How difficult is it to get glass?

[skewzme]

Thinking about buying a 56 for restoration.
This particular one isn't good enough for a museum quality restoration. It's got rust, but it runs and drives.
Just looking to make a weekend driver out of it.
Wondering about parts availability, particularly windshields and glass.
Can you still get that stuff without taking out a second mortgage on the house?
Thanks

[lld]

The windshield is an issue, search for threads on windshields and you will read what happened when I tried to buy one last year. Supposedly, there is a no’s one on eBay right now but you have to pick it up.

Flat glass is not an issue. Antique Auto Glass in CT can supply the flat glass


Larry

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[Don Henschel]

The windshield is a walk in the park if you get a Peruvian made windshield. My only small complaint is the tint is slightly lighter than OEM but from other forum members mentioning is they have the correct thickness, height, and shape! Try getting a tinted backglass?? They are tempered glass making them too hard to polish out any scratches like what mine has from a garage door mishap and they are not reproduced, correct me if I'm wrong on this assumption? Also depending on how fussy you are, the color or density of the tint for all of the glass is a concern to myself. ALL of the glass generally has the same tint. Now if you have clear this is another walk in the park as you can throw any clear or tinted windshield in (Peru preferred due to horrible fit on others) and Lincoln Mark has an NOS clear and he says who the heck wants clear? My response was if my glass is clear I would snap it up like a duck on a Junebug! Not all of these cars had tinted glass. I have tinted and have a good used windshield from Boise Idaho for a spare with a fair windshield with a few repairable stone chips and wiper scuffs that can be polished out but the back glass is a different story. Also some of my side glass has bubbles or separation of the laminate.

[lld]

Even the Peruvian windshield is very difficult to get now. Bobs Classic Glass stopped carrying them for awhile due to quality issues. I bought a Peruvian windshield last December form Bobs. It seemed to fit fine and was installed by someone that does classical glass installations on very expensive Pebble Beach, Amelia Island, etc cars. It was just sitting in the shop and suddenly , after 2-3 weeks, it cracked in the region of high curvature. Apparently, this has happened in the past as well. Some work out fine and some do not. However, it is probably about 8 hours for careful removal and installation.

Side glass is easy to get since it is flat.

Larry

[skewzme]

Peruvian glass? What is that? Glass made in Peru? How do you get it?

[lld]

To the best of my knowledge, the only source for Mark II windshields is from a glass manufacturer in Lima, Peru. They do not do retail sales. You have to buy through a distributor like Bobs Classic glass.


Larry

[Don Henschel]

Yes that is pretty much the situation on the glass from Peru and other members using glass from south of the boarder or some of those other off shore sources mentioned the inferior glass was thinner seems to me 1/4 inch instead of 5/16, not as tall resulting in centering shims needing to be used to center the glass in the rubber, and a p!$$ poor curvature so the descriptions go. This glass from Peru is also supplied for other vintage models of Ford as well.