You know we dig Michael Bello’s around here, and it isn’t just because he’s funny and likes to talk about lunch all the time. Nope, it’s because he has a great attitude, is all smiles, and totally downplays his skills in metal shaping. He builds some really cool and fun cars and is just a good watch that I enjoy. In this video here he’s starting in on a new project for a customer who wants to take his two door post 1951 Chevrolet and make it into a hardtop. That sounds easy, but it isn’t, or at least not when Bello does it right. In addition, this thing is getting the drip rails shaved and the chop topped, so this is just Part 1 of the series.

If you aren’t quite sure what the difference is between a hard top and post car, the post car has a frame all around the door glass that is a part of the door. There is also a post behind the door, between the door glass and quarter windows. So if you rolled down both the front and rear windows on a post car you’ll still have a big post between the two. On a hard top car there are no frames around anything and if you open the windows the entire side of the car is open with no post.

On a 1951 Chevrolet post car, the rear side windows don’t roll down. On a hard top they do. So Bello has a lot to do to make this right and to make it feel like a real hard top custom. Check out the build, starting now.