Here is my really bad photoshop image of my Wild Caddy 60S Coupe chop idea. My idea is it would look like a Harley Earl in-house custom for a Kool Kustomer. I would lower it 2 in. as well using cut springs. Long & lean & mean. I think this would work style-wize. It has major potential. Has anyone seen a 60S chopped and made into a coupe before? Mill would be a 61-61 Caddy 390 with 2x4s. Or a 500 with aluminum heads and 2x4s. Turbo 700R4 tranny.
Only my opinion here, the greenhouse looks a little long in this photo shopped picture. Maybe bring the rear window forward a few inches. Again, Only my humble, no offense, never chopped a car, opinion. Good luck.
Why wouldn't you at least start with a coupe, since Cadillac were good enough to do a good part of the work for you?
I agree. Start with 61 Series, or ideally, a 62 Series hardtop and add 60S trim. That is, unless you are doing a 4 door hardtop conversion. Ray
The extra wheelbase makes for a dramatic pillar-less coupe. I agree, the rear roof & window should be lower. The longer the Caddy the better IMHO. Anyone can chop a factory coupe.
I have no quarrel with what you want to do. But I will suggest that a Coupe, by definition, is quite a different thing than a sedan…..with or without a pillar. But I am looking forward to seeing the build process on these pages. Ray
Interesting concept. I'd like to throw a thought in there if that's OK. How about starting with the same car, keeping the roof the same height but making the front doors longer and the roof shorter? Overall car length remains the same. Basically like a Cadillac business coupe. Blackwalls and the outer part of the hubcaps blacked out along with a few doo-dads shaved (seeing as this would have been the budget-priced Cadillac) and lowered a little but not too much. Still with the hot Cad engine same as the previous concept. Since all the curved glass remains the same I think this might be easier to actually do. Not as visually striking as the first concept but does look like something Harley Earl may have experimented with. EDIT adding the untouched photo first for comparison.
Lengthen the doors, shorten the roof, increase the width of the catwalk all without changing the wheelbase (as pictured). I think you are on to something, looks good and within reach of a average H.A.M.B. builder. I should of take to you guys on some of my projects!
Also, making a post car into a pillarless one (at least properly) is going to be a ton of work. Easy in photoshop to add the upper door frames to the roof, but in reality, you need to do something about the fact that you can't wind the windows fully up and still open the doors any more. The glass won't meet in the middle where the pillar used to be too. The business coupe idea up there looks like your best bet to avoid a world of pain.
I’d like to see the business coupe style with a shorter wheelbase and trunk. The rendition gives it too much of the late 40’50’s Mopar business mans 3 window or what was called the salesman’s coupe. Maybe just the area in front trunk a little shorter like the sedan its coming from better proportioned to me. I really like the idea. I always liked the post body coupes of Olds and Buick’s of the 50’s.
As I’m immensely familiar with 53 Cadillacs, ( presently reconstructing 6 53 Eldos. Let me warn you that there is a lot of architecture involved in a conversion like this. I’ve had to modify several standard coupe doors into Eldo doors and it isn’t easy. Window frames, tracks and mechanisms alone will soak up considerable brain energy. Equals time, equals money. A Fleetwood tail to a coupe body graft may be a lot simpler. Even chopping a coupe roof is difficult because the rear glass is tempered and cannot be cut. So glass needs to be sunk into the rear valance or remade. Expensive either way. There was a time when I hoped to make a clone of the 1953 Orleans. The very first 53 Cadillac serial number 5362000001.
This 2-Door Coupe has great promise. Somebody please eliminate the door edge guard that chops a car in half. Why they are ever used is beyond me. And maybe some wheel covers -- after all, it's still a Cadillac.
I guess it's preference -- I'd rather have a couple of door-edge dings on my wife's car than have a vertical line up and down the whole body. I can sorta fix them with a black magic marker. A guy I knows installs clear plastic ones at new car dealerships -- that's a better choice than the chrome ones.