The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 5 window AD curved glass (chopped top)

I have an opportunity to buy a '51 half ton project that has been abandoned due to lack of interest. It is an incomplete frame off restoration (basket case). The top has been chopped 2 or 3 inches, it looks like they did a decent job. The doors have also been chopped, but are not yet installed.

My biggest concern, is the curved glass. I have been told that the normal corner windows can be trimmed to fit the smaller openings. Is this true, and is this usually expensive? The truck is being sold without any glass, front fenders, or grill. I have been told that there was too much rust in the fenders, and were tossed out. I am not too sure what happened to the grill, and they might still have it, but so far haven't been able to find it.

The story goes, that the metal work was done at a good college (for auto body) in Wyoming, so I am assuming that it was done correctly. Right now, I am undecided as whether to take on this project or not.

All feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

John

Man.. tough call.

It would have to be mighty cheap for me to hassle with it.

What do the rear fenders look like?

On the bright side.. if the frame and box are in good shape, you can always bag a 1.5 ton AD truck and swap the cabs.

The rear fenders, and box sides look real good. The front panel (in the box) is missing, and there is no floor (bed). The running boards had some rust through, but are solid enough to stand on. Overall, the back half looks pretty darn good. I almost wonder if the rear fenders, or entire box had been replaced at one time.
The curved glass is what has me most concerned. I would hate to have to spend a lot of cash on cutting down a couple of corner windows.

John

The corner windows are tempered glass and can not be cut with a glass cutter. They will have to be sanded down on a belt sander. I've never tried it but I have seen the finished product in trucks.

Thanks for the information Cletis,

I am probably going to pass on this one, although I did get another fellow "Bolter" slightly interested.

John

Cletis, The other "Bolter" is J Lucas's brother-in-law. Thats right I bit on it. I don't know if it was a smart move or not but it looks like it might be interesting. So I think I'm going to sell my 27 and put my money towards the 51. Do you know of any one that has 51 parts? Front fender, grill ect????

Cletis is right on! Tempered glass on the corner windows. And...if you get 'em too hot while sanding them down,,you have a pile of little broken pieces of glass on the floor.
In fact...thats an awful lotta sanding to do on a piece of tempered glass. 3 inches??? YIKES!!

A young man where I work chopped a top on an AD Chevy such as that at "Wyotech" in Laramie a few years ago. Do you have any photos? That would be a kick if it was the same one.

As far as the window, I made plexiglass ones when I chopped mine 30 years ago. I sold the cab about 10 years ago and they still looked darn good. I did it very easily, just cut them out and set them in a baking dish in the oven for about five minutes at 350 degrees and they bent into shape.

Season to your own taste.

Brian

Never realized you could bend plexiglass like that.

I guess you could turn it into a 3 window.

Hey MARTINSR,

ask that guy you work with if he remembers what color that AD was that he worked on. I don't believe that very much has been done to the cab since it left the school. This could get to be interesting.

John

John, I'll ask him tomorrow. He showed me some photos of it but I don't remember the color.

Brian

I never have any free time to get on this site but I couldn't help but put my 2 cents in on this one. About the glass. Tempered glass can be cut by using a sand blasting method. Tape everything up (both sides) except a small line where you would like to cut. Use a sand blaster just a little at a time so as to not get it too hot and after a while you will have two pieces of glass. Go too fast and you will have many more. Practice on a modern window side glass.

Wouldn't modern side glass be safety laminated and not tempered and therefore a completely different animal?

There was a long thread on this topic at hotrodders if I recall correctly started by Brian several years ago. If my gray matter is working correctly I seem to remember the final decision (supported by some professionals) was that while you may occasionally succeed, the majority of the time when the tempered glass cooled down it would shatter.

Yep, I did a test on the sandblasting tempered glass urban myth....I found it "Plausable".

I was getting somewhere but after taking a break came back to find the glass had expoded. Could it have been done slower? Yeah, could the thicker older glass be easier or harder? Yep, so at this point, I find it "Plausable".

Robin, most every glass on most every car made is tempered with exception of the windshield. So any replacement glass for these trucks are still tempered as far as I know.

John the truck was black when he worked on it, but it was supposed to be painted, he never saw that done.

Brian

MARTINSR,

Bingo, looks like we have a match! It never was painted. The box and rear fenders, along with any remaining paint on the cab is definitely black.

That makes this one even more interesting.

John

That's pretty funny. He has photos of it being chopped, if you get the truck I'll have to get copies for you.

Brian

You will need to forward them to my brother in-law Terry (27Capitol), he called the owner and they said that if he wants it, it's his. Now we just have to wait until they get back from vacation, which is good, as that will gives us time to clear some room for it.

John

MARTINSR,

If you have any pictures of it being chopped I'ld like to see them. Like I said before I might be making a mistake getting this but it does look interesting. Looks like fun to me.

Ok, I'm confused, who is looking to buy this truck? Both you and John are talking like you are! Am I missing something?

Brian

I stumbled upon this one accidentally. The dad was looking to recoup some of his investment since the son had lost interest. The cab was occupying one stall in his garage, and the rest was in a rented storage unit. He had advertised the engine, and a couple of other parts for sale. I hate to break up a solid vehicle, so I offered to buy it all, even though it doesn't fit in with my other projects.

I had a feeling that it might interest my brother in-law Terry (27Capitol), and I was correct.

My other excuse to buy it, (I think I have a problem) was for a father-son project for my 14 year old. Now even I realize that there is no way that I could ever find the time to take on another project. I was just convinced that it shouldn't be parted out, and I was going to try and find a way to keep it intact, even if it meant finding another buyer.

Hope that clears thing up.

John

Brian,

John's right he found it and I'm buying it. I'm looking for front fender and grill ect for it.

Do I understand your 48 is chopped? I'll be in the bay area next April to visit my cousin in Santa Clara. Any chance in getting together so I can check out your truck. I'ld like to get some ideas.

Yep, we can get together. But right now, you won't get many ideas being the old chopped cab was sold. The one I have now is half done, but you are welcome to come by.

Brian

Heres when I was chopping my first cab when I was 16.
http://members.aol.com/buickfam/topchopping.jpg

We used the water injector that goes with the baking soda blasting nozzle and cut a tempered rear glass with it. Used sugar sand and had the water turned up. The outfits that clean brick and remove graffiti use a sand slurry and that gave us the idea. Ours was setup to flow much more water for cooling and less sand than what they use. Truman Industries (TIP) sold the water injector nozzle at that time and, I'm sure anyone that sells soda blasters has them because soda is just too dusty without one. The back window was on a 54 chopped top mercury.

that sounds like a truck that could use a 1 peace fibberglass front end

That is WILD Evan, if that really works, you could be making a MINT cutting tempored glass.

Brian

Brian, it worked once to perfection but I'm not naive enough to think bad things couldn't happen. Just one oversize grain of sand that made it through the sieve or even setting a strain up by not cutting a consistent depth on each pass could make alot of little pieces happen. We need to get a couple tempered glasses and whittle several 2 or 3 inch strips off them before we can say it works every (or at least most) the time. The merc belonged to a friend and he had an extra glass so we said, "what the heck".

That is just wild. I have heard many urbanmyths about cutting tempered glass, that is the first I have every heard that is from the actual guy who did it (in other words I can believe it). That is just wild. Now, being I know next to nothing about the technology you used, I can't grasp it fully. But that is just wild.

Brian

So can a glass company cut/grind glass to fit or can they make it? What about plexaglass?