Re: 53 Caribbean Windshield

Posted by Leeedy On 2014/7/7 18:28:04

Side glass has little relationship to whether someone ordered a tinted windshield-which is something people used to do. But anyone steeped in the car biz from a factory and engineering perspective would tell you that clear glass keeps the vehicle interior far hotter (greenhouse effect is the term).

Tinted glass looks better, but it also traps less of the sun's rays and therefore is actually cooler. Which is why in today's cars you are more likely to find tinted glass-especially with factory air conditioning installed.

As for 1953, a Packard salesman's data book should tell you order options. But even these are not hard and fast rules. I no longer have one handy, but there should be one in someone's hands if not on this site.

Just remember that Caribbeans were very special automobiles. And yes, they did have shaded, tinted windshields-at least by 1954. I have photos of these cars on the assembly line and they show shaded, tinted windshields coming down the line. I'm talking actual production cars here.

Cars intended for auto shows were normally equipped with clear glass-or at least clear windshields...solely for ease of viewing inside from outside in a show environment. But even some of these vehicles ended up with their windshields replaced with tinted glass later.