Chopping Curved Windshields
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Paul Kelly, our technical contributor has just finished an article on the main board about manufacturing new curved windshields for chopped cars.
Paul and several others have been using this technique for may years with great success. John D’Agostino is one of the others who has used specialist using this same technique on several of his curved windshield chopped customs.Paul takes us step by step how a template for the glass manufacture has to be prepared.
Take a look at the article on the main board and feel free to ask questions or show you your experience with curved windshield on the Forum here.Click the photo to see the article.
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I’ve done the above dozens of times in restoring vintage Ferrari’s for concours d’elegances and making windshields and rear windows. Glad to see someone has properly detailed.
If anyone knows a good shop or glass guy in L.A. or O.C. area for chopped curved windshields please let me know. My uncle is having a very hard time finding someone who can complete the job correctly. I think he is on his fifth windshield and second or third glass guy who Thinks he can do it but they can’t do it correctly. If they don’t break it then they get it in there but its not sitting all the way down like its supposed to. That way it will allow the stainless to go back on. He is not looking for the cheapest guy or anything like that,he just wants its installed. This is holding him up from driving the car and this car has been a long time coming. It is a gorgeous Keith Dean chopped 1956 Cadillac. Thanks in advance for any help.
Hi I had to have a good hard think about the split windscreen in my chopped 49 Caddy didn’t know whether to bring a set from USA and have them cut or look around and see what local car had something similar here in Australia..
The chop was 4 1/2″ but by the time you cut and adjust the cuts it was another 1/4″ added to the final weld in…The glass from the states with shipping and insurance was crazy so had to look around for something local
I was at the breaker yard skunging around and saw a VW Kombie wagon 70’s era. The bottom curve looked the same and the top outer radius looked similar……Checked into a friends place who played with VW and asked him if he had a old Kombie screen I could have …. got it home and I still had the left screen out of the 49…..couldn’t believe it…the caddy screen fitted just about perfect over the VW screen along the top outer and side edge and the curve was the same…..When the car was ready for paint I cut 3 ply timber templates for the glass….. installed the rubber gasket cut it to suit the chop and fitted the templates to make sure they were correct and fitted without and tightness ….. Went to the local auto glass dealer and purchased a VW Kombie windscreen $130 and took it to my local glass supplier and for $50 he cut the screen in half. It needed to be shortened in the center about 1″ and about 10″ off the bottom and Finished the edges to the final shape ….
I had budget of $1200 to do this job, and it cost me $180…..This same screen would fit all GM products around this era with split screen….Chevy would just have to cut more out of the center when cutting in half as they wouldn’t be as wide
Doug
That is an amazing good tip Doug. I think that wiil make a lot of People with a chopped GM cars with similar windshields in progres very happy.
Thank you.
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Ever since I got into US cars in the early eightiesĀ Finland has been the source for windshields and shaped glass ,Ā I have only one formed glass piece my self , from Finland , the rear window for my -50 Buick that had too muchĀ shape in stock form , weĀ (read my buddy Janne who is a glass “maestro”) sentĀ the stock -50 Buick sedanetteĀ rear glass to some company in Finland and made 4pc of less shaped rear glassĀ pretty much exacly to my spec , I was blown away … Janne ordered the rear window to his ownĀ -49 MercĀ . From what I have heard since thisĀ has never been presented to me as a business that I can call up “they” can make the mold from a shaped sheetmetal / fiberglass surfaceĀ that is made o the windshield / window opening in a chopped car . IĀ googled shaped laminated glass just now , IĀ have not been in contact withĀ these companys if they make custom glass for private persons but it looks like they got the pro-shaped glass down:
This seems promising for custom glass :
pilkington.com/en-gb/uk/automotive/us-and-kit-car
Wolf
I know of several full customs done in the USA that sourced glass from Finland too. Sam Foose did a Starliner (I think it was) for my friend that had 2 windshields made there (one for a spare), not sure if they did back glass or not.
Mitch
Would be great to have an inside line on getting custom glass made, because all i ever heard was that it cost a hell of a lot of money for a screen to be made. Would be amazing to be able to do any chop you wanted though.
Would be great to have an inside line on getting custom glass made, because all i ever heard was that it cost a hell of a lot of money for a screen to be made. Would be amazing to be able to do any chop you wanted though.
Yeah I have always wondered about the cost. Guys like John D’Agostino had glass made on a few customs. I remember a build in Custom Rodder where he had a guy come in from Finland to do the pattern for one to have it done over there.
Would be great to have an inside line on getting custom glass made, because all i ever heard was that it cost a hell of a lot of money for a screen to be made. Would be amazing to be able to do any chop you wanted though.
Yeah I have always wondered about the cost. I would have to think it is not the kind of thing an everyday builder is going to find affordable. Guys like John D’Agostino had glass made on a few customs. I remember a build in Custom Rodder where he had a guy come in from Finland to do the pattern for one to have it done over there.
IĀ“m sure i read somewhere that itĀ“s 11000 bucks to do one screen, but after that you can have as many as you want for a couple of hundred a shot. At commercial rates i guess.
Paul Kelly from Australia did an ARTICLE on the CCC on the Custom Glass Subject some time ago.
My guess is there are more companies out there that can do it, but only do not advertise it.
Craig Naff mentioned this about theĀ custom made glass in Cadzilla
“The paterns were delivered to California glass bending and they formed several sets of 1/4″ laminated safety glass from them.”California Glass Bending is still in business…. so perhaps it might still be a good source for Custom Made car glass in the US?
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Just putting this on top for those who are looking for the discussion on creating custom glass.
Enjoy the beauty of Customizing
There are a lot of comments about hearing that it costs a lot of money, but no actual costs mentioned… so I sent some estimate requests. I said that I was in the early stages of a build and that I was looking for a very rough estimate so I could plan a budget. I estimated that I would need a windshield that was 18 inches by 60 inches (~46 x 152 cm) with a curve radius similar to most cars just to get the conversation going.
The first to respond was Curved Glass Creations in Florida. They said that they would need more info of course, but based on the details I provided, they estimated the price would range between $600 to $3000 (US) with 3-6 weeks for production. CurvedGlassCreations.
Standard Bent Glass said they do not do car glass, but suggested I contact Fox Fire Glass.
So now we know! š
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