Oh, there's always room for improvement... I actually built a model just like you did with a chopped top that I think came out pretty nice... But it was a full custom. Not a hot rod... I get what you're saying... 'Shorter' is what I meant... I'm just not crazy about the sloped back windshield, and I'd like to see a little more slope to the rear window... Certainly could be done... I also really like the car as it sits too... A drop axle and the right wheels and tires, and you have a driver I'd just about kill for...
Car looks awesome the way it is. I don't think the proportions will look right when chopped but hay its not my car.
ok photochopper... lets see a version with no running boards, & the bottom of the fenders slightly rolled in. i think i'm coming to san diego this weekend to pick up some porsche parts, i'll hit you up when i'm there
i love 40's unchopped like the majority on here. i think if you just slammed your ride to the ground, it'd look pretty sick. but, it is your car, and we are all entitled to do what we wish to our rides
I agree! I never said I liked it. Just thought i'd post one that was chopped. The thing that ruins it for me is the filled in quarter windows,YUK! I don't mind the "fade-away" fenders.
The thing to succeed with chopping a car with a streamlined body is to have a roof that is long enough to make the lines flow. A short 1940 Ford roof doesn't have that. So the top looks too small compared to the rest of the body. Same goes with most 40's business coupes or short roof models. Of course you are leaning towards the hot rod look, not the kustom car style. I agree that the Bill Yates car looks wild, but maybe it's more wild than good looking. But it is authentic! The comparison Gotgas is mentioning with the 1940 Mercury is not possible, since the bodies are very different in many ways. Sorry, buddy! But for a rough and wild looking dry lake racer, it will probably be ok. I would add numbers and other accessories, I think. Just my 2 cents... (but what do I know?)
JB i'm listening to ya but i'm not sure if i'm totally following you 100% I stole these from Riksters site, and of course they're '36 3 windows, but the profile is what I like, a smallish bulbous turret roofline with a long trunk/rearend. Obviously they are different in that the belt line crosses the bottom of the rear window, separating it from the trunk. They aren't as streamlined because of that, but they still look great with the pronounced curves. Yeah i'm not on the level of these cars builders (yet?), but by reducing the stock '40 curves this reproduces the above side profiles I'm after. (for a hot rod kinda car vs a custom taildragger) Thanks for your input!! (oh yea also the bottom door hump I thought was a '41 mercury but they might overlap to '40) TP
Travis, extend the door 6", and make it a 3 window if you like the 'bulbous' character of the roofline, as currently the short door/extra window/narrow 'c' pillar section are distracting from the overall package... Note: you'd need to moove the leading edge of the c pillar forward (maybe 3") to get that look I think your reffering to....but the finished package would be wow.. (sorry, no good with photoshop, trust you can visualise what I'm saying) Keep swinging, Drewfus
If you want a chevy or plymouth... Hop Up #8.... Page 20... Perfection. Nuf said... Improving a 40 coupe through chopping is very possible... But not on a Hot Rod with bigs and littles... Because the back sticks up and makes any hump created by the chop stick right out at you. The best looking chopped 40 I think I've ever seen is on Page 23 of Barris Kustom Techniques Volume 1. It doesn't say who owned the car and I don't think I've seen it anywhere else. But it's a full Custom and it's sexy as hell... Even in the primer booth...
This may have already been said, but IMO if you're planning to build a 'taildragger custom' with skirts then I'd chop it like the pink one, if you're building a 'hot rod' then i'd leave it alone. But like I said... that's just me. Good luck.
Hmmmm.... wondered what happened to that Barris car. It looks like it also has a chopped rear window to make the top get more flow. A 3-window -36 is a very different car. And a fabulous one to either hot rod or make a taildragger. On your car, you have leaned the A-pillar in a radical, dry lake way. The stock 1940 has a very straight up A-pillar. I think Kilroy got a good point: "Improving a 40 coupe through chopping is very possible... But not on a Hot Rod with bigs and littles... Because the back sticks up and makes any hump created by the chop stick right out at you. "
This car keeps comming back in mind with me.... but like the prefious post all say. This chopped top (even though its a heavy one) just dont work on the down in front rake look.... but if you would see this one with skirts and lowered with a speed boat look..... Photoshopped. Another one...
What about just putting a golf door in the rear quarter panel? Hopefully it will be a dark color to hide that line. I've still been considering thinning out that door b-pillar part. though too. If I had some sedan doors that woulda been an option but trying to just modify this rustbucket. ========= I've become a little obsessed with this damn car though, (each build does that to me!) and I even have the above photochop as my screen saver, and I need it real! I think one of the problems of the photochop is that it is only one view, the side view, and that is one of the least seen views of a car. Usually you see a car coming or going past, ya know the quarter shots, or head on or following, the front and rear shots. Since i'm not patient enough to do those right now, i'll have to make it a roller instead! +++++++++ Rikster that green 3-window is insane, thanks alot for localizing all these great car pics. I like the stance of the blue one though! I'm just not into the saggy-back look. (even though I posted a bunch of em!) Out of curiousity what brought on the taildragger/speedboat rake style? This zephyr modification? was for sale a while ago. Don't know if it was ever finished. Thanks guys for keeping this an informative (I hope) thread! TP
Being one to like things that are different, I'd go for it. I have a Model A 5 Window that isn't chopped because everyone elses is. Haven't seen many but the ones posted in this thread look great.
The 37-40 Ford coupes are the hardest of all to chop and end up with something which doesn't have a glaring disportioned area or a "bottom of the five-car stack at the junkyard" look. The quarter windows are difficult to do in a pelasing and complementary way but eliminating them is not so pretty either. The back glasses look funky when shortened and the entire back of the roof is difficult, if not impossible, to modify in a coordinated way. Some have used 41-48 Ford or other one-piece glasses with some success. Best of luck, but remember you're either going to have a really fine custom (for cryin' out loud don't even think about the "racecar" look!) or a totally worthless ruined 40 Ford DeLuxe Coupe when you're done.
Those '38-'40 Ford coupes have timeless lines. Stock body, all trim intact. Killer stance, tasty wheels and tires, flawless bodywork, and mile-deep black paint. Really want to be fancy? Use '39 doors and '39 Deluxe headlights, and you're done. Dave http://www.roadsters.com/
Most guys that are replying now go straight to the 9th page instead of reading what actually already happened! TP
Actually, I did, painstakingly, read the entire thread. I'm just reminding you what I told you when whad our little conversation last time I went to your shop. You know, when you told me the little story about how this all came about. But I still say, leave it alone. Sell it to me. I'll give you my coupe as a down payment.
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