chopping a top question

I'm wanting to chop the top on my 47 Chevy coupe. Like all of us, I've seen some very well done chops & some that turned out awful. I only want it done once. I'm not interested in chopping the top just for the sake of saying my top is chopped. I want to increase the car's beauty. I'm a strong believer that a chopped car should still have the stainless window trim.

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How have you guys (and ladies too ) determined where & how much to chop?
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Thanks,
Kael

 

Not sure of the year of this Chevy,but I've never seen a better chop on a Chevy Coupe of this body style. I think it's a Chevy!!!! Might be a Buick,haha...

 

That beuatiful car is a 41 Buick. I've had that one stuck in my head ever since I first saw it in a flat light purple
Last I knew it was owned by a person name Ron Gomez.
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Kael

 

I chopped a friends model A sedan and my five window thats is my avatar pic. I looked at a lot of cars and asked a bunch of questions. Took pics directly from the side and cut the pics up to get the look. Cuttin' and slidin' the pics around helped pretty much on the coupe. I wouldn't chop a 47 Chevy just 'cause I like them the way that they are. But it ain't my car so chop away...I'm sure that somebody on here will be able to send you info about your 47...
Smokey

 

Its a Buick.

 

You can take about 3" out of it without a donar roof or severe metal work.

Best way to figure it out or at least the old way is to take a bunch of snaps side front and rear and then get some scissors and start snipping and taping.

or if you are a little more high tech than that there is HAMBer that owns Manx Dsign that does 3d renderings using state of the art design software. He can probably help you out I'm pretty sure he can be found in the HAMB-Odex.

 

I'd have to say hunt and collect photos of chopped Chevy coupes of that body style and decide on exactly how you want to do it.

Buy the Tex Smith how to chop tops book for the various tips it has in it that may save you some grief.
Read every chop topping tech thread on here and book mark the ones that have good info especially Ian Berkley's threads. Those alone can save you a lot of hours of "how the hell am I going to do that to make it right".

Don't get caught up in over chopping it. I have one buddy that thinks if the car doesn't look like three fat gals sat on the top it isn't chopped enough. Chopping should streamline the vehicle but not make it look squashed.

 

After I posted the pic's,I looked again and thought I might be wrong. The bodies are pretty much the same,right?

 

A tip that might help when cuting up pictures to determine where your going. Put a yard stick in the picture somewhere ( standing up against the door is good). That way you have a reference to refer to the scale that will be one to one when you start cutting up the pictures. You end up knowing exactly how much and where to cut after measuring the picture pieces you cut out.

Frank

 

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Yes it is basically the same body style. Very minor differences between the years.
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As was mentioned, a chop should help the car look more streamlined. I don't want a squashed look.

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Kael

 

Put a 3" strip of tape on your car where you think you would cut it.
Take pictures.
Cut out the 3" strip and tape the picture together.

 

I use photo chop a lot to help me with a chop. I find that too much looks stepped on and not making the right cuts can lead to a chop that looks wrong. When chopping you need to keep a close eye on flow and the natural lines of the car. I don`t make one cut till I know what my out come is going to look like. Study how the roof changes as it comes down. I did this 63 Caddy and did a lot of thinking before I cut it down. Chopped more out of the front and moved the rear widow back and laid it down.

 

There is a cool web site I use to see whatshit loos like it's carnut.com

 

There's a getto version of this procedure you can use on any picture to get a rough idea of the proportions.

for instance, on 49-52 chevies there is a formed body line under the windows.
IIRc it is 1" tall, so a pair of calipers on ANY picture set that distance apart will measure 1" on that picture.
Thus giving you a rough idea on how much was chopped out.

I've also used wheels (15") license plates and headlights.....

Good luck.

 

I think Jaws nailed it when he chopped his ’46 coupe.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=439351

 

Here's 4.5 " front/ 5" back on a 48 Aero Cp.

 

How much and where to cut are part experience, part good eye for design, and part magician!
How much you cut often dictates where you cut, and how you do it. Therre are lots of variables, no one is "the right way". There are lots of wrong ways, though!
Doing it in quarters, laying down the windshield posts, laying down or sinking the rear windshield, straight, slanted or no B pillars, using a different roof, decreasing the crown of the roof...all viable methods.
It often helps to know your limits on your metalworking talent, and the tools available to you, that might limit your creativity.
Sorry for not giving concrete advice, but if you are still in your research and planning stages, find "the look" you like best, figure out how much and how they did the chop, then start planning your attack on the metal!

 

if you need a roof for parts I have two good roofs and a pair of doors if you need them for you 47 chevy chop

 

I like this one because it doesn't look chopped. It just looks designed properly.

 

To me its not just the look but the metalwork that says whether its a good chop but perhaps thats just me. I hate to see a car that looks great in paint but when you see how it was done you realise its coated with thick filler. Kind of spoils the effect for me.