How to Chop a '50 Studie Cdan

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A major problem to overcome in chopping the Studebaker roof is the curved rear glass. The rear glass is tempered, it cannot be cut, therefore the rear window opening has to remain stock size. ( you'll find the rear window proportions will be better at the end result ) To accomplish the task of chopping the roof, the rear window frame will be cut from the roof and body along the drawn yellow line. Spot welds inside the rain gutters of the trunk opening will need to be drilled first and popped before cutting window frame loose.

Frame removed.

This is a 3" chop, so 6 inches was measured up from the bottom of the windshield posts and marked. A mark then was measured 3 inches below the 6" line and tape filled between the 2 lines. There should be 3 inches of untaped post still remaining below that. The door posts and quarter window posts were measured 3 inches up from the body line and marked, fill between the 3" line to the body with tape. All the posts were then cut along the top edge of the tape and the roof was freed. Once the roof was removed, 3" of remaining tape or pillars can now be removed by cutting below the taped areas.

 

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With some help, the roof was lifted off the body and placed on the floor.

The roof is placed on the body for a trial fit. The roof moved forward at the rear deck as predicted, the B Pillars will be repositioned to line up with the door jam.

A strip of sheet metal ( approx. 4" wide ) was removed from the roof above the window opening. Care was taken so as not to remove to much sheet metal then was absolutely necessary. The rear window frame was placed in the opening for a trial fit. The rear deck area will be filled in with sheet metal and the subtle change will hardly be noticed. The wider area between trunk lid and window will make the car look longer in the tail.

 

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To reposition the B pillars and side window frames to their original positions a cut was made in the frame above the door, then along the roof line above the window frames and the 2 window frames were removed. Next, sheet metal that makes up the C pillar had to be trimmed to allow for repositioning of the side window frames & B pillars to their original positions.
Here you see the right frame removed. You can also see that the rear window now is very much in proportion to the side and front which was horroridly wrong from the initial factory design.

After trimming away sheet metal on the C pillar, the window frames & B pillars were repositioned & welded in place. A piece was made to fill gap above the door frame. The door window frame also needed to be cut off the door and lengthened and filler pieces from a donor door were cut to fill the gap in the top of door frame ( no pics of that, sorry ).
Here you see the right frame repositioned.

Drip rails removed.

 

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Closing the gap on the rear deck area between the window & trunk.

And that's all it takes. A very daunting task made simple.

 

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In Primer

And in Sunset Orange Carizzma

 

[fuzz]

Nice work...Can I assume you leaned the back glass frame forward to compinsate for length?? Very subtle!!!

 

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Surprising enough I didn't.
If you look at this photo before it was chopped, you'll see the smaller rear window and high arc in the roof.

The rear glass was shorter in comparison to the sides and front. After the chop it became in proportion to those windows. Some of the roof and C pillar had to be trimmed away before it could be rewelded in. This also gave the roof a flatter look.

 

[fuzz]

Very Kool!! Taht car was begging to be chopped. Makes me wonder if those Studebaker designers were looking ahead to the day when you would chop their car? [cl Always thought Studebakers were ahead of the rest of the industry in design. Thanks for posting.

 

[anvil]

Great post and info, looks great how you did it thanks

 

[Shea Laking]

Uhhh...WOW!!![cl

You, sir, are a true craftsman. Thanks very much for sharing your work with us![P

Regards,
Shea

 

[pistolpete]

Thanks, I think I have learned my one thing for today...

 

[BJinaTJ]

Good write up! The Stude looks very nice...

 

[dmw56]

You're giving me ideas. [

 

[bullet]

Don,
yours is a mordoor if I remember right, going to be a tough chop, but I think it can be done.

 

[Farmboy46]

wow very nice job, turned out great and looks like it was supposed to be this way in the end.

 

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wow very nice job, turned out great and looks like it was supposed to be this way in the end.

Thanks, I totally agree with that statement.