Traditional Hot Rods, Customs and a few Classics

A four inch haircut

The visor is permanently welded to the body.

I am eliminating the wood in this part of the top. I will need the space for a small wiper motor. If the stock Model A had a wiper motor, it usually came thru the windshield frame. I will weld up those holes later. I also reinforced the L shaped header beam, just to strengthen this area.

Also, the front header panel will be welded to the visor, making a "box" that should be strong.

...and the body was generously braced before the first cut.

I used two 2 inch wide tape strips. Get it? 2 X 2 = 4 Wow, good thing I was present during math class !
I outlined the tape with a marker pen, end then removed it before the cut, so it the tape would not interfere with the cutting.

After bracing the surgeon is ready. Sorry for the fuzzy pix, I think the photographer was a little excited!

What do they say? Anyone can restore a car, but it takes a real man to cut one up ??

73 year old vintage tin being butchered here...

Top is loose. She has lost her virginity !

The mandatory "lifting-off-the-top-for-the-first-time" picture. Keith came over and helped out. Thanks Keith !

Roadster?

While I hade the top of, I buzzed the visor in areas that was hard to get to before.

Top is ready to go back on.

Top is back on, loose but, hey, that looks cool! Four inches gone for ever.

Show off !

I worries mostly about getting the door opening to line up, then I just pie cut the post.

Then I pie cut the post and brought it in.

I decided to keep the vertical trim piece on the roof, after all, it's a hot rod, not some smooth "street rod". I spent a lot of time making sure they were lined up.

More butchering!

I tacked the top in place...

...and hung it on the car to make sure the hinge distances were correct. With the four inch hair cut, the distance between the hinges are just about even, looks great.

Once again, a lot of time was spent lining up the body lines.

All buttoned up...Extra thanks to marshall for teaching me some hammer welding techniques. Using two cocktail napkins he showed me how (and the reason for) hammer welding. "One good smack, and then some love taps! "
A skim coat of filler should do it here...

Windshield frame cut.

A test install revealed that it was too close to the cowl, I need to trim the height slightly.

With my evil test seat in place, my six foot frame fits just fine. This might look like the steering wheel is too close to the driver, but in order to stretch out my scrawny legs, that's where it needs to be. I spent a lot of time working on ergonomics, this is going to be a DRIVER, so I want to comfortable.

This is the stud that locks the windshield frame in place.

If you cut the post right in the middle (as indicated by the picture above) there will be an existing hole in the post. I just enlarged it backwards, so the stud could be aligned with the rear surface. Then I drilled out the windshield bracket, and moved it to a lower position. When the shield is close, there is about a 1/2 inch height difference between center of the stud and center of the bracket.


Then the tedious stuff, like chopping the garnish moldings...I installed the molding on the post with the top and bottom hole, and then tacked it together before welding it solid.