Has anybody ever seen or have any pics of a body-dropped 53-56? For you old people out there a body drop is where you cut out your floor and weld it in a few inches higher so that the body sits lower on the frame.

Cut, raise,



and fill in




Ever see a truck that's has the body sitting on the ground instead of just the frame, that's the result of body dropping.

 

.......and for you young people out there , a "body drop" is just a new name for an OLD customising mod, it's exactly the same modification as what we call "channeling"........something us "old people" have been doing since the fifties. (even though I'm a newbie from 63)

There are a few channeled 53-56 around, do a google.

I have photos here somewhere of a chopped and channeled 48 F-1, I'll see if I can remember how to post them

 

Yep, channeling is one of the earliest mods along with removing fenders and chopping tops. It was real easy to do with the early cars with wood floors. and not much more difficult with flat steel floors. Once you removed the fenders the body was perched on top the frame, so channeling was first done to cover the frame. Cars that weren't channeled but had their fenders removed were called "Hiboys". Most of what's new is old stuff recycled with a new name.

 

Hoof has a 6" channel on his F1

 

Pics!










CHAZ

 

very cool. any pics of completed trucks?

 

The first three pics I took this AM!


I have a mock up pic;


CHAZ

 

What's this old people stuff? That started back in the 30's My grandfather did that in the early 40's. ..............RUSTY

 

I know what you mean. I had a channeled 31 Ford coupe in 1961. Channeling is nothing new. It's been around for ages....

 

a quick look inside the door jamb reveals a factory channel on 53-56s

 

a while back I was tossing the idea around about doin it to my 51 and a friend of mine suggested keeping the front fenders at the factory mounting height and changing the hood to line up and using an air bag suspension. I know it sounds odd but it looks great. A friend of mine built a model to show what it would look like.

Just an idea but looks sweeeeeeeeet!!!

 

That does look really cool, I always thought the hoods looked way too tall. I saw one (I probably have a pic somewhere) where they got the same effect by pie cutting and sectioning the hood. I think it would be hell to try and build that model in real life though!

CHAZ
Found it!

 

it just occured to me that there was a Bonus-Built a lot like this at the western nats this year, I don't have a picture of it but someone out there just might

 

i have seen a few channeled 53-56 effies. Depending on the rest of the modifications it can look pretty tough.

However, in a 53-56 you can still put the body on the ground without channeling due to the running boards/bed sitting however many inches lower than the actual frame is in reality.


BTW, "body dropping" is a new term for the technology that has been around for a really really long time. But i see that has already been pointed out.

 

That is exacly what I did. Left the front fenders at stock mounting height, raised cab floor 1 3/4" which dropped the cab relative to the front fenders. Then sliced a like amount from the hood plus alittle more towards the front.