Serious help this time!!!

What I'm writing may sound silly...
I know windshields are not supposed to bend and change their shape, but a friend of mine in Italy pulled the one from his '57 Belair during the restoration and stored it flat (outside down..) for a couple of years.
Gues what?
When he tried to put it back on the car it became "wider"..

Looks like these old panoramic windshields may bend under their own weight...
I do not know if this is the case but when I pulled the original one from my '59 Catalina I stored it (carefully!!) on the lower edge...like sitting in the car!

The correct part number "wider" ones may just be incorrecly stored for decades ones

Yes, I also saw this in our workshop.
We used the heat of the paint booth for mounting.

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let me know if the first 4 pics cant be seen I know how to post the pic right in the reply now

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this is a 60 impala, notice the mirror on the dash, the speedometer is facing up towards the roof and the mirror provides the reflection so it can be seen by the driver.

Gold- I see where you are going with this. I finally have taken the time to replace the gasket on my windshield. I took the window out yesterday. I measured the window in the same spot you did. Mine came out to 63-13/16" outside flange to outside flange. I cut two pieces of the old rubber and the measurement was 64" exactly. This dimension would be the INSIDE edge of the glass. My glass is the factory original and is 1/4" thick overall.

I have not reinstalled it yet, since I am cleaning and repairing a few tiny spots of rust on the top portion, just above the door. This is kind of a trap for moisture, dirt, and crud, so I wasn't really surprised to find this.

The flange all the way around is in remarkable condition, considering it has been in there for 53 years. I had to remove the top portion of the dash to get the rubber out, but I was able to replace all the bulbs in the dash, as well as the ammeter John sent to me. Thanks, John! I would like to replace the speaker too, but I have no idea where to look or if there is an equivalent replacement.

More later...time to cook dinner.

Every car I measured weither it was a bisquane, impala, bonneville or catalina, they all measured 63 3/4 accross and the 2 windshields that i measured depending on where i measured I would get right at 65 inches, move the tape one way or the other and get 64 1/2.

I have come to the conclusion after all the fuss that I need a new company doing my instalation! the 65" windshield will fit just fine since it was right out of that 60 bonneville in the pic i posted above.

my car also measures 63 3/4 across.

lastly:

the sedans pictured and the hardtop pictured both had windshield openings that appeared to measure the same height and lenght

custom auto sound has a 4x10 speaker that is a dual cone under 50 bucks

ebay has little LED dash lights for under $15 work great and are much brighter

Gold- i'm beginning to think the window they sold you is totally wrong in every way it was manufactured. Hopefully there is a reolution to this soon. Thanks for the info on the speaker. No LEDs for me. They are great on new cars or customs, but not for mine. I don't like the look of LEDs on older original cars, but that's just me.

Keep us posted....and I will do the same for mine.

Chad

Chad…..you need a 4"X10" speaker, that has 10 ohms impedance. That's the important spec. Most of the speakers that are now on the market, for modern sound systems, are 4 or 8 ohms. These will burn out your factory radio in short order. I forget which part burns out. Please forgive an old man's memory! Call this company and they can set you up with the right speaker. A little pricey, but much cheaper than a radio repair……John

S & M Electro-Tech, Inc.
8836 Xylite St. N.E.
Blaine, MN. 55449
(763) 780-2861

P.S. How did the ammeter work out. The one in my car burned out, because I was being stupid. I had two good ones as spares, so I replaced it. Unfortunately, I put the bad one back in the same box with the remaining good one. I'm not sure now, if I sent you the good or bad one. Test it out before you put everything back together.

Old Gold wrote:

Every car I measured weither it was a bisquane, impala, bonneville or catalina, they all measured 63 3/4 accross and the 2 windshields that i measured depending on where i measured I would get right at 65 inches, move the tape one way or the other and get 64 1/2.

I have come to the conclusion after all the fuss that I need a new company doing my instalation! the 65" windshield will fit just fine since it was right out of that 60 bonneville in the pic i posted above.

my car also measures 63 3/4 across.

lastly:

the sedans pictured and the hardtop pictured both had windshield openings that appeared to measure the same height and lenght

I'm glad to see that this problem is complete. It reassures me for a possible replacement. And this confirms that the windshield is a little distorted.

Good luck for the future.