Okay, went out to the shop and did some measuring.
First, the car has 245/60-14's on the rear. That computes to 25.6" diameter-essentially the same as 275/40-17 which computes to 25.7"
The distance from the fender lip is 23.5". Might rise a tenth if I checked the air pressure in the tires which I have not done in several months.
As it sits, the top of the rim is approximately 4.25" below the fender lip.
When I go to 17" wheels, that should make the top of the rim approximately 2.75" below the fender lip which I would deem perfect for my tastes. I hate the Hi-Jacker look and I went to the the Hotchkiss springs because of the better geometry that should give better handling.
In reality, I think it will come somewhere between 72bluNblu's car and that of cudaragtop...both shown here
http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=97897.0 that would make me very happy
the 275/50's are a couple of inches taller...you can draw a picture and figure that out...would raise the lip about and inch from my numbers