a nice color combination. Our interior design made it functional and a comfortable fit. The car exceeded my expectations and was a joy to drive. Both kids also enjoyed it during their High School years and even drove it to their Proms.
In 2000 the 37 was ready for a paint job, I was doing another build so we put the 37 up for sale at an event we attended in Reinbeck, NY. With some last minute hesitation we said goodbye to the chopped 37. A few years later I found the guy in Long Island we sold it to had repainted it the same color without the graphics and had since sold it to a couple in Connecticut.
I decided to try contacting the current owner and posted a picture and request for information about the car on Craigslist in different Connecticut locations. After a couple years and several dead-end leads, I found the owner. We kept in touch and after another year or so in 2010, he expressed an interest in selling the car. I decided to at least pay him a visit and maybe see the car one last time. I took the 37 for a ride and immediately decided it was time to bring her home again where I continue to enjoy driving her.
It may be time to do some freshening up since it still has some of the original parts I installed when I built it in the 80's. The Grandkids now enjoy riding in it when they visit and who knows maybe one day they will get to drive it.

 

Hi This is a 49 Caddy Fleetwood was a 4 door but it was so rusty and need major fabication to repair I decided to 2 door it and chop 4 1/2" front 5 " rear ....

 

not this guy, I love it

 

Yeah, I like chopped tops too. My 34 Dodge delivery has a 3'' chop, and the A's are both chopped 6''.

 

My 31 sedan, and the 29 coupe both have a 6" hair cut.

Sent from my SM-G920P using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

5"

 

one already chopped - above San Francisco, CA

 

If I recall correctly I took about 2" out of this.

 

Hi I`m Jhon K. Recently I have Attended Sidney`s Vintage Car Hotshot Festival. Here`s the picture

 

My 32 Chevy on Essex rails back in 66 .

 

2-1/2 inches on my 1929 dodge

 

Just a little off the top. Can’t take the Merc through the drive thru...can’t get the soda cup through the side window.

 

View attachment 4444113 View attachment 4444113 . ,............... 4 inches out of my 33 pickup.... My dad chopped it in 1955... 5 1/2 inches out of the model a I'm working on

 

This is my '54 Ford Victoria. In the process of doing all the side windows now. I've never done them before but thankfully they are all flat. You fellas know the cost for Lexan VS Tempered glass?

 

To nice of a car to use Lexan……………………………….

 

About 7" in front. ......

 

Allways thought the ford capri would look mean with a 1.5 inch chop. The anglia needs chopping too.

 

Not easy to chop an Anglebox because of the reverse sloping rear window....but it has been done.
There's a couple 3-4@ chopped Anglia's in the UK.
I seem to recall a couple of Capri's as well that had been chopped back in the day.

 

Lexan is much cheaper than glass but it scratches easily, but it would be a good pattern for getting the glass cut to replace it with!

 

4 1/2"

 

Went with a 2.5” chop highboy, mainly because I am 6’3”, and sure like the headroom. Although I would have liked the look of a 4.5” chop!

 

'34 Ford P/U, 4" chop the unconventional way!

 

This is 4.



The Merc was 4 in the front and I don't know in the back. I just kept cutting and moving stuff until it was where it needed to be.





-Abone.

 

Hello,

Driving in a Flathead 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery was fun. The enclosed feature of a sedan delivery was cool for a teenager. Privacy, limited to two in the seats and reason not to pick up others for a ride to school. The vision out of the front was two fairly small windows. With the tall rear solid panels, it gave the aspect of driving a cave down the street. AAAhh, but the privacy and solitude of the enclosed area was outstanding.

No CHP with flashlights could see inside and although we were inside, the feeling to the CHP was a neighbor parked overnight in front of their residence. The curtain covered station wagons had some form of privacy, but the CHP always made them move to the state park for overnight camping/sleeping.

Now, as we got older, the 327 powered 40 Ford Sedan Delivery was cool, powerful and comfortable. The front view was still the same and the solid side panels were still there. We knew from the Flathead version that the rear door window was virtually useless, unless a big 4x4 or diesel truck was right behind us.

So, what does it feel like to be inside a chopped sedan delivery? It already had limited vision all around anyway, but it does look cool.

A normal 1933 Willys sedan delivery next to a chopped top 39 sedan delivery…


I wanted to get a feel of driving this chopped sedan delivery as compared to our stock 40 Ford Sedan Delivery from back in those early days. We had miles of fun driving the 40 Ford all over So Cal.

This chopped early Willys Sedan Delivery was nicely finished, but would create a low down, squashed, feeling. The feeling is not too much different than laying back in one of those high dollar sports cars and looking out of the front window.

Recently, I sat in a high dollar sports car. The road view is different and the feeling was difficult to adjust and feel safe. Although, it is the same road ahead, it just felt weird. I liked the "sit up driving stance" of the sedan delivery every time, if there is a comparison.

Jnaki

But, in a stock front window version of any hot rod, not a chopped to any level version for better vision. A chopped top of any car would feel like the Jolly Green Giant just stepped on the hot rod. In a chopped sedan delivery with the solid rear side panels, it might as well be driving an Army tank down the street.

NOTE: My wife and I decided after many night time road trips to and from various photo trips, the night vision out of a sedan delivery was hindering our enjoyment of just being on the road with a hot rod. The lack of full greenhouse views in the daylight was hindering enough, let alone in the darkened night time roads.

It was ok for a while, but, eventually, the lack of right side vision and the lack of any rearward vision made us look for another car and we sold the sedan delivery to another young couple just getting started in their hot rod adventures.

A chopped hot rod may look cool, but inside, it is all sardines packed to the brim with no a clear sighting all around the moving vehicle…YRMV

 

First one I ever chopped. My dad and I did it in our driveway when I was 17 2002. Drove it daily for 3 years with no side glass in Missouri. Got cold but was the best car I've ever owned. Someday it will return to the road.