I also removed the old, damaged roof skin. The roof at the center pillar is 1.5 lower than stock. The front windshield remained stock. It also was extremely important to me that this roof modification was done in such a manner that there would be nominal patches, if any. I felt the lines of the car were there; I just had to find them...
...Which I did, by making the correct cuts and removing the right areas of metal from the understructure beneath the roof. There is no overlapping metal on the modifications. Everything was butt welded and tig welded back in. The only outside panels that I had to fabricate and add, were to the rear cat walk area and two small areas on the rear sides of the roof. All areas were metal finished. The roof was also shortened 6.5 in. and was butt welded at the rear corner flange where the window stainless meets the roof. The door and window posts were also corrected to follow the new roof line.
I intend to keep the car stock looking on the outside in its original “new for spring” turquoise color that I am learning to live with. I most likely will even run poverty caps on it. I also have a running 1969 Plymouth 383hp with an A833 four spd and suregrip 8 3/4 for it. So, despite being a little plain jane looking when done, it will have some rumble and go.
I am currently making a custom dash for new gauges. It will retain the white interior it had when I purchased it. It’s not perfect… but will do for now.
The old quarter window glass sitting in its original location illustrates the dramatic change in roof heightStriking before and after pictures......a remarkable difference
Why?
Why didn’t you just swap a hardtop roof on it? Or, why, etc., etc.? Although the overall response to what I did has been positive, I still get that question. I wish I had a better answer than:
1. I had the idea.
2. A solid car came along that was uniquely damaged in such a manner I could not feel bad taking a risk on it.
3. I had the time and patience and the limited financial resources to drive me to make this car something I wanted.
I never wanted people to notice what I did to the car; believe it or not. It’s the way the 2dr post sedans should have been designed when they were new, in my humble opinion. The four door and two door post sedans share the same roof skin and with the Plymouth having a shorter wheel base then its longer wheelbase brother Dodge it got even more exaggerated on the Plymouth. I want the roof modification to be a subtle thing that only the trained eye notices or hopefully doesn’t. I just want people to see it and think, ‘Man, for a lowly post sedan, that looks good! I just can’t figure out what’s different about it though.”
