Top Chop Tricks From a 1932 Ford Coupe

How convenient of So-Cal to...        read full caption How convenient of So-Cal to just happen to have a stock-bodied ’32 on hand for these before and after shots illustrating the chopped car’s improved looks, as well as the perfection of the work.

Since the ’32 is being...        read full caption Since the ’32 is being entirely redone from top to tires, Bill had the bare body to work with, which made things more convenient. After careful measuring and masking, the body areas to be cut are coated with Dykem Steel Blue metal marking fluid. Scribe lines (arrows), drawn 3 inches apart, are clearly visible against the Dykem.

Bill used a 3-inch piece of...        read full caption Bill used a 3-inch piece of sheetmetal as a template for precise measurements all around the roof. When the car is done, a difference as small as 1/16 inch will be visible. With the doors hung and adjusted, the A-pillars and B-pillars are marked at the same spot as the window frames in the doors for proper fit after the cutting is done. Scribe lines were made completely around all pillars.

Bill advises to make cuts...        read full caption Bill advises to make cuts where it will be easiest to rejoin the sheetmetal—that means avoiding curves. The rear window is higher than the side windows, so Bill jogged the cut line 3 inches higher in the back to cut into a straight portion of the opening.

For a clean, precise cut,...        read full caption For a clean, precise cut, Bill starts with a pneumatic saw 1/4 inch above the scribe line.

Then he uses tin snips to...        read full caption Then he uses tin snips to trim the sheetmetal down to the line.

After all of the cuts are...        read full caption After all of the cuts are made, a die grinder fitted with a sanding disc is used to clean it up. Bill doesn’t recommend using a grinding wheel, which runs the risk of adding contaminants.

Instead of sawing through...        read full caption Instead of sawing through the windshield posts as one piece, Bill used a trick he learned from Jay Kennedy at Early Iron in Pomona, California, and removed the outer cap...

...to expose the inner structure...        read full caption ...to expose the inner structure underneath.

This technique is more complicated,...        read full caption This technique is more complicated, but later, it will allow Bill to weld up the inner structure pieces of the post rather than just the outer skin.

Since the A-pillars taper...        read full caption Since the A-pillars taper back slightly, cutting them down 3 inches meant the roof would have to be modified to fit (see sidebar, p. 58). Bill found a relatively flat area to cut the roof, being careful to cut at the same point on both sides.

Once the top had been chopped...        read full caption Once the top had been chopped and the roof clamped into position, a 5/8-inch gap remained that needed to be filled.

Bill used a piece of sheetmetal...        read full caption Bill used a piece of sheetmetal (which was tack-welded into place at this point) along with a section of gutter from another ’32.

The frames of the side windows...        read full caption The frames of the side windows widen gradually from top to bottom at the rear of the pillars and won’t align properly after the 3-inch section has been removed. To restore alignment, the outer skin of the upper and lower portions are butted together, and vertical slits are cut into the upper portion of the window frames. The inner half of the upper pillar is pulled out to mate with the lower portion of the pillar.

After the inner and outer...        read full caption After the inner and outer pillar skins are welded, the slits are filled in with welding rod.

Another minor mismatch occurred...        read full caption Another minor mismatch occurred at the rear of the roof; the more rounded upper portion of the rear roof didn’t quite line up with the flatter lower portion. Bill sliced vertical slits—as he had done with the quarter window frames—to allow the sections to be moved into alignment. A hammer and dolly were used to smooth out any resulting bulges.

When rebuilding the window...        read full caption When rebuilding the window frames, Bill clamped a piece of insulator material into place as a pattern for the glass, to ensure that these surfaces were flush and straight. Any flat piece of rigid material can be used.

With the top and pillars reworked,...        read full caption With the top and pillars reworked, the door had to be chopped. Here, the top of the window frame has been removed at precisely the same spot that the pillars had been cut. It is critical that hinge alignment remains in stock proportion and that proper doorjamb clearance is maintained or the doors will bind when they open and close; the doorjamb could also be damaged.

The rear section of the door...        read full caption The rear section of the door top is reattached. Just as with the rear window frames, material is added to align the two sections.

Bill used a length of bar...        read full caption Bill used a length of bar stock to make sure everything lined up and then checked again with a straight edge.

Just as the roof had to be...        read full caption Just as the roof had to be stretched to accommodate the angle of the windshield posts, so too did the door frames.

The front of the door top...        read full caption The front of the door top was clamped into place, leaving a gap at the top of approximately 1/4 inch, which was later filled with sheetmetal.

But first, the front door...        read full caption But first, the front door top had to be reattached.

The inside edge, where fit...        read full caption The inside edge, where fit is most critical, was lined up first and the rest of the doorjamb aligned from there.

Bar stock was welded in to...        read full caption Bar stock was welded in to smooth the surface (arrow). Again, doorjamb clearance and door hinge alignment are the most important concerns.

There has probably been more written about hacking tops than any other customizing technique. But as long as hot rodders continue to develop improved procedures for this time-honored modification, we’ll keep telling you about them. Which is why we were out in Pomona, California, talking to Bill Stewart, the metal marvel over at So-Cal Speed Shop. Bill had just finished carving 3 inches out of this ’32 five-window coupe and gave us the lowdown on a few of the tricks he used to do the job. Bill admits that his way is generally considered the hard way, but insists that the end result is much better. In this case the extra effort has paid off with a superior finished product with lines that look like they were created with the pencils of Henry Ford’s designers rather than the saw and welder of a metalman.