1934 Dodge Humpback Panel

Mostly going to be pictures and descriptions, any comments and suggestions will be appreciated. I had a thread going, but it was brought to my attention that it was in the wrong place. so I'm going to start the pictures from the beginning. Keep checking back, I will be updating this at least twice a week.

Before we start:

Here's some pictures of before we started working on the Dodge. The front suspension is off a Mustang II, the rear axle is some old school posi, and the frame is completely fabricated. Incorrectly, if i may add. Nothing is square and it was very strangely fitted to the shell. That's all stuff that happened before we owned it. The frame needed to come off. Notice the factory suicide doors, the "humpback" and take a look at the length of the overall shell. Also, check out them floorboards[cl.

Frame Off

Here we've got the frame off of the shell, a rather simple process. You can also see in a few pictures where we sketched out the proposed cuts. It was later decided that it would be easiest to work with the shell on the floor.

Step 1 in body mods

We found the center of the rear box and marked cutting lines 11.25" on each side, totaling 22.5" of sheet metal gone. We set the body on the ground, then cut the back off, the middle section we were removing and set it back together for the pictures. We're going to chop the rear separate from the front due to window issues, but it will line up when we put the halves together.

like it

the cut down body looks good


''Thanks for the input! I noticed that when the windshield was chopped the 6 inches, it was 5 inches tall. That seems very short, and it is, but it didnt seem to be a problem. We are also going to raise the floor quite a bit more than 3 inches, but the distance from the new floor (bottom door hinge) to the windshield was already very large, giving us plenty of room to lower the seat. The original seat had to be at least 18 inches tall, or you couldn't see over the dash.''

just did not want ya make the some of the same mistakes l have made over the years, cut it or modify it, then go OOOOPPPPSSS, l scewed it up.


next subject--

why not keep the IFS front end?

what are you using for a motor/trans/rear-end? hood? fenders? grill choice?

really want to see the build progress, thanks for the pics.

(can you make'em a litte smaller, they don't fit on my screen[P)


thanks,

Later

WOW THE PICS ARE HUGE!!!!!!!!!!


Looks like a cool build tho [cl [P

Got plans

skull said:

the cut down body looks good


''Thanks for the input! I noticed that when the windshield was chopped the 6 inches, it was 5 inches tall. That seems very short, and it is, but it didnt seem to be a problem. We are also going to raise the floor quite a bit more than 3 inches, but the distance from the new floor (bottom door hinge) to the windshield was already very large, giving us plenty of room to lower the seat. The original seat had to be at least 18 inches tall, or you couldn't see over the dash.''

just did not want ya make the some of the same mistakes l have made over the years, cut it or modify it, then go OOOOPPPPSSS, l scewed it up.


next subject--

why not keep the IFS front end?

what are you using for a motor/trans/rear-end? hood? fenders? grill choice?

really want to see the build progress, thanks for the pics.

(can you make'em a litte smaller, they don't fit on my screen[P)


thanks,

Later

Click to expand...

I will be posting (smaller) pictures of my front end and grill shell. The IFS is cool, but it's not the style i want to go for. I like the "old school" look of an exposed motor with a straight axle and spoke wheels up front. I wanted to go with a 440 to keep with the Dodge theme, but my dad has a lot of parts for a 383 with a dual quad. We haven't decided on a trans because he thinks a standard would be cool, but i think an automatic would be simpler. Its not because i can't drive standard (my daily drivers a five speed) its that I don't think there will be much room for a clutch down there. Not sure about a rear end, but we are looking for some ladder bar suspension to hold up a possible ford 9 inch. Like I said, I'm going for the exposed engine, so no hood or fenders. The grill shell is off of a 1934 coup, very very cool.

I've got a question for you now, what do you guys do for taillights? I've seen hundreds of thousands of rat rods with 59 cadi lights molded into the rear, but I'm all about being different. I was looking at some off of a 1962 imperial in our yard that may work hanging off the side. Another question; where do you find extremely tall (35-40 inch) old school slicks? My wheels are 15 by 8". Thanks, Zach.

Hows this?

Went out to the shop to get some pictures and I was surprised at how well the grill looked with the axle, wheels, and body. Not sure about an actual "grill", but I was looking at some very heavy gauge fence i had lying around.

P.S., hows the picture size?

Check out www.iowa80.com and check out the killer selection of LED's they have they are semi light but there are some really cool ones on there


Otherwise I used a set of cat eye LED's on my '42

Pics are still a lil big

tail lights

l like the 39 ford teardrop lights

Later

Rear Half Chopped

Chopped the rear half of the panel, including the rear doors. Everything lines up nicely, ready to chop the front half. Don't buy sawzall blades from harbor frieght, their useless. The rear windows look durrastically better than they did, they were tall if you look at previous pictures.

Pictures

windshield

l read the post but, l'm confused

are you chopping the windsheild also or just the area behind the doors/cab?

l know the floor is getting moved up so the car sits lower on the frame, that should look good with the chop

l like the way it looks so far, really cool mail slot window on the side, is that staying and getting one the other side or be filled in to match the passenger side?

Later

No offense, but why chop that, My dad and i have 13/14 of these 1933/1934 dodge and Plymouth's and that was a rare body and now its crap, dodges always looked chopped if you put them next to a chevy or ford, I know its not my car, but would have saved it. Just my 2 cents.

You said it, it's not you'res!!!

I would like more clarification too, not sure where you're going!!! Cool so far.[cl

All Chop

While these are rare, as I mentioned, they are not worth anything unless you spend $100,000 to restore them. It may have looked chopped next to ford or chevy, but next to another dodge, you will be able to spot mine at first glance. The front and rear are getting chopped, but not in the same place due to the windows. When it all gets welded together it will match up, but the rear windows were taller than the front ones, and it would have been hard to chop it all in the same place. The "mail slot" is getting patched, but it does look kind of funny and might be cool to leave on there.The floors getting moved up and the top moved down, its going to look mean just sitting there.[cl Total chop hight ended up at 5 1/2 " making the windshield 5 1/2". Style not practical. Thanks for the comments, keep em coming! Zach.

Drive Train

Sorry for not posting in a while, it was finals week and I had to study. Here's some pictures of the engine we found (383) and the two four manifold on top. You can also see the custom valve covers and the big blue transmission is out of a 1961 imperial. The imperials didn't have shifters, they were push button. Something I hope to add to this rat to give it even more uniqueness. The rear tire is a 30" which is the size I need, but it is an off road tire. (No money for vintage slicks, yet) It will help us mock up the frame to support the rear axle with air bags.

Hey, can you re-post a few of those pics from the first page, or give a link to where they can be viewed? They don't show up. I'm really curious what this looked like when you got it.

Front Half Chopped

Progress has been slow, but we managed to chop the front half of the dodge. The chop brings the windshield to 5 1/2 inches, just enough to see out. The way we did the door post is kind of neat: We chopped a section of the door post out effectively moving the hinge down the 5 1/2. When we chop the door, it will look clean and mean. To solve the problem of the sloping windshield posts not lining up, I Thought it would be easy to move the cowl/firewall back which you will see in pictures soon to come. We will have to section the door, but it will save hours of work and will make the windshield posts cleaner.

I'm really liking the proportions of the body with the chop!