nice chop.looks like a lot of time consuming work went into it .. kinda shows me what has to be done to the trunk area .i have a 48 buick special coupe and have been thinking about chopping it for a while just need bigger boys to jump into it..--the reason im replying is i see a buick in the background in the picts.for sale.? looks like a super or a roadmaster..customers car? details man.....
Wow! Definately the most beautiful Fleetline custom ever built! I can't wait to the see it all buttoned up.
I am pissed.....I lost my identity.....now I am "Brian's dad". Just kidding.....I am proud of what Brian has accomplished and hope that what little rod building ability I have passed on to him has helped. And...being kin gives me braggin rights!
Its good to now that im not the only one with achopped fleetline. Mines a 50 4door with 5 inch chop What rear end and front end set up did you use?ote=Bass;2232211]I'm almost done with the chop on the Fastback, so I thought I'd do a quick update with photos since people keep asking me how the car is coming along. Here's where I left off in the last post: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=202209 I had just gotten the passenger side B-pillar and door frame tacked back on... I decided to keep the B-pillars straight and not slanted, because I think the length of the fastback quarter window becomes disproportionate to the door window with slanted pillars. So straight they are...but I did round the door corners. After finishing up the A and B pillars an door frames on both sides, it was time for the difficult part of the chop. I considered keeping this part secret...because it is the key to getting the top to flow right without sinking the decklid. But anyway, here's what I did to get the decklid opening to work, and the top to have a proper taper to the rear of the car. I cut the top up the sides and just enough across the middle to relieve the tension created by the crown of the roof, and simply opened up the curve where the roof drops down to the decklid. I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that this worked out exactly like I had planned. Here are the cuts... What I effectively ended up with is a "laid down" rear window, and a decklid opening that doesn't require as much height to be taken out of the decklid. Doing this does require a couple of pie-shaped filler pieces in the C-pillar, and you have to reshape the corner of the decklid opening. And to illustrate the amount of changes that the decklid has to go through, here's a shot of the first test fit of the decklid after the top came down... And here's a shot of the C-pillar hammer-welded back together and filed. I decided to leave the factory seam and just lead it back up like it was originally. With the chop done this way, from the front 3/4 view, the car takes on an almost "coupe-like" look. So now comes the decklid. I first cut out the inner bracing where I thought it would be necessary....and then I marked the decklid and cut it into two pieces. With it cut, I bolted the top half to the hinges, and laid the bottom half over it to get an idea of what would need to be done to get it to flow right with the top. This was by far the hardest part of the whole chop. Getting the decklid welded back together and reshaped to where it looked right was a real job. It took several relief cuts, some shrinking, and lots of hammer and dolly work. Once it was totally welded back together and fit to the opening as best I could get it without the bracing, I started to put the bracing back in. I had to stop periodically to test fit it as I was putting the bracing back in to make sure everything was still fitting like it should. After the welds are dressed, it will be nearly impossible to tell what was done to the inner decklid bracing...mission accomplished. I had to make a new corner for the bracing...you'd have to compare this to an original decklid to see the difference. So with that taken care of, it was time to start slinging some lead. I'm sure most of you have seen leading done before, so I won't show the process, but here are the results... The top profile looks pretty good now. I still need to do a little work on the panel between the decklid and the back window, because there is some minor damage from a previous repair in that spot. The removal of thickness from the decklid's profile is one of the most dramatic differences between this style of chop and the 'sunken decklid' style chop. I really like how the proportions of the decklid and roof work together as well. Another difference is illustrated below....since the decklid has been sectioned instead of sunken, I was able to keep the factory curvature where the quarter panel meets the decklid. This is probably more important on the '49-50 Fastback than a '51-52 version. And finally, I'll leave off with a sneak peek of the front end mock-up. I've devised a plan to use the majority of a '49-51 Merc hood to match the '49-50 Merc grille surround, but it's top secret for now. Thanks for looking....I'll try to roll it outside sometime in the next week or so and get some better pics of the completed chop. -Brian[/quote]
hey bass ,got started on mine this weekend got the top cut and my a pillars slugged and welded and the back tacked sunday i am going to weld the b pillars and the door tops! thanks for putting up the pics , working out better than i ever expected! every thing is lining up perfect!! back window rear radius lined up perfect!!cant figure out how to download pics on this hamb but i got a pic on my car on the screen name of chop in progress .thanks again!!
hey bro. do you have any more pics of the hood? that thing is bad!!!! what did you do for hinges? and some more pics of the cuts would be great!!!
hey bro do you have any more pics of the hood? that thing is baaaaaad!!! some more pics of the cuts on the hood would be great! and what did you do for hinges?
Just stumbled back across this post as I'm picking up a '52 Fleetline in a couple of weeks and was looking for some inspirational posts to get me going and all I can say is unbelievable!!!!!!!! I've spent the last couple of nights reading all of the posts on this build and am simply amazed! Can't add anything more to what's been said already and I too can't wait to see the next update!! Thanks for posting Brian!!
The Jalopy Journal
