The 40G

Mike S. · Dec 19, 2010

Ok. This is gonna take a little explaining so bear with me. Last February I scored a stripped out 1940 Chevy 1.5 ton truck off of Craigslist for free. I love Craigslist! I mainly wanted it for the cab which was in good shape but of course needed some work. I had a friend media blast it, built a body dolly to roll it around my garage and started my build. I cut out all of the bad panels and welded in fresh metal and smoothed the firewall. I really wanted to chop it 6" but I did the math and figured I couldn't live with such a small windshield so I chopped it 5". The cab had doors but was missing all of the interior trim. Then, late last August, a friend found a listing on Craigslist for a '40 GMC 1/2 ton. I just figured I'd buy it for parts but when I went to see it I immediately realized that it was in too good of condition to part so I bought it for $300.00, stored my '40 Chevy at my Mom's (thanks Mom!) and started back from scratch on the GMC. I cleaned out tons of garbage, disassembled the entire truck and reinforced the cab with 1" square tubing. Then I had my same friend media blast the new truck (yeah he thinks I am crazy!) and dove in! I started by welding up 42 holes in the firewall and cowl while pondering the chop. Since I always regretted chopping my Chevy 5" instead of 6", I decided that I'd chop the GMC 6". I made 72 sheet metal clamps, laid out my chop and started cutting!

Snake Farm · Dec 19, 2010

Yeah, yeah, I'm with ya [P[P[P
BTW nice truck!

Mike S. · Dec 19, 2010

Thanks for hanging through my long-winded story Snake! I am working on more pictures. Stay tuned!

bobumphfrey · Dec 19, 2010

Good looking start you got there. Wish mine was that good.

Mike S. · Dec 20, 2010

Thanks Bob. The truck was in crazy good shape. It had been in the same family for 42 years. The owner learned to drive in it and it was his daily driver through high school! The strange thing is once I really started to like this body style and started searching for one I located 5 GMCs or Chevys within 10 miles of my house! I'd like to buy 'em up so they don't go to waste but I don't have the room.

Mike S. · Dec 20, 2010

Before I laid a blade on the GMC I wanted to be really sure that I could live with a 7" windshield. I measured and marked the a-posts at the point that the windshield opening would be with a 6" chop. I cut a piece of cardboard to roughly the same contour as the top of the opening and clamped it at the 6" chop marks. I sat in the truck forever making sure I could live with the new opening. I left the cardboard on the cab for a couple of days to be sure I liked the profile. Every time I looked at it I smiled at how cool it was so that was it, 6" chop it was gonna be.

CR55 · Dec 20, 2010

That's the way to do it Mike, nice and low!!![cl It takes a bit of getting used to, but chops make the vehicle in my book. Lookin good too! Keep the pics coming please!

..CR

roddguy1 · Dec 20, 2010

That is a very nice cab to be starting with. Glad to see you decided to participate and share this build with us. Keep those pics coming.

Gregster · Dec 20, 2010

That is going to look so cool !

Sam_Fear · Dec 20, 2010

More pics!!! [cl

Mike S. · Dec 20, 2010

Thanks for the kudos guys, I appreciate it. I am with you CR, the chop makes the hot rod. I've built/worked on mini trucks, low riders, 4x4s, imports (don't hold that against me, I was young and I needed the money!) race cars, muscle cars etc. and I've always thought that stance, proportions and scale make or break a rig. You can dump a ton of cash into a project but if those three things aren't right it just won't look good. I debated the 6" chop for a while. I think a 5" chop looks really proportionate on these trucks but at the same time I love Bonneville cars and heavy chops so I thought why not? I spent a couple of hours laying out the chop. I learned a lot when I chopped my '40 Chevy so the GMC went pretty fast. I drilled pilot holes and started cutting with my Bosch jigsaw. I like using a jigsaw with a fresh blade because I can run it slowly and control it plus the cuts are so clean I don't need to prep them before I weld 'em. I cut a foot or so at a time and clamp it along the way. I took 6" out of the rear and 3" out of the back window and I used my DeWalt band saw to take 6" out of the a-posts. I then set the roof back on, clamped it all together, took a good long look at it, trimmed a 1/4" off of the a-posts to get the roof rake right and that was it. I imagine it was pretty funny to watch me walking around the truck giggling right after I set the roof back on for the first time....that's how I knew it was cool!

VonHyde · Dec 20, 2010

nice [ddd the 6 " chop looks good im debating the same thing with my truck right now

Mike S. · Dec 20, 2010

Thanks Von. I am so glad I went with a 6" chop. I am 6'1, 230 lbs. and I fit in the truck with room to spare.

As I started piecing the cab back together I was surprised by how many more fitment issues the 6" chop had versus the 5" I did on my Chevy. Nothing major but I had to make a few relief cuts in the GMC where as I didn't in the Chevy. I clamped the roof sections into place, cut the filler strip, clamped it in and started tacking everything, giggling the whole time! I used two sections from the vertical door jambs to fill in the roof sections. Those sheet metal clamps made everything so much easier and cleaner. I made 72 of them but quickly realized I should have made 100! You know what Norm Abram says, you can never have too many clamps!

Mike S. · Dec 20, 2010

Speaking of heavy chops, the Chrisman Coupe is my favorite. What an evil car!

deerchooper · Dec 21, 2010

the chop looks great

SugarRay8 · Dec 21, 2010

Love it! [dr

Now remember, you already told us you have over 160 pictures of this, so…..[P

Mike S. · Dec 21, 2010

Thanks guys. I am glad you're diggin' the truck. I almost didn't start a thread on it because there are several '40s chops on this site and I didn't want to bore anyone, but I did because I love to look at build threads even if they are similar rigs. It's always interesting to see how different people attack similar issues. And I thought maybe I could take some of the guess work out it for someone.

Next to tackle was the a-posts. Remember earlier when I said that there was more fitment issues with a 5" versus a 6"? Well that was really evident at the a-posts. The roof was at least 1.5" wider than the posts which required some crazy cutting. But I slowly worked them into alignment and I think they turned out pretty good. Next (of course!) was to roll it outside and take a good long look at it from a bunch of different angles. Yeah, my neighbors think I am crazy!

Mike S. · Dec 21, 2010

I probably should have described the hopeful end result earlier but here it is. The plan for now, which is subject to change without notice, is a short, low, quick, loud neighbor-annoyer! I am probably gonna run skinny steelies up front and 15"X8"s in the back with cheater slicks. Gonna cross drill the front of the frame and bob the bed. Thanks in large part to Craigslist I have been gathering parts for a while. So far I have a 12 bolt rear end, T-10 four speed, 26 gallon fuel cell out of a jet boat and a 454 big block with an Edelbrock TR2X tunnel ram and two Holleys. The whole build started with the two Holly carbs I bought off of a jet boat guy at a yard sale for $20.00. I had those forever and everyone kept asking me, "what are you gonna do with those?" I'd tell 'em, "I'll find something to put 'em on!" I like to mock things up to check proportion and scale and every once and a while I do it just to get stoked and keep up project momentum. It's fun to pretend!

Shea Laking · Dec 21, 2010

Gotta say, I'm not really a fan of radical chops.

With that out of the way, I have to say this is turning out really nice! You're obviously not just in there, cutting and hacking for the sake of it...You've taken the time to be sure your mods are well thought out.

you have managed to do a radical modification and maintain a sense of flow and proportion.

I am impressed and look forward to more updates as you get there.[P[P

Keep up the good work.[

Regards,
Shea

Mike S. · Dec 22, 2010

Thank you for the compliments Shea, I really appreciate it. Yeah, usually I can't just jump right into much without a well thought out plan. If I did I'd probably loose sleep! I love to engineer things and I think something as major as a chop deserves some forethought. I agree, I think the proportions turned out really well (so far!) and that's why I pondered a 6" chop for a couple of weeks before I did it. If the proportions and scale aren't right it just won't look good. Man, with all of the proportion smack I am talkin' this truck better turn out right or I'll really look like an idiot!

The saga continues! I finished welding and grinding the roof and just in time too because I was really tired of it! Next was the rotted out kick panels. I poked around until I found good metal to weld to, drew a line there and cut the panel along that line. I took that piece, hammered it flat and traced it onto the back of a Pepsi box, which makes great template material by the way. I then cut out the template and traced it onto a piece of 18 gauge. I cut that out with my trusty jigsaw and made the bends on a box and pan brake. After some trial fitting and trimming, I slowly spot welded the new panels in although evidently not slowly enough because I warped the driver's side. Dang it!

The 40G

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