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Vintage Channel Jobs - Body Drop or Lower that Car
The Ultimate Nostalgia Styling Trick
From the February, 2009 issue of Rod & Custom
By Tim Bernsau
Photography by Tim Bernsau
 As you can see, muscling a...  As you can see, muscling a 30s roadster body on and off the frame makes channeling those cars a lot easier than the same job on a fat-fendered car. |  With the body channeled 6...  With the body channeled 6 1/2 inches over an already lowered frame... |  ...this convertible 40...  ...this convertible 40 ground-grazer, featured in our January 56 issue, stood a mere 4-foot-2. |  Channeling is quite tricky...  Channeling is quite tricky on full-fendered cars such as this 40, so we went to the experts: Valley Custom Shop, 44 years ago. This one was destined for an extreme 5-inch job. |  Channeling will affect headroom...  Channeling will affect headroom and legroom, seat height, tire clearance, engine clearance to the hood, radiator mounting, steering column angle, trans and throttle linkage, driveshaft clearance, and more. Measure everything beforehand. You dont want any surprises after youve sawed up a lot of sheetmetal. |  Since the 40 was to...  Since the 40 was to be dropped 5 inches, a 5-inch panel of metal was welded to the stock flooring, following the outline of the frame. The floor was then cut out along the inside edge of this panel and rewelded to the top. In the 50s it was not uncommon to see the body welded to the frame after channeling, but devising rubber or leather body isolators is preferred. |  Once the reinstalled body...  Once the reinstalled body was welded to the fabricated 5-inch step, the floor was welded atop the step. Here, Valley Customs Neil Emory does some final body welding. |  The bottom edge of the body...  The bottom edge of the body panel is now several inches lower, and the floor 5 inches higher than stock. The step inside the doorjamb is visual proof of a traditional channel job. |  For the right look on a channeled...  For the right look on a channeled fat-fender, the fenders need to be left in the stock relationship with the frameor raised on the body, depending on how you look at it. Lowering this body complicates things up at the firewall. On this 40, a 5-inch stripequal in height to the depth of the channelwas cut from the firewall. Notice the cut behind the fender line in this before photo. |  In this after photo the 5-inch...  In this after photo the 5-inch strip has been removed from the firewall and cowl, and the body has been repositioned. The gap is in the process of being seam-welded. Lotsa bodywork lies ahead. |  Work continues in the cockpit,...  Work continues in the cockpit, where the dash, along with the entire body, has dropped 5 inches in relation to the running gear. Thats why the steering gear was loosened. Here, the base of the kick panel is being rewelded to the repositioned floor. |  In order to retain the stock...  In order to retain the stock height of the rear fenders, an arc was cut in the body from the bottom of the wheel opening to the deck opening. |  Once the body was dropped...  Once the body was dropped inside of the lower arch, the overlapping metal was cut away, and the pieces were seam-welded. A load of metalwork? Yup, but leaving the fenders at stock height looks better and emphasizes the lowered look. * |  Of course, with the body riding...  Of course, with the body riding significantly closer to the frame, material had to be removed from the inner rear wheelwells to eliminate tire rubbing. |  Welding, filling, and filing...  Welding, filling, and filing of the decklid edges were required where the lowered body meets the widened fenders. The stock deck opening must be kept for the decklid to retain its alignment and fit. |  Since the running boards were...  Since the running boards were removed from this car, the contour around the edge of the fenders was removed. A bit of length was added to the fenders to make them align with the bottom of the body after they were raised. |  Finally, after extensive bodywork...  Finally, after extensive bodywork to hide all the welds, the sheetmetal was surfaced with several coats of primer. The result is clean and smooth
and low. |
The point of this discourse is to warn you of the tribulations which await the overeager channeler. But if there seems no logical solution to getting your rod/custom down where you want it, then R&C stands ready to pass along the nearly forgotten word on channeling. Thats what we had to say in the Dec. 57 story ChannelingThe Great Height Equalizer. Back then we deemed that channeling had come back into vogue not just as a cheap way to lower a car without altering the suspension, but as a way to get even lower after youd upgraded to the latest suspension-lowering components. A channeled rod is about as cool as it gets, yesterday and today. Whats channeling? Its the process of removing the floor from the car, lowering the body down over the frame, and reattaching the floor at a higher level relative to the body. These days, the sport truck crowd calls it a body drop. Its simple and fairly common on a Model A, but totally nightmarish on a full-fendered car. Few guys today have the gumption to really whack their gennie tin to the extent required for a channel job on a full-fendered car, so we decided to present this story using the original photography as Valley Custom shop cut a 40 Ford back in 1957. It shows just how they really did it back in the heydayand, if youre all about commitment to stance, how you could do it now.
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