To each their own, personally I wanted to chop the top on my '31 Chevrolet so I did and I like it...would do it again. On my '58 no, but if my '49 was the fastback likely yes. But if someone has a car they don't want to chop I'm good with it as long as the owner isn't a jerk.
Love your truck! I like both chopped and unchopped rods, but if you are going to chop it then Chop It! Not a fan of the 1-1/2" and 2" chop. Cut that sucker! I always keep my sawz-all ideling in case anyone wants to chop their hot rod. Will eventually take more out of my own windshield.
Chop or not to chop... who cares. What bugs the shit out of me is all the bad/ugly and unfinished chops out there.
It's a matter of what YOU want YOUR ride to look like...... That said,...I'd not do something because "everyone is doing it". We rodders ARE individualists...... 4TTRUK
i think alot of the time the cars need a chop. once you lower it and perhaps smaller diameter tires the top just sticks up too far and doesnt match the look of the car anymore. and if you want a bad-ass hot rod a chop is a given
why? because a 28-29 A sedan is too god damn tall, that's why. first thing i'm doing? not at all. the chop will be the last thing i do.
*sigh* ... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=9027362&postcount=59 I asked a very similar question about two years ago, and got much the same response from some guys. My reply at the time to "If you need to ask," etc. was, "... I do know the answer. I entirely get it. But it's occurred to me that my answer might not be the same as other people's answers, hence the question." I think that's what the OP is looking for, too.
30/31's are an inch shorter in the side windows however front and back windows are same from 28-31...
To me, it's all about proportions. Some cars, like a T coupe look better with the lid lowered, others look better at stock height. Some of the radical chops make the body look too thick and the top too low, the proportions are off to me. A mild chop works well most of the time, like taking an inch or so out. You look at a car and think, I know something is different, but what? Then it dawns on you it's chopped. Some said I need to chop the 47 Lincoln. While I've seen some that were chopped that looked good, I'm not going that route with mine, I like it the way it is. It's different enough that nobody hardly knows what it is anyway, and the lines flow good to me.
Why did I chop? I like the look! That is on my A's. My truck has about a 4in chop. I love the look, I just can't see out very good. When I did the Sport Coupe I only went 2 1/2in. I have never seen a 55 chevy that I like chopped!
Ford Shoebox Stock roof ...... and same car Chopped 5" frt-6"-rear /I also shortened roof skin's length 5-1/2" with the window laydown..........
All 49-51 Ford two door sedans look better chopped. They take on the look of a coupe when chopped. I dont care for the coupes chopped though because the roof line never looks quite right to me.
My wife asked me why the tops on old cars are so high. I told her that it was because of the hats men and women wore back then. People were a lot shorter when these old cars were made, they sure didn't need the head room.
I like the look of a cut (cut = circumsized? chopped is a better word for it except when it come to Lorena Bobbit... Bobbed fenders? oh never mind....) Ford coupes up to about 1935, but I do like chopped mercs and shoeboxes. Some early chrysler coupes, high end cars from the eary 30's (duesies) and late hudsons already look chopped. It's all a matter of opinion, and like A*******, everyone has one.
"Why chop??" Uhh....because it's easier than trying to achieve the same visual affect by keeping the roof height the same and raising the beltline of the body instead???!! ------ Mart3406 ==========
... which would backfire horribly. A chop tends to lengthen a car visually; the "de-section" you describe would make it look shorter.
Pre 49...........if it ain't chopped........... it just flopped. There are exceptions of course. Would not want to chop a 40 Ford coup for example, and there are others also. IMO of course Two more of my motto's. If it ain't steel it ain't real. Real hot rods don't have fenders. Again just my opinion.
Found this on the internet Chopping the top" goes back to the early days of hot rodding and is an attempt to reduce the frontal profile of a car and increase its speed potential. To chop a roof, the pillars and windows are cut down, lowering the overall roofline. Some racers on the dry lakes chopped the tops of their cars so severely the windows were only a few inches tall. These were sometimes referred to as "mail slot" windows. This sort of bodywork is also popular on custom cars, kustoms, and leadsleds. Roof chopping also quickly became very popular with drag racers for much the same reasons as it did for lakes racers. The first roof chopper is considered to be Sam Barris (brother of auto customizer George Barris), who chopped and customized his brand new 1949 Mercury. Barris also pioneered a more advanced form, where the B-pillar is removed turning it into a pillarless hardtop in the process.
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