Remember the saying about good cooks? “When the chef turns on the stove your job is to sit in the corner and peel potatoes.” Good glass guys are the same way. They’d rather you go somewhere else and peel potatoes while they work. It results in far less glass breakage.

To get glass into the ’46 we st art ed with the back glass. Since my top chop allowed me to stay with a stock sized glass we ordered a new replacement clear back glass an d h ad it tinted to match the sided windows, which will be cut from dark tinted glass.

As mentioned, the side glasses were cut from a sheet of dark tinted laminated sheet glass. This is the same type of glass found in the side windows of Suburbans and Explorers in that it appears somewhat dark and reflective when viewed from the outside but almost clear when viewed from inside the car. That’s a good attribute when you need a clear view of the traffic around you.

The actual method used to cut the glass is somewhat of a secret but as I understand it the process is similar to the sand blasting method used to engrave stone. But what do I know? Since the qu art er glasses are stationary the installers set these glasses in urethane. They aren’t coming out, ever. The door glasses are urethane set in the power window run channels.

The windshield consist of two pieces of flat, green tinted laminated glass cut and beveled so that the pieces can be butt joined in the middle. I’ve seen a number of hot rods with no center mounted vertical bar between the two pieces of glass. It’s a good look, but that I am aware of the seal between the two glasses is made using clear silicone. That works great for a while, but sooner or later the silicone will be affected by UV penetration and break down. That means replacement at some point. To avoid this problem I elected to use a narrow black plastic strip as a vertical bar. It has a very clean look to it and since I can urethane it into place it will be there forever, no digging it out to replace it due to it degrading.

As for installation the installers wrapped a black plastic beading that measures one half inch wide around each windshield glass then urethane set the glasses into place one at a time.

The center bar, which is a 3/8-inch wide strip of black plastic, is urethane glued between the two glasses only after the two windshiel d h alves are in place. How does the new windshield look? Not bad. The plastic beading may be there to help hold the windshiel d h alves in place, but it really gives the installation a very professional look.

Here’s a very good tip. Notice in the next pic that we added a black painted stripe all around the inside edges of the windshield. What this does for the car is to hide the layer of urethane adhesive holding the glass in place. It is just one of those subtle little detail things, but very necessary to clean up the look of the installation.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109