VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Upholstery - Interiors & Glass Date Code Glass Suppliers

Gents,
Does anyone have any recommendations for a glass supplier for my 51 PU that offers date coding? So far I've found four companies that offer the service. OEM Glass, Sanders Repro Glass, Auto City Classics, and Pilkingtons. Anyone ever use one of these outfits or have a recommendation for any others?

Thanks,
Bob

i've bought countless dated glass from OEM over the past 30 years and have been well satisfied. couple years ago got all glass for our 57 210 from Auto city and was also pleased with the coding and the fit. as i recall, auto city was a bit cheaper than oem. mike

Not too sound too stupid, but what's date coding?

Rich

On the lower portion of the glass there will be a code that dates the glass. This is important if you are going for the high point judging. The glass should all be dated before the assembly date of the car.

Is this new glass with an old date, or old glass (NOS)? Did the original glass have a date code?

Thanks,

Rich

Look in the lower corner of the glass. You will see the LOF (Libby-Owens_Ford) emblem and under it will be a date....5-37 as an example. The safety glass used by GM up into the 1960's was LOF. The tempered glass used in curved glass and later in all side glass (never windshields) will not have the LOF.

Gene,

None of the glass in my car is original. The good news is that my car will never be subjected to VCCA judging, so it does not matter.

Doesn't the glue between the layers of safety glass yellow over time?

Rich

all glass i've bought was repo with the supplier(not manufacturer) coding the LOF logo and the date etc by glass beading the repo glass using a rubber template. if one fingernails the repo'd date codes, one can note the roughness the glass beading imparts. i'd guess the original LOF info was etched in the glass using a mild acid as the original coding info is a good bit smoother and your fingernail won't drag across the coding as it will with OEM etc.mike

The VCCA does not look for glass codes.....no worry there.
The higher qualiy glass GM used did not yellow as much as the glass used in other makes. The original glass in my '39 is still nice and clear. I have seen junk yard cars that were exposed to many years of sunhave "bad" glass.
I remember F*#ds and Ply*#@ths of the '30's and '40's with yellow delaminated glass by the time they were 10 years old.
The old GM LOF glass had the sealed edges, you can tell because the edges looked almost black.
Just another quality feature of a GM car. For many years GM also used saftey plate glass in all windows (was not wavy) where the other makes used cheaper sheet glass (law equired plate in the windshield).

Gene,

Thanks for the information. I know that my glass is all "new" because a previous owner bought it back in the '80's. That glass is .275" thick. The replacement windshield and left rear window that I bought from Chev's of the 40's was .225" thick. And of course, this stuff is not sealed on the edges.

One note, I have noticed that the people on this site have difficulty spelling FORD as well as other brand names. They are only competitors, nor pariahs.

I got screwed by a Chevy dealer on a new purchase in ’84. That left such a bad taste that is was the last GM product I bought, not counting the ’37 Chevy that I have now. That cost GM 6 new purchases.

Rich