The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop would it be wrong to ?

had this thought after surgery ...was a little dazed and thought after finishing my 59 step to original ,, taking my other and turnig it into a convertable cruiser, all weather interior like from a marine boat. no top at all. drop just a bit, just to be different.
what's your thought...

Andre I've got a 46 Dodge pickup that I'm going to do just that with. I've already channeled it over a 83 El Camino chassis and it will be a semi rat rod. As Soon as the 49 Burb gets on the road it will be next project. Go for it!!

cool but what frame should i use? S-10 or a car? something to give it a lower stance in the front.
i don't plan on making it a show truck,just something to pull the boat for those one day cruises!

Definately nothing wrong with it in my opinion.
But....
Since you asked.
I will mention that everytime I see a truck with the top gone I can't help but think that someone had a chop top job go horribly wrong so they discard the reamaning pieces.

Though on time online I saw a newer suburban topples and was kinda impressed. It looked like a slammed toppless limo or something.

I'd keep the original frame...de-arch the front springs and get drop spindles.....you can do a lot without changing frames...For me..de arch and spindles would easier....for those with a big ol' shop etc, frame swap might be easier...

One good thing would be to think about how to brace up the cab after you take the roof off. It gets 99% of its stiffness from the roof and back sheet metal, so it turns into a pop can without it. You will need to brace it up somehow.

thanks ,will consider all this when i get to that bridge, does a boat have doors? i'll weld and smooth those bad boys!

It would be wrong!
So far I have not seen a topless pickup that I liked, except maybe a 1930 something, but that is just me. They just look like something is wrong, can't explain it? That said, I say DO IT and see what you come up with. I'll keep an open mind until I see your results.

Buddy

its been done im going to do it with a 50 chevy i have you need to put a panel threw the middle to hold the cab together so the doors will open im going to put a councel inbetween the bucket seats just to stiffen the cab up

thanks again to all , i'm slowly getting off my pain meds and comming to my senses, i'll give the spare truck to my other son.

on a recent episode of american hot rod[boyd's show],they were showing a customer artists pictures of cars to get ideas about a future build to suit the customers needs. among the samples was a drawing of an advance design pickup convertable. it looked good on paper! good luck.