Thread: piece of pie

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Well I'm just waiting for the big storm, but so far there has only been fine ice dust. Our power may go out so maybe I will get a few answers from you pro body people while if/when it goes out here. I am going to attach a VERY nice picture of a '28 roadster from the CARNUT collection, since I learned how to copy pictures. I saw this in Street Rodder over a year ago but I don't remember who the owners are. Basically I am trying to estimate the "pie cut" angle of the windshield. I think it really modernizes the shape of the Model-A profile to lean the windshield back a little. I asked Bob Parmenter about this and he called it a "pie-cut" but I would think you have to cut a wedge out of the top of the posts as well as the bottom so that the wooden top bow lays down on the pins at the top of the frame. One other aspect to ask you experts is to note that in my Sunfire Convert the windshield is slanted back so far that when I lean forward to wind the window my head hits the windshield, so in the case of the Model-A I don't want my nose right on the front glass so there must be some limit on the slant angle. Let's start the discussion with 20 degrees? I would call it a Z-cut since I would take a 20-degree wedge out of the bottom of the frame brackets on the back and then another 20-degree wedge out of the frame on the front at the top of the brackets (which seems like a 20 degree Z to me).
Another question is whether to use the stock height brackets or the 2" chopped brackets? I would guess with the slant I will get quite a bit of chop/height reduction due to the lean back and if I use the 2" chop with the lean back the top will be more like a 3" chop? Bebops offers a fiberglass top chopped 3" so if I use a 1" lower height with the brackets usually used for a 2" chop and leaned back I can use trigonometry to estimate the angle as 11"/12" = cos(angle), so angle = 23.55 degrees (assuming the glass is 12". Thus brackets for a 2" chop tilted back by about 24 degrees would be equivalent to a 3" chop (which may be too low) if the glass is 12" wide. Can anyone explain the "pie-cut" to me better and/or tell me how to contact the owners of this fantastic A roadster so I can ask them how they did it?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder