Well its the day after and I am eatin on some cold turkey and I got this idea. I have seen how they sell the top 1/2 of T-Top cars on ebay, so could you buy a chopped top of a fiero and mount it on yours? This is just simple thinking, could it be possible, or would it be easier to chop the damn thing.
-Matt

Yes it is possible, but the work is really difficult.

I haven't done it but I have been in discussion with others who have worked on roofs and could talk about it.

Somebody will answer who has had a run at it I am sure.

Don't cut too soon.

By the way, it requires removing the whole top off the car.

Orville did his own chop top out in his shop behind his house.. He did it a little different than all the others. He lengthened the roof and used a bigger windshield. The bottom of his windshield is about 5 inches more forward than a stock Fiero.. It looks very cool!

Me and Monkey went over the other day to check the progress. I'll be taking new pictures as soon as he gets the car painted.

The problem with this plan is that if you have the skills to weld on the entire roof section of a Fiero then you have the skills to chop it the usual way.

In my opinion the most difficult part of the job is getting all the custom pieces, (side windows, quarter windows and interior trim).

Archie has had all these pieces made up for his jobs and that's what makes the job look so clean. I have never done it but I imagine the cutting and welding part could be done by any competent body shop person. But making it look right when you are all done is a little more difficult.

I was thinking that someone could make molds off of a chopped car, that way the fiberglass work is done and then they would be able to sell the fiberglass panels.
-Matt

I doubt if there is ever going to be enough people chopping their cars to make it worthwhile to make molds and fiberglass parts...

And once again, if someone makes molds from something that someone else created and tries to sell it... that's just wrong. If you want to make some fiberglass parts for a choptop or anything else, create your own design and don't steal someone elses. It will eventually get to where no one will bother making Fiero parts if there are so many rip-off artists around.

I would just think that making a mould of the fastback clip chopped would be a very intricate and complicated mould, and that goes hand in hand with hiiiigh prices.

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Christian Thomas
87 Pontiac Fiero GT Burgandy/Silver
86 Pontiac Fiero GT Red/Silver

I am not sure if achie is close to one coast or not, but if he was, I think he should sell his molds and share his knowledge of the chop with someone on the opposite coast, and also with someone in Canada. At least someone in Canada, because for us up here, it would be way to expensive to drive or ship our cars down to archie, then pay for a place to stay, or plane ticket home, then pay for the chop on top of that. Might as well buy 3 junk fieros to try the process on, and do it outself. prolly still save money

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87 GT w/T-Tops
If you like what I am contributing, please vote.

i would love to get a chop.. but as you said. in canada its just not going to happen...
far to expensive to go to archies from here.
i wish someone did them in canada

I don't know if a mold would help a whole lot. There's more than one way to do a chop and the actual cutting of the roof is the only "easy" part. Any differences in the method used to do the chop would mean that this mold wouldn't work.

The problem is you can't just hack a couple of inches out of the (vertical) middle of it and weld it up - the A and/or B pillars would never line up this way unless both pillars were perpendicular to the cut. Which means both pillars would need to be parallel which we all know is not the case on the Fiero.

Some chops will lay a windshield back since cutting a windshield usually has a 1 in 3 sucess rate for the pros. That can get expensive and adding more rake to the windshield looks pretty good anyway. So when you lay it back more, the length betwen the top of the windshield and the B-pillar gets shorter. And the B-pillar needs to be heavily modified to make it fit, too. Look at the Stinger from the front and notice the angle between the top of the doors and the roof.

A chop that shortens the original windshield usually results in a longer roof between the A and B pillar, so material has to be added.

Once the unit frame is all welded up, the amount of fiberglass work, IMO, is pretty trivial compared to the amount of welding required underneath it.

Check out some of the hotrod sites and see how much sectioning they have to do to the roof to make it all work.

The idea is good - a mold for a new chopped roofline would simplify things. But I don't think you could get away with just one mold. Just my two cents.

[This message has been edited by Stinkin_V8 (edited 11-29-2003).]

Archie is in the Metro Chicago, Illinois area. GMGW3 bought a chop top from Archie last year, and he didn't start out with a car. He bought a car from Archie, had it chopped, installed the SBC 350, rockers, and finished off the interior. The car was delivered finished off except for minor body work and paint, with Cary starting out with nothing except a checkbook.

So, for those of you that are looking for a chop and are a good distance away, Archie may be able to supply the donor car for additional cost. Give him a call and check with him about that. It's certainly an option for you, and 1 way delivery is a lot cheaper than round trip.

Mark