Customs The Chop Class Oldsmobile Sedanette

Well Ladies and Gents, as most of you know I've been here and there around the country putting on chop classes. These classes teach the importance of flow, aesthetics, and gettin' yer melty on. I just dig a melty custom, ya know?

Last spring I held a class at my shop in Colorado on my '49 Mercury, and at the class was this fella named Clay and his crazy brother TJ. We got it off so we'll, that Clay asked if we could do a chop class at his shop. I said "sure, bud!", but I was gettin' tired of chopping the same old shoeboxes and Chevys and such... Clay asked what I REALLY wanted to chop... And I said "A GM FASTBACK! From '49-51... And if you can find one, a Buick or an Olds, 'cause they're more bitchin'er, ya know..."

Here's some pictures so ya don't fall asleep readin'. I'm the goofy tall guy in the back!


Anyways, Clay knows bitchin'. So he looked high and low and what ya see here on this thread is what he came up with for a car, a '49 Olds 98 Sedanette! And what you'll also see is what I came up with for a chop. I knew that it was going to be a challenge, and that we probably wouldn't get it "done" in a full three days, but we'd try!


So that's about where we got the car after three days, because there was a whole lot of reconstruction to do on the hiney of this thing. Now I know what the Kardashian's plastic surgeon must feel like! The idea was to work front to back and get everything as melty as possible. You can see already that the decklid and the decklid channel/lip is a completely different shape, especially in the upper corners and the bottom edge, as it was moved down an inch and a half.
And after another couple days shaping up the new pieces for the trunk lid and adjusting bits here and there, this is what we ended up with! Clay is a body and paint man, and though he's got a reputation for selling projects, he swears up and down he's gonna finish this one! He's got a parts car for it and everything!

Before I left Missouri Clay and I decided that his new English wheel needed to get spiffed up a bit with some pinstriping from Pinstriper40 himself! So here's a couple pics of that too. Let me know what ya think!

I hope you enjoyed this little story, and if you'd like my chop class to come to your shop, send me a PM! I'm currently looking for a car and shop in the PNW and in the Way up Northeast of Maine or Massachusetts or somewhere up there! Thank you for reading! -P40-

 

You "almost" made it look easy in the pictures, pretty nicely done!!

 

Outstanding work on both projects!

 

Thank you! It was a challenge, which is exactly what I wanted... But I had a few tricks up my sleeve, which I didn't share here... But the majority of the work was in the decklid as one would imagine.

Thank you very much! It's going to be a nice car for sure, and I'm glad ya dig the striping!

 

Easy chops....................UNTIL you get to the trunk! The way you guys did that is THE BEST I have ever seen. PS, we did one at the shop I worked at. Clusterfuck. I saved the day with some creative hinges I found through the HAMB

 

Thank you! Wanna know a secret? I didn't do ANY research as to how other GM fastbacks were chopped, because I didn't want to follow someone else's formula. I appreciate the kind words! It was really just moving pieces to where they needed to go in order to get the flow I was going after.

 

pinstriping looks Tiki Tiki....thanks for the share....

 

The chop and the pinstriping turned out great Joel! Looking forward to going through your upcoming class here in Oklahoma.

 

Good job!

 

NO! Keeping the trunk together was genious! That hinge area can get funky

 

Thank you very much!

It's going to be a fun class! Keep an eye out for a car we might use...

Thank you!

I don't know how "together" we kept the trunk, but we sure didn't mess with the hinges. I had a really good (top secret patented) brace design that made lowering that section away too easy and smooth...

 

Wicked.

 

Un-real amount of talent you have my friend!

 

Great story and great job.

 

Mad skills on a really tough chop! Deck lid area all together is a second chop project. Dig the striping too.

 

Thank you! I agree!

Awww schucks... Thank you!

Thank you very much!

The decklid really is it's own project. We must have 60 hours into it at this point easily. Thank you!

 

How much was it chopped?

 

3" out of the A pillar, 5" at the rear window. But don't mind numbers, just chop it till it looks right!

 

love this thread, my first OHV V/8 was a 49 Olds coupe. Amazing metalwork.

 

Melty...
Gorgeous....

 

Unbelievable talent !! Just awesome.

 

This car looks great.

It's funny, this is the 3rd in-progress chopped GM fastback that I've seen and all 3 have been chopped differently. There really is more than one right way

 

That's one of the best "looks right" chops I have seen on a Sedanette. I've seen a couple where the "gotta make it real radical" ruined the chop all together as nothing flowe right. Well done.

 

Looks fantastic, 48 and 49 GM Sedanettes are in my opinion the best looking designed American cars ever produced. Pretty hard to improve on that but looks like you have, will be great to see it finished. Congratulations, great work.

 

Excellent workmanship along with excellent flow!! Gotta atleast see this thing in final prime before he sells it !!

.

 

Glad to see your still ALIVE!!

 

Thank you very much! A '49 Olds is just super cool in my book!

Thank you very much! I try and make em all melty!

I appreciate it!!

I agree, as long as the lines look good from every angle!

When I chop a car, I try to make it look "like it should've been from the factory"... Stock, but better. Sometimes it's good to go a little more radical, but I really try to keep the proportions right.

High compliments! Thank you!

I agree!!

Glad to still be alive! I've been busy, working on putting a paint booth up at my shop. It's $$$$$! It'll all come in time.

 

Truly a well honed talent.

Definitely following this thread

 

Unbelievable. Love these fast back models when they are chopped like this. Outstanding work

 

If it was a Buick it would look like this. Same basic body. 2 1/2" chop.