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The Beginnings of a Plan.

Coming up with a game plan, it’s a big deal. What to cut? How much, and where? This is the step where a lot of reference photos really pays off. In the old days they would take photos and print them on this stuff called “paper” and then cut them out with “scissors”. They would them make a collage of the pieces to get their basic proportions right as well as getting an idea of major problems ahead. Paper? Scissors? No thanks. We now have photoshop which makes this a much more simplified process (sort of).

The best shot to use for this step is a photo which is a perfect side profile of the car, this is what we want to change. All of the other angles should fall into place if this is right.

Step 1: Slice the roof off and break into three pieces. 1) The windshield area 2) the main roof and 3) rear transition to the trunk. Move these independently until we get the desired look. Remember the “rule of thirds” here. 1/3 of the car profile should be windows; above the belt line, two-thirds should be the thickness of the body. From the factory this car was closer to 1/2 windows and 1/2 body in the profile (see photo in previous post). Use the wheels and lug nut spacing as a measuring reference, this will give you the scale you need to measure everything else in the photo.

Laying out a photo shop chop on a 1953 Pontiac Chieftain

Laying out a photo shop chop on a 1953 Pontiac Chieftain

From the photo, we can see that there is a lot of work ahead. In the next post I’ll break down issues and options for all the cuts and a plan to put it all back together.

If you have questions, ideas or would like a quote for building or chopping your own car please feel free to email me any time with the contact form on the sidebar. I will gladly quote full builds or complex one-off parts to assist you in your build. I’m here to help so lets go!
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