Look a another 49 kaiser for sale ..

[Roadmaster49]

I've been looking at the process for a piece I'd like to have.
Having glass bent can be done but is an expensive process. A mold is made, either from scratch or an existing "pattern" piece.
Glass is heated until it softens enough to conform to the mold. Tempered is similar but I haven't found anyone yet that does curved tempered auto glass in small runs.

Thanks Mark. 

[Roadmaster49]

Gordie:

Yep - the sample part is going to the hard part.  The one Virginian in that group of 3 in the original ad has the 2 side pieces which as I recall are very "sturdy" owing to their smaller size.  Someone would need to provide the longer piece in the middle.

As you note, a demand would need to be measured so you are correct, an ad needs to be placed in the newsletter.  So, there were 935 or so hardtops made.  (If I am off by a small measure, I am going by memory so be nice) I parted out one, there are 3 at this Colorado place and the one nice CC Virginian. 

All in all, I suppose there are no more than 200 Virginians and Frazer hardtops left in any condition. 200 might be on the high side.  This would be a tough justification especially with declining interest in restorations and the old car hobby, but we will see. 

[Gordie]

I don't know about declining interest in restoring old cars being a deterrent but the high cost of parts and labor today certainly puts a crimp in the restoration business.  Unless you can do most of the work yourself it is very costly to restore a car today and the cost of a restoration would far exceed the value of most old cars.

[flamingchariots]

It is very expensive to have glass made and we are lucky to have windshields available for our 1951-'55 cars and Darrin's but the club can not afford to make very many at any one time.  If enough owners needed several of any one piece they could possibly be made up if most were pre-sold so that we could get the investment back.

Gordie
Can you expound on the process?   In other words, what is step 1, step 2, etc.  I can not wrap my head around how to.  If I had a windshield like your 51-55 cars, then there is probably a long lost mold somewhere?  Mold? I don't know I am just guessing. 

I guess I should google how glass is made.

An American who lives in Bolivia has documented the restoration of a 1960 Corvair.  His name is Richard Widman.  He is an oil/lubrication expert who owns his own company there.   
As part of the restoration, he had to remove the broken windshield in one piece, and then send it out to a glass manufacturer for a mold to be made.  Here is a quote from him from the CorvairCenter  Forum: 
"I sent the broken one by bus to Santa Cruz, then took it to the glass shop where they made a mold, heated the glass, molded it, cured it, etc. Then I packaged it and put it back on the bus for the 450 mile ride through the mountains with my fingers crossed.
Charged double a normal one because of the complexity of the mold."   http://corvaircenter.com/phorum/read.php?1,565897,565981#msg-565981

Here is the story of his restoration:   http://www.widman.biz/Corvair/English/index.html 

It seems to me that the capacity to reproduce exists, but it may be more cost efficient to look outside of the country...


Kevin

[Roadmaster49]

Thanks Kevin
Very interesting.  How to make the mold?  It would need to be moldable to the provided glass, so I would think plastic.   But then plastic has to come in contact with molten glass? 

The plus if there is one is that the Virginians back glass sections are smaller than a windshield.  I would also think that modern glass technology would mean a more robust end result. If uncompromised original Virginian back glass has lasted 70 years, then brand new ones should last a lot longer. 

[Roadmaster49]

Has anyone in the club purchased one or all of these Virginians?  Seems a shame one of the iconic KF's sit there without any member interest.

[Carpenter]

the posting and deleting is getting to be just a wee bit frustrating.

[r1lark]

the posting and deleting is getting to be just a wee bit frustrating.

For sure! 

That's what is good about the "quote" function - even if the specific post is deleted, the quote in your post will still be there.

[Roadmaster49]

the posting and deleting is getting to be just a wee bit frustrating.

For sure! 

That's what is good about the "quote" function - even if the specific post is deleted, the quote in your post will still be there.

I put the contact phone number in the 1st response I had for this post. I figured the cars would not sell.