This is the true story of a sweet little car and her quest to become one of the sexiest vehicles on earth. As you may have read in the prequil, Sharona has made her long journy to Chicago and met a few new friends on the way. This morning one of her newest friends, Archie, pulled her in to his garage so he and his crew can begin to work their magic.
Archie has promised to satisfy our lust for pictures, so sit back and relax, grab some popcorn and a big over-priced soda and enjoy the break-away sleeper hit of 2004... My Sharona Is A Centerfold!
Edited for spelling. ------------------ Dowdian Beat up, broken down, bashed in 88 GT that I love dearly.
[This message has been edited by Dowdian (edited 11-16-2004).]
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09:58 AM
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jscott1 Member
Posts: 21676 From: Houston, TX , USA Registered: Dec 2001
grab some popcorn and a big over-priced soda and enjoy the break-away sleeper hit of 2004... My Sharona Is A Centerfold!
my soda wasn't overpriced. I stole it from Jscott1 when he was looking at the other thread....gulp gulp. I backwash.
welcome to the forum. On your way home from archies, feel free to stop by Nw Indiana. You can check out some engine swaps for your new choptop. I'm doing a fuel injected small block, and my roommate is doing a northstar V8. I'll convince you that a Small block is better than a northstar by far.
I'm afraid I've already joined that camp, KissMySSFiero. Archie will be replacing the engine with a new LM1 with TPI. I think a car that looks that fast needs to go that fast.
jscott1, thanks for the welcome! Everyone here has been really good to me so far. In fact, this forum has played an integral role in every decision I've made regarding Sharona, from choosing Archie and the SBC over the N* all the way to helping me figure out how to get her to Chicago. All of my choices have been made easier because of the help I've received here.
Yeah, she'll stay red, although I've been waffling on what shade of red. Paint probably won't come until next fall (optimistically) so I have a while yet to decide.
I wanted to have the first chop top to stay red but Curley beat me to it. Well I'm still not sure what color my car will be. I'm still working out some other things before paint.
Yes, please post some chop pictures. Archie is on track for a record year for chop tops.
I wanted to have the first chop top to stay red but Curley beat me to it.
Now that this step of Sharona's make-over is underway, I've started pricing/planning the next steps. Well...let me just say that there may be several people who don't yet have drivers licences that will have chop-tops and a paint job before I do. I have some very specific ideas about how she should look that I'm not willing to compromise, and those ideas are turning out to be quite expensive and/or time consuming to implement. It's gonna be a good long while, I think, before I can start thinking about paint.
I doubt I'm going to be the first to do much around here. You folks are really creative and I have no qualms about playing the role of the follower in a group like this, but I can tell you one thing. No matter what color she is or what mods I give her, she will be one of a kind. Of that I have no doubt.
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09:18 PM
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Archie Member
Posts: 9436 From: Las Vegas, NV Registered: Dec 1999
Well We've decided to do the dirty work of the Chop Top before doing the engine swap.
We have it pretty well taken apart windows all removed (sorry couldn't save the windshield) all of the necessary body panels removed.
We're going to take another pic from this angle when we are done.
Next, we start hacking away at it.
Dowdian, give me a call tomorrow when you can, I have several questions about what colors to paint several things & what to do with a few other things.
Archie
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10:49 PM
Archie Member
Posts: 9436 From: Las Vegas, NV Registered: Dec 1999
Originally posted by Dowdian: I doubt I'm going to be the first to do much around here. You folks are really creative and I have no qualms about playing the role of the follower in a group like this, but I can tell you one thing. No matter what color she is or what mods I give her, she will be one of a kind. Of that I have no doubt.
I'm sending this to you as a PM so it's not like shouting Fire in a crowded room.
Oh! I guess that means that I'm not supposed to tell anyone about that special little door treatment we discussed.
Archie
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10:54 PM
jscott1 Member
Posts: 21676 From: Houston, TX , USA Registered: Dec 2001
Is this what your car saw In the mirror but in red... This is the # 1 Chop top in Europe also called SHARKMAN GT I have the stage II sidescoops and the stage II hoodscoops in the garage. After this winter... Wait and see.
I am following this thread along with choptop # 15. / SHARKMAN
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03:17 AM
Dowdian Member
Posts: 205 From: Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania Registered: Jul 2004
I'm sending this to you as a PM so it's not like shouting Fire in a crowded room.
So much for preventing the stampede! Now everybody knows about the... well, I'll call you.
quote
Originally posted by Mach10:
Just remove the doors and replace with "Police line -- DO NOT CROSS" tape...
LOL! That's an awesome idea! I'm definitly gonna think about maybe considering that!
quote
Originally posted by Sharkman:
Is this what your car saw In the mirror but in red...
There's no doubt that you have a beautifiul car that you should be proud of, but I can honestly say no, that's not what she saw. I've learned and taken ideas from a lot of people here, and a lot of cars, but Sharona's not going to look like any one of them. uuuhhh...cars or people that is .
Having said that, I can't wait to see your car next spring! It's gonna look great with the scoops.
BTW, Archie, If those cheap speaker wires stretched through the cab and the engine compartment were to accidently dissapear, I wouldn't be too terribly upset.
Looking forward to see how your car will go from stock Fiero to one of a kind Fiero.
In the intro you did in another thread you changed a picture of your car and the wheels and the chop was like mine. Thats why I posted a pic of mine.
People ask me why I have a fiero and not another fast car with turbo and my answer is: THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE. And it sounds like you have the same idé. Choptop, camaro engine etc and under construction. Were is the fun in driving a car that 1 million other have as a daily drive...
/SHARKMAN
[This message has been edited by Sharkman (edited 11-18-2004).]
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09:23 AM
Dowdian Member
Posts: 205 From: Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania Registered: Jul 2004
sorry I got in on this post a little too late, stupid computer broke. But I have an idea for a color, both are corvette colors and both are red. Also I just love the names of the colors. One is Arrest me red and the other is Write me a ticket red, very beautiful colors.
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11:15 AM
Dowdian Member
Posts: 205 From: Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania Registered: Jul 2004
I found a few pics of cars with that "Arrest Me Red" paint and your right, it is beautiful. I couldn't find any pics of the other, do you know where I could find an example?. Thanks for the tip!
Oh, and welcome to the forum!
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01:14 PM
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Nov 22nd, 2004
madcurl Member
Posts: 21401 From: In a Van down by the Kern River Registered: Jul 2003
Hey Jim would love to hear some of your experiences on the Chop top Chronicles thread !
Dowdian are you going to have your car ready by Daytona and are you planning to attend ?? Would love to see your car there ! This will be a big year for choptops at Daytona.
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09:38 PM
Nov 23rd, 2004
Dowdian Member
Posts: 205 From: Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania Registered: Jul 2004
Welcome to the club!! Be prepared to spend a lot of time answering questions every time you drive it
Jim, I can't wait! I'm really looking forward to hear someone say "What the hell is that!?!"
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Originally posted by exoticse:
Dowdian are you going to have your car ready by Daytona and are you planning to attend ??
I'm 100% certain that the car won't be "ready", but I may be there all the same. It won't have the paint, wheels, or interior finished, but it will be road-worthy. I think the jaunt down to Fla. would be lot of fun.
Edit: Is it bad form to show up with a partially finished car? I've only been to a very few car shows, and never with a car to show off.
[This message has been edited by Dowdian (edited 11-23-2004).]
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09:03 AM
jscott1 Member
Posts: 21676 From: Houston, TX , USA Registered: Dec 2001
I'm 100% certain that the car won't be "ready", but I may be there all the same. It won't have the paint, wheels, or interior finished, but it will be road-worthy.
This sounds like my car
Since none of my cars are "finished" I've only showed up with works in progress. As long as you keep in mind that you are there for fun it's perfectly acceptable to show up with a work in progress. It gives us a preview of what it will look like finished.
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10:01 AM
Nov 29th, 2004
madcurl Member
Posts: 21401 From: In a Van down by the Kern River Registered: Jul 2003
I talked to Archie earlier today. He's been pretty busy with the Holiday, but he says he has a few pictures for us, so hopefully in the next few days we'll get another glimpse.
As for the finish date, I won't be able to go get her until around 01/15 because of work and the holidays. I'll let Archie speak for himself on his schedule, but the last time we spoke about it he was looking forward to finishing it before then.
edited for spelling
[This message has been edited by Dowdian (edited 11-29-2004).]
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02:08 PM
madcurl Member
Posts: 21401 From: In a Van down by the Kern River Registered: Jul 2003
I have a question for you chop top guys. How tall are you? I almost decided to try out the GBCT when it was in St. Louis just to see if I could fit in it. I'm 6' 2" and can't imagine lowering the roof at all. I feel like my head is always against the headliner / T-Top glass as it is.
------------------ Earl Rice 87 T-Top GT 5 Spd 3400 Gen III Turbo in progress
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06:47 PM
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FieroGT87 Member
Posts: 3195 From: St. Louis, Mo, USA Registered: Jul 2001
So are you getting the carpet installed too? Brakes? Coil-over?
Madcurl, Do you have coil overs on the front as well as the back? I have the post with the rear coilovers bookmarked. I was wondering about the fronts. Sorry if I'm highjacking a thread here.
Dowdian, looking good keep it going.
------------------ Earl Rice 87 T-Top GT 5 Spd 3400 Gen III Turbo in progress
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06:51 PM
Dowdian Member
Posts: 205 From: Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania Registered: Jul 2004
j/k
.
