Mail Slot Menace
Chopping: To 'chop' a roof the pillars and windows are cut down, lowering the overall roofline. 'Chopping the top' goes back to the early days of hot rodding out here – reduce the frontal profile of a car and it should go faster. Some racers on the dry lakes out in the nearby Mojave chopped the tops of their cars so much that the windows were only a few inches tall – you got your 'mail slot' windows. Roof chopping became popular with drag racers for the same reason. The first roof chopper is considered to be Sam Barris, who chopped and customized his brand new 1949 Mercury. Barris also pioneered a more advanced form – the B-pillar is removed and you get a 'pillarless' hardtop.