Keep them. Shaved looks funny AND they serve an important function, particularly for someone who lives in Detroit.
Like 41-48 coupes.. Depends on the car.... Liked 'em both ways,not counting the practical side of things.
Actually, the drip rails were already shaved by a previous owner, when I bought my old '46 coupe body, (don't mind the flat black and red wheels, this was about 16-17 years ago!)...I kinda liked it...:
They gotta stay, just drill the spotwelds on the A-pillar instead of cutting through them. unless you already cut them? What I did was drill the spot welds and pulled the drip rail out of the way and then cut the post. Then when I laid them back in place I only had to cut the bottom of the drip rail and re-weld it place without cutting through it. They are a prick to weld in the middle if you cut through them. Just my 2 cents. TBJ
Looks like the votes are in, and are overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the drip rails. I personally don't mind shaved rails, as that was pretty much standard practice in the '50s, but it looks a little strange today. Here's a thread that includes a review of a lot of shoeboxes. To my surprise, there are only a couple of cars in the whole thing that have shaved rails: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=512524
The Jalopy Journal
