'41 Buick Super Chop

I'm about to embark on doing a fairly radical chop on my Buick. As each car seems to have peculiarities in the chop approach I was wondering if anyone out there could run some down to me. As I have been visualizing the approach I have a few concerns and you know what they say...measure twice/ cut once.....or they say "how much to fix this".
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I hope that by "super chop" you don't mean Over chop.

 

The model of car is a "Super". The chop will be about 4 1/2 inches.

 

Here is a pic of one of my favorite 41 buicks chopped 3.5 in the front and 4 in the rear. Perfect amount imo.

 

I don't like the loss of the rear quarter windows and I think it shoulda come down more in the rear with the rear window tilted a bit more forward. I have seen a few pics of that car around the net. Nice one...of course it's real easy to criticize someones ride that actually took the blade to it when I'm asking for help on my stocker.

 

id like to see a chopped 41 out there! cant wait to see it how far are you away wheres the pic of the car now?

 

There is a thread on here of a guy chopping a 47/8 Chev coupe, find it and read it carefuly. This shows the basic steps of doing the job. Your measurements may be different because i believe a Buick has larger windows to begin with, so use your judgement there. Good luck with your chop.

 

Scrapers CC Mighty Sam`s 41 is a wonderful example of a classy kustom!The chop is right on,you should find some pics from Riksters kustom car site.



-RK

 

Nice Buick, the loss of the rear quarter windows are perfect!

 

As mentioned before, Scrapers CC 41 Buick coupe is as nice as they can get in my opinion. Beautiful lines.

 

Orn,thanks for adding the photos.According to Rolls&Pleats article(issue#26)it is chopped 3 inches.

 

Good luck with your chop, the purple coupe, and the Scrapers super cool coupe are so fine. Hope yours turns out as hip. ~Sololobo~

 

The three inches on the Scrapers CC car looks to be perfect. It brings the roof down and gives the car great lines. I've always liked the lavender car too but cutting it anymore than that just would give it the "fat gal sat on it" look.

This "I want to chop it hard" thing is way overdone and usually ends up looking more wrong than right when the job is finished.

 

to me the nicest 41 ever done was lee pratts

anyway if u need any parts let me know i had a 4 dr 41 i sold but guy has it back up for sale and will sell some parts including the dual carb setup

 

That black 41 is perfect. Ive got to get to work on my 40

 

Make sure you keep the drip rails....they look terrible without that body line.

 

Here’s another badass 41. My absolute favorite over all 1941 Buick’s is Herb Ogden’s custom Roadmaster.

 

40-41 buicks look so good chopped.

 

that pastel purple one looks nice..but this one tops it all. just dig the way they kept all the windowns on it...nice!

 

x2!

Thats exactly my point. Less is more!

 

Beautiful car. After seeing that I think I will go 3 1/2 or 4 and kick the rear window a tiny bit more forward just to lose that tiny bitof bump that's there. I'm just hoping that that A pillars will line up pretty well and I can avoid have to pie cut the pillars to kick 'em in. The way I was going to approach it was cutting mid A pillar and mid B pillar, slicing at the belt line all the way and leave about 2 inches uncut under the back glass with about 3 in. of metal around it. Once I have the section cut out off the A pillar, slide it forward and down to line up the A pillars and let the C pillars drop down into the package tray area until I get the roofline I like. Then kick the back glas down to meet the angle letting it pivot on the 2 in. of sheet metal left under the glass. I will cut out the back corner curve of the rear quarter glass insets to later weld in an keep the right curve. I will cut the B pillar under the drip rail to move it back an reallign with the body and then match the doors into those curves. My other concern a out the A pillar allignment is how much of a compund curve I will need to fix in the C pillars. The unfilled 2 or 3 inches I'll have around the C pillars at the beltline should be easy, but I don't have a plenishing hammer or English wheel to fab the new C pillar curves. I could slice some pie cuts in the old C pillars to spread them if need be. Anyone see any major problems in the approach??

 

Chopped tops are kinda like breast implants, just the right amount can accentuate the rest of the body perfectly, too much and you just look ridiculous! Just my opinion.

 

I like a hard chop but that's just my opinion.

 

And I like 4-doors with the rear ports welded shut! Kustomz rule!

Here are some shots that I swiped from Riksters website. The first one is one that Chad S sent me...it's a photoshopped '41 Cad, but obviously translates to your '41 as well. The profile on this one is pretty damn close. The second is another '41 Cad that kustom7777 on here was building. Rear quarters are filled, but I think it works on this one with the fadeaways. Anyway, just some more reference material.

I've got a '41 Super as well, and I'm also going the custom route. To be honest, I love the lines of the car so much I wasn't convinced a chop was necessary. But when you look at Mighty Sam's car and the green one below, a nice MILD chop on those cars keeps the proportions in line and makes for a really cool, slippery profile. The Ogden car was a pretty severe chop, but the Carson top visually adds some weight back on top and balances the body.

Post some pics of your car now so we can see what you're starting with! Are you running the original drivetrain?

 

Here are two more shots of Mighty Sam's car from another post here on the HAMB (look for the SINS photos after you do a search for Mighty Sam). This car ALMOST looks like it isn't chopped. Much like the mid-60's Rivieras, mild seems like the way to go in my opinion (and we all know what they say about opinions).

 

I can't get a pic up now. I will take some with the needed perspectives. I.m trying to find out if my best approach is something like a 40 merc where after you cut the A and B pillars should I leave the rear window attached to the roof with only about 2 in. of connection and after I sink it into the package tray kick the bottom of the window up to meet the beltline and get closer to having the window line meet the down slope of the roofline. I was going to do that and make pie slices in the C pillars and spread them out and then fill with wedge pieces in the spreads. I see that guys have just cut wedges and reworked the curves of the C pillars to match the new curve, but the compound curves will be hard to make with the tools I have.
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Hi' my mate here in England UK is just in the middle of a merc chop if it's any help .
Cheer's Dave.

http://www.rodsnsods.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=8642&page=7

 

Here are pics of a 1941 Buick chopped www.bydvs.com
On the first page you can see it chopped at 2.5" then 3.5" and finally at 5"

 

Thanks RK!

 

Here's some early chop pics for inspirtaion