my car is gettin' a haircut

On thanksgiving weekend some close friends of mine and myself plan to chop the top on my '54 belair. I have been doing alot of research and want to start with 3 1/2 inches with a '50 backglass and slanted b pillars. I am looking for someone to do a scaled photochop. Your ideas and opinions would be great. Thanks Luke

 

sounds like you got it figured out. the only thing is that a 50 back window the bottom arches and dosent match the belt line very well i was thinking of putting one in my 54 but it drove me nuts. a lot of guys use shoebox ford rear windows or a 49-50 plymouth or the early chev coupe ones. good luck on your chop.

 

Can't wait to see it. Sounds cool!

 

http://s420.photobucket.com/albums/pp285/lforsberg73/?action=view&current=2764.jpg

Not a photoshop, but my car has a 4" chop with a 50 rear glass, and slanted B pillars, done by Choprods. Heres a link to some photos, hope they help.

 

good luck with the chop, its seems to be a tuffy, i haven't seen too many i liked so far. just make sure the belt line looks factory and make sure you don't have any humps coming from the package tray deck lid area to where the bottom the the window is. the glass should be located relatively close to the beltline, i wouldn't go more then 2 inches above the beltline. and one more thing never use the factory rear glass! i see alot of people using the factory rear glass and leaning it forward, results are horrible, for one the beltline gets fucked up, and for two u get a huge hump like the one i was talking about.

 

Thanks for all of the feedback, i plan on having the new rear window trim lock into the beltline trim peice as it did from the factory. Luke

 

a few shots from yesterday and today, needing any kind of pointers with the donor 50 chevy rear window.

 

I can say that inliner54 is right the curves following the beltline are different and that really slowed progress in the rear portion of the roof yesterday. I worked on the passenger side door top today and pillars.

 

Lookin good Luke. Sorry we couldnt make it. My dad is like a stubborn mule. We didn't exactly get anything done on the buick either. I didnt get to bed till 530am and didnt wake up till 3. Are you gonna have everyone over again sometime?

 

Looks good man, I wish I coulda made it up to lend a hand but I work Saturday mornings.

 

I would like to plan another day to have everybody here. It would probably be after the holidays though, when no ones busy and the weathers shitty.

 

Cool. Let me know ahead of time and Ill mark it on my calender AND my dads calender this time. Maybe we could redo toms driveshaft tunnel the same day. Get a couple guys working on both cars?

 

That is a good idea, should he wait until the bags are under it first though? You guys can set the date if you want, doesn't matter to me.

 

Hey...you don't need a back window! Do ya?
DD

 

Found a shoebox back glass in a local salvage yard, the first chance i have i am going to go and get it.

 

What happened to the donor glass you were gonna use?

 

I like the side profile of it, but why not use the original wrap-around -style backlite on it?

 

looking good.

 

keep up the good work

 

After we got the donor rear roof cut down we found out that the curve in the beltine was different and the window runs only about a 1/4" above the beltine giving you no room to hide it. The bottom corners on the stainless are at a 90 degree and lock into the beltine trim. The shoebox glass can be raised up from the beltine as it is layed forward. As far as the stock wrap around rear window i think it is hard to make it look right in the c-pillar area. Going with a smaller donor window i will have the sail panel look that i am going for. Thanks for the compliments i wouldnt be this far if it wasn't for good friends to help me out.

 

You can raise the '49-52 Chevy back glass up too, but then those 90 degree corners on the stainless definitely have to go. And if you don't, then you're right....it's near impossible to keep from dipping below the beltline as the window is laid forward. You also create a gap between the beltline and the center of the glass....that looks like shit, in my opinion...as does moving the glass too far up. The shoebox glass will give you the same problem and you'll have to deal with a LOT of crown. That's why guys use '50 Plymouth glass (like Inliner54 said)....






I believe Atomickustom used '46-48 Chevy on his...that worked well too.

Your chop looks great so far....looking forward to seeing more...

Bryan

 

It looks great monster! Keep up the good work.

Lucky

 

Did you get the shoebox window yet? I like the look of the 46-48 window Atomickustom used, it looks better that the shoebox. Does Dan have a 48 chevy we can butcher?

 

I haven't got the window yet. Where can i find a pic of atomickustom's car? Both cars in the pics above are 50 plymouth windows done by cole.

 

Just got back from the salvage yard. It is a 49 ford window that they are going to cut out. Hopefully i will have it in my hands sometime next week........stay tuned

 

I picked up the 49 ford window this afternoon, cut it down, covered the glass, blasted it, and started to install it.

 

Good to see this goin again...I can't wait to see how that window fits. Thanks for the pics and update...lookin good!!

 

I didn't even have the window back to my shop and i already felt better, just having some sense of direction.

 

I continued to hammer weld above the window this afternoon. I then made a template of the new sail panel, rough cut it out, and then cleco the panel in place.

 

Hey Luke I just caught up to this thread, sorry I'm late for the party, I really like that little car of yours, You're doing a hell of a nice job there. Cant wait to see this one done.
Gary