The Puzzle replacement

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cosmic12

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 27, 2010
Messages
970
Location
Syracuse N.Y.
So this is what I got to replace the Puzzle. I should have it back home mid next week and the top will be dropped very soon after that. I really wanted a hard top but the deal on this was just to good. It is in amazing shape and all the nasty work has been done. I can't wait to get started!
 

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couple more. The whole car was blasted and the frame and under body was epoxy panited and sealed. All the SS trim and chrome is good. Has all the orig seats/door panels/dash parts everything is there.
 

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OH it has to be chopped! Got it home tonite looked it over and decided it needs to be 3 or 4"s lower. Anyone ever bag one of these with the stock syspenders? It has 2" dropped spindles and blocks in the rear but it needs to be lower, any ideas?
 
You can take a wrap or two out of the coils up front and go to a 3" block in the rear, but you're not going to get much lower than that without major mods. Remember it may not seem like it, but you have quite a bit to put back on that car before it is at curb weight. May want to wait and see where it winds up. You may be surprised.

If you do a 3" chop (perfect for that car IMO) then you won't need a second roof. I would recommend moving the entire roof forward to line up the A pillars, then after you massage the sail panels put a filler strip across the top of the above decklid panel. This effectively shortens the roofline as you bring it down, slightly shrinking the quarterwindows and lengthening the trunk area giving the car more of a business coupe profile than a sedan. It works out nicely...
 
If you slide the top forward it shortens up the quarter windows and I really don't want to do that. I am also thinking of remove'n the B pillars kinda hard top look sorta.....
 
Definitely keep it a post car - it looks SO much better with a chop. It also makes the glass a much easier issue, and IMO hardtop chops on post cars just look like it wasn't finished properly.

As far as the shorter quarter windows, check out some profile shots of the business coupe model compared to the two door sedan. The roof line flows so much better into the rear portion of the car, and gives it a longer lower look even before the mods. Chopping the two door sedan in the way I described at about 3" lands the roofline just between the two factory body styles, and has a nice look IMO. Just make sure to keep the rear of the quarter windows rounded! Play with the profile shot of your car in photoshop or do it cavemean style like me with a printout and scissors. :D
 
BED has it right, keep the post, if you can lay it forward a little so the quarter window doesn't look so short and please no corners keep them rounded. A friend of mine did this chop about 6 yrs. ago and he did 3" in the front and 4" in the rear and laying the back window down. It really looked great.
 
OK OK! I will keep the post;) I got started whack'n it today.
3"s front and center.
 

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Hope to get back to it later tonite but.....
 

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Thats it for now
 

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Starting to think I should have gone down another 1 to 2"s, Might be just a bit to mild:confused:
 

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