I'm back on the forum after a way to long time. I had no chance to work on my 1957 imperial. I hope that I can realy start of this year. All the parts for the 392 I have now, just need to get the block to the chop for a hone and linebore. I haven found this pic on the internet http://www.johndagostinokustomkars.com/images/57 Imperial Imperial Royale.jpg My 1957 is a 4 door ht but with the same roof line. I like the looks of the choped roof. But to cut the windschield seems to be a bit of a problem . Is there any experiance here with having it cut with a waterjet. A new windschield for a 57 imperial is hard to get overhere in the netherlands. Remco
Maybe you can sink the glass into the car so you don't have to cut the glass heres a pic of gene winfields caddy as an example.
On most builds, D'Agostino has custom windshields made by some guy from Finland(?) I believe. On a tough-to-do wraparound like yours, that would be the best solution. But expensive! There's beena lot of threads about getting custom curved glass made, but with no real authority, or real prices. I know for a fact, that the custom rear windshield made for the Barris designed, Jerry Kind built, Chrysler City Coupe cost about 10,000$, done here in the US. I think the second one was only 2 or 3000m, so after molds are made, repos are cheaper than the first one. The second best alternative would be to cut the glass and build your windshield opening to fit it. The more you cut, the more fabrication is needed. I did very little on my 55 Olds when I chopped it back in 83. You might also have to fabicate, or really rework you trim for the glass. Sinking it into the cowl is another alternative. Be warned, though that doing this effectively makes the glass too small for the opening, and you'll be doing sheet metal fabrication on this version, too. We did the Kopper Kart glass to simulate this way of doing it. Barris sunk in the glass, probably due to the fact that cutting curved glass was still new, esp. the deep wraparounds, and also, that the rear was tempered...not able to be cut. The glass, esp. up front, was too small for the normally chopped roof, so they extended the pinchwelds to fit the glass, and then made extensions between the stock trim and the windshield rubber to fill in the space. This look is OK for some, but not very attractive, my personal opinion. I've also seen where they "thicken" the pillars to make up the difference for the smaller glass..again, OK for some.......
do a search here, and online. lots of info/opinions available on cutting curved glass. my '54 Chevy coupe had the front & rear glass lowered into body
Hello Remco DK autoglas in Alphen a/d Rijn can make autoglass in every size you desire, also curved glass. So also topchop glass is no problem. See www.dk.nl Groeten Hennie
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