Restyling 4 door 1948 Chevy

RESTYLING 4 DOOR 1948 CHEVY

Two-door cars are most of the times favored above four-door models. Yet most four-door models can look very good customized… with the right restyling.

One of the reasons why most people favor a two door version over a four door version is because of proportions. The longer doors on the two door versions give optical length to the car, sort of instant speed. With the right touches a four-door model can look very good, and above all its a perfect family cruiser.

When I came across this nice dead on side view of this low rider style 1948 Chevy Four door I knew what I had to do. I had always wanted to see how a perfectly chopped version of this type of car would look like, or even one with a nicely styled padded top. I created two versions and a few variations on those two.

original photo I started with. Perfect side view of this low rider style four door.

 

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The chopped four door sedan

The first version I created had a nice mild chopped top. Careful not to go extreme otherwise the side windows will look very much out of proportions. One of the tricks to make this chopped version look better is to eliminate the heavy B-Pillar post. The front doors were extended, which resulted in longer front door side windows. In Photoshop this is rather easy to do, and in metal it will be a bit harder, but not impossible to perform. However some clever engineering will need to be done to move the B-pillar inboard a little and narrow it at the top where the side window was extended. I also added some wider white wall tires that looked better with what I had in mind.

 

The second version is basically the same as the first. Only now I have added some tear drop shaped skirts to give the car a whole new feel. I also added different hubcaps just to see how much that would change the cars looks.

 

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The four-door padded-topped convertible

For the Convertible version of the four-door 1948 Chevy I removed the complete metal top above the belt-line trim. The top section of the A-pillar was reworked to look more like a convertible A-pillar. The front section of the door A-pillar, where the vent window is attached to, remained on the door, but was reshaped. It was thinned down and moved forward a little. The top section was straightened to match the new A-pillar shape. The vent window was heavily modified with convertible vent window components for the top section. The padded top was created along the lines of the chopped metal top version, and modified slightly to fit the padded top look better. The section behind the door was blanked out for the typical heavy in the back padded top look.

 

Same as above, only now I extended the doors in a similar way as I did on the metal top version. This is a little less work on the convertible than on the sedan, but at the same time extra strength needs to be built in for the lack of roof support. The side view does cleaned up a bit with the removal of one vertical door line. On this version I also extended the fender extensions on the door. These give the car optical more length. In real life longer versions of a 1948 Pontiac could be used for this.

 

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Full fade-away fenders

Versions with full fade away fenders. Always a nice touch on this year Chevrolet. But on a four door it will be a lot of work to make all four doors work well with the fade aways. Perhaps fade away panels from a same year Buick four door could be used.

 

 

[box_light]Want to see more? Take a look at some other Digital Restyling projects by Rik Hoving Kustoms on the Custom Car Chronicle site.[/box_light]

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Are you day dreaming about your own perfect dream custom?

• Do you wonder what your precious car would (or could!) look like, even before you start cutting on it?
• Would you like to see different paint variations and styled on your custom car before you even start to mask the car, or order that expensive new paint? 
• Or would you like to see the difference of a 2, 3 or 4 inch chop and see the impact it will have on the rest of the car?
• Maybe you want to see any other modification done to your custom car, without having to actually perform that modification and find out a different modification would have worked better with the rest of your car?

Do you suddenly see all the possibilities? Perhaps now is a good time to contact Rik Hoving and ask him about the possibilities of his digital Restyling options. Request are free of any obligations.

 

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