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One thing you may want to consider Kevin is how the windshield cracked. Is the root cause apparent? It ominously coincides with the very rotted center section of the header. If you don't repair that area properly you may just end up throwing good money after bad. The windshield frame needs to be sound as to not stress the glass.
Mike

Kevin, it looks like you only have two options.
One, find a donor car and replace that whole section.
Or
Two, sell it and look for another project.

So far the car doesn't look bad at all, is it pretty solid the rest of the way around? This sounds like this would be your point to go on or move on.

So good side is you have a good excuse to buy some new tools.
Wes

Windshield Removal

Against all odds I was able to get the windshield out. It took some figuring out, but wasn't too bad. The Service Manual is pretty good, but the description is very short. I've included the steps below.

1. Remove rear view mirror (3 screws)

2. Remove inner lower windshield trim (7 screws). It is two pieces with a center trim piece over the junction

3. Remove inner upper/side windshield trim. 2 halves, with upper and side as one piece.

4. Open both doors and remove a single screw on each side of the exterior lower windshield trim piece. The screw holds the trim piece to the side of the windshield pillar.

5. Remove nuts (4) that hold the lower exterior molding in place. The bolts go through the windshield gasket.

6. Go under the dash and locate the wiper apparatus for both wiper towers. Loosen the screw/bracket, can be removed if necessary. No need to remove the tensioning lines (thank goodness). Once the screw is loose, push up on the bottom of the wiper assembly using the screwdriver. It will pop the tower up from the gasket.

7. With the towers loose, the outside lower windshield molding can be removed. It is 3 pieces, with the junctions under the wiper towers. The two outer one pop out easily, the center one takes more finesse. The brackets that hold the bolts that go through the windshield gasket slide within the stainless molding, so you can slide the trim to one side and get it out from the wiper tower, then slide it back the other way to remove.

8. The side and upper trim can then be removed. Push them towards the center of the windshield (starting on the sides) to release them from the gasket.

9. Behind the windshield, remove the round rubber lock strip from the channel within the gasket. It goes all the way around.

10. Once that is removed, push on the corners of the windshield from the inside out and get the lip of the gasket out from the body. My gasket was really stiff and inflexible. I removed a bit of it on both corners and the windshield popped right out.

11. Lift up the windshield off the bottom channel and remove. The manual says to use two people, but it wasn't as heavy as I thought.


With the windshield out I can clearly see the rusted header and it is far easier to get to. The flange overall appears to be in good condition, with some surface rust in a few spots. Didn't see anything bad. Should clean up easily.

-Kevin

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Don - With the windshield out I can see the header much better now. There are certainly some bad areas, particularly along the driver's side. The center is rough too. However there seems to be a lot of good metal up there as well. For sure a good portion of it, or the whole thing would need to be replaced. But the thought of replacing the entire roof is a bit hard to swallow. I'm trying to get some guys to look at it who have experience in this type of thing. I'm hoping that they'll be able to better gauge how bad it is.

Mike - the root cause is not apparent, at least not to me. The windshield was obviously cracked a long time ago, as it looks like it was repaired or filled. The last owner didn't do much with the car for the last 6-7 years. The worst of the rust is on the driver's side, but definitely extends to the middle.

Wes - I might give Tuscon Packards a call, like was suggested earlier. Maybe they can send just the header? That would make things much easier than trying to fabricate and bend a new one from sheet metal. Selling the car is always a last ditch option, but I'd rather not go down that road if I can avoid it.


If it helps, maybe I can shoot a quick video of what it looks like up close. Static pictures don't always convey everything. It may actually be worse in video.

-Kevin

Replacing only the header is fine and really a must. The reason I suggested replacing the roof is that it is sometimes easier which I learned from experience.

Wow, I can't imagine that the whole roof would be easier. But then again, I've never done it so I have no idea. It just seems so far beyond my skills, or the skills of anyone that I know. That and the cost is a bit frightening. I can't imagine it's cheap to ship an entire roof across the country.

Where would a replacement roof be grafted. Do you cut halfway up the pillars? Or do you cut down at the body? Just trying to wrap my head around it all.

-Kevin

The back would be below the pillars and the front at the top or on the seams where it was originally attached. I've not done it personally but had it done on one car and on a Packard race car I used to own, a 1954 roof was grafted onto a 1951 body and I couldn't even tell. Even examining it closely I couldn't tell!

Of course, you could also have the header patched in but talk with shops to weigh the costs to see which it better. Patching it in might be more labor-intensive but on the other hand, as you suggested, there's the shipping. I recently had a 1956 trunk lid shipped and it was quite reasonable but a top is bigger

Your car is too nice to not save but really there is no, easy and cheap fix for something like that. Focus on that rather than the soda blasting!

I'm with you there Don. Everything else on the car is on hold until I get this fixed. There's not much of a point in dropping money on other things until I'm sure this is fixed. As far as I can tell this is the only rust on the car (besides surface rust).

-Kevin

Looked like such a nice car on the flatbed. I guess rust you can see is better than rust you can't. At least you have a better ides of what you are up against!

Yeah, it's a bit of an unforeseen problem. The car overall is in good condition. I knew there were mice problems, but I never considered there would be rust up there. So far I haven't found any rust anywhere else on the car, except for some surface rust on the underframe. That should be easy enough to clean up. Hopefully this is the last unpleasant surprise I have on this car.


Meanwhile, I have several potential leads on paths forward. I called Tuscon Packards and they are looking to see if they have a donor I can take the header from. I'm also getting contact info for a car club that is supposed to be here in town, but they have no online presence. There should be guys in there that can help out.

Lastly, I found a small shop here in town that does a lot of work on classics, and they are going to take a look. They might be able to fix the fuel tank, and they shouldn't have a problem doing the header. They tend to do that type of metal work during the winter though, when things are slower. If they can't squeeze it in before then, I'll see if I can have someone else work with me on it.

-Kevin