Holy hell, I'm back!
Woooo!
It's been awhile!
- Vacations
- Super amounts of work-work
- Beast was sleeping
- 100+ degree temps
I was pretty busy the last couple of months and a good month of that was me just LOOKING for a damn windshield replacement for the Beast. Let's get into that mess, shall we?
A Crack runs through it
So, for a while, there was a small crack on the windshield. No biggie I thought to myself and put off getting it repaired. Welp! Guess what happened?
It was a solid million degrees out one day (don't worry, it was a dry heat) and I had the Beast parked out front. I put up the oven grade sun deflector up and left the Beast for the day to let her get a sun tan. I came back to see that crack has grown to span 90% the width of the windshield. Literally from one side to the other. Bonus points: It was perfectly eye level too
Time for a new windshield. That shouldn't be too hard, right?
Initial Search
Here is the thing about, um...undesired cars, like the Beast; no one makes things for this car anymore.
- Local places couldn't find any replacements.
- RockAuto's suppliers were out.
- Macs/Dearborn Classics/etc - Fresh out. ($200-$400 ranges)
- National places basically told me I was S.O.L.
Junkyard Search
At this point, I was starting to get worried. Time to start hitting up junk yards. After some research, the windshields that would fit the Beast includes:
- Body Type 56: 1971 to 1974 - LTD, LTD Brougham, Custom and Galaxie 500, all 2 door, hard top versions
- Body Type 60: 1975 to 1978 - Custom 500, LTD pillar hard top, LTD Landau and LTD Brougham pillar hard top, all of them 2 door versions.
Here is the thing - if you aren't doing it yourself? Junkyards want NOTHING to do with you when glass is involved and here is why: Glass needs to be cut out by someone that knows what they are doing (otherwise the glass will be damaged) and it also needs to be 'crated' and shipped properly. All of this is work that junkyard folks do not want to do.
With the junkyard idea shot down, I decided to resume my search for windshields.
I'm terrible at negotiations and that VintageGlass.com guy is an asshole
I stumbled across VintageGlass.com and decided to see what they have. I shot the guy an email....
He responded!
$995??? That is BEFORE tax, not to mention shipping is usually another $250. Yeah friggin right. Yeah, I'm sure it is his "last" NOS one too. (NOS = New-Old Stock)
Jim suggested I tried to haggle, I mean, what is the worst that can happen? I decided to give it a shot. Since Other sites that used to have the windshield in stock was around $400-$500 shipped, I decided to try that....
I don't know why I went full UK with the Cheers thing. I never write that. Why did I write that?
Anyway, here was the response:
(the 'J' is supposed to be a smiley face emoticon)
(My reaction)
Hah, I get your point buddy. Curious, I looked up more on this company and specifically the person I was dealing with and it turns out a few other people have had 'fun' interactions with the guy. Either way, I suck at negotiations. It was worth the shot though.
Cheers? Sigh.
Anyway, back to my search.
eBay to the rescue
Yes, eBay! I found a shop that had glass made by the company AGP made specifically for the Beast. BK Classic Autos.
When all was said and done, total price after taxes and shipping: $920.
When all was said and done, total price after taxes and shipping: $920.
Ugh, welp. Let's go ahead and fast forward to installation.
It arrived!
Now it is in!
Moral of the story: If you see a ding? Get that FIXED ASAP. $90 can turn into several hundred (not to mention downtime) within a day.
NEXT UP:
I just gave the Beast two legs (limited slip). I have pictures and everything, I'll be putting that up next week. I am also cleaning up and replacing the rear drum assembly here soon as well. Stay tuned for that fun.
