After the second world war, the returning American soldiers & airforce men were looking for new thrills to give them that "buzz" that they'd encountered whilst fighting the opposition. Many of them turned to various forms of motorports to gain that elusive high. They could be found heading out to the likes of the Bonneville salt flats to try their hand at land speed racing. Their cars were stripped of unnescessary weight & streamlined in the search for higher speeds. One way of streamlining the cars was to chop the roof down, thereby lowering the frontal area of the car, allowing it to act less like a brick against the oncoming airflow.
A good friend of mine owns a 1930's Model Y ford hotrod and this car has slowly been transformed over the years to the stage that it was recently at. The crowning glory, in his eyes, would be to have the roof chopped. As he knew I liked cutting things up and had chopped a variety of cars over the years, he asked if I'd do the deed for him. Naturally I said yes and the rest is history. here's a brief "how to" on chopping the roof on a car.
This what we started with, a Rover V8 powered hot/rat rod
The interior, or what was left of it, was removed and the shell braced with steel to eliminate flexing once the roof had been cut off
We wanted to drop the roof by 3inches, so the pillars were marked out where they needed to be cut and the angle griner was then fired up. It's always best to remove the roof section first, cutting just inside the lines for final trimming later.
First cut is the deepest
First cut is the deepest
Last edited by agnoraan on Thu Sep 17, 2015 1:16 pm, edited 11 times in total.
Re: First cut is the deepest
With the roof removed, we could now trim down the metal to the scribed trim lines. At this point he was getting very nervous, thinking he might end up with a phaeton if the chop didn't work out...silly boy
The roof itself was then trimmed to the trim line ready to refit. I cut the roof into two sections, with the cut line above the centre of the door. With a chop like this, once the roof is lowered, due to the angle of the pillars, the roof actaully becomes too short, which then requires filler strips to be added.
The roof was then put back into place to check that it all fits as it should. Time to stand back and admire it
The roof itself was then trimmed to the trim line ready to refit. I cut the roof into two sections, with the cut line above the centre of the door. With a chop like this, once the roof is lowered, due to the angle of the pillars, the roof actaully becomes too short, which then requires filler strips to be added.
The roof was then put back into place to check that it all fits as it should. Time to stand back and admire it
Last edited by agnoraan on Thu Sep 17, 2015 1:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: First cut is the deepest
Once happy with the fit it's time to start tacking it all together. In this photo you can see where I've had to cut a few perpendicular slits in the steel to accomaodate the curvature of the corners.
To get the window apperture to align up, I cut into the corner section and moved it forward
Once happy with it all tacked together, it was time to seam weld it and dress the repairs up with a hammer & dolly to get the right shape
To get the window apperture to align up, I cut into the corner section and moved it forward
Once happy with it all tacked together, it was time to seam weld it and dress the repairs up with a hammer & dolly to get the right shape
Re: First cut is the deepest
The roof section was then repaired and the owner gave it a few coats of hot rod satin black. I went back a week or so later and spent a day laying out a traditional flame design on the car. I used two shades of yellow, orange & red, with blue tips to the flames & the whole lot was pinstriped in white. A few hours later and the car was on fire.
All in all I really enjoyed doing it. It took me two days to do the roof chop to the point where it could all be repaired, which took a day and a further day to paint on the flames. For four days work it gave it one Hell of a transformation
cheers...NIge
All in all I really enjoyed doing it. It took me two days to do the roof chop to the point where it could all be repaired, which took a day and a further day to paint on the flames. For four days work it gave it one Hell of a transformation
cheers...NIge
- Roger King
- Posts: 4396
- Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:29 pm
- Location: St Ives, Cambs
Re: First cut is the deepest
Great fun, I love doing metalwork like this myself, but I've never done a chop. I used to read HotRod magazine back in the mid-sixties regularly (I got my paper round boss to order it for me - like an idiot I chucked them all years ago).
How do you get the glass cut? And I'm guessing that you can't chop a car with a curved screen...
How do you get the glass cut? And I'm guessing that you can't chop a car with a curved screen...
- Roger King
- Posts: 4396
- Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:29 pm
- Location: St Ives, Cambs