Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

My windshield has a crack but this would be an easy fix. Those are readily available. One side window has a tiny crack, but I will leave it as is, unless the crack gets larger. Either way, it won't be hard because side window has flat glass and glass can be cut to fit.

I am curious about those one model year only curvy rear glass, what if they need replacement. Does the glass have to be specifically made for the car, or they are still in stock somewhere? For example, 1951-1954 Packard junior/senior had different curvy glass on the back, often with changes on the roofline, and occasionally with changes in split (53 senior cars seemed to have split rear glass while 54 had one piece), this is a nightmare situation for parts interchangeability and availability.

I wonder how owners replace the broken glass in this situation

No reproductions on those back glass pieces but so far still plenty used ones to be found. I have a spare pair of the senior wrap-around pieces from 1952 and, of course the dealers have far more.

Rear windows don't get damaged anywhere near the rate of front ones do. With the number of sad decaying part cars laying around, I wouldn't think it would be too difficult to find one with a good piece of glass to donate.

I am crossing my fingers on the donor cars. With only ~3000 Cavaliers and ~3000 Patricians made, that is only less than 6000 pieces of such glass when new. That is a relatively scarce source to start with. Time to hope they never crack, otherwise it wouldn't be too easy.

(might be a bridge to cross if comes to it! I will take my time on the windshield first.)

That's good to know. At least it doesn't cost an arm and leg to buy.

I wonder which dealers they are. Glass shops, or those dealers specializing the antique car glass? I am buying mine from vendio, and green tinted seems to go well with the car.

The back window on my 53 Cavalier is like new. If it looks this good after 71 years, I don't expect there will ever be a need to replace it. And to make sure it doesn't get chipped or cracked, I don't go over 40 when backing up.

My windshield had been hit by something significant and was a mess on the passenger side. I found some people selling a 53 Patrician that had a good used windshield just sitting inside the car. I wanted to buy just the windshield, but they wanted the whole car gone, so I ended up buying the car to get the windshield. But the parts car has come to the rescue a few times, and now I have an extra rear window if I ever need it. Apparently the motor and transmission were working well before it was parked about 12 years ago, so I have spares of those too.

Life can be unpredictable, I tend to worry a bit. (and those older glasses don't have the black lines on the edge, making them more likely to suffer cracks under extreme heat like on a hot summer day) Of course under ordinary situations, they rarely get damaged, but it is hard to predict what might happen.

That was a lot to buy for a windshield but gladly the rest of the car became useful soon afterwards! (I just have too many cars to spare any space. A Miata NB, my daily Solara, a '95 Cadillac Fleetwood base my Packard is supposed to replace after endless legal disputes with all of big three, plus a '36 Chevy no one wants to buy! And I live in a cold area so all the cars except the daily one needs a garage space)

Powertrain of those cars seems to be quite robust, but parts availability surely gets tight after all those years (just like almost all cars without reproduction parts. While British Motor Heritage almost makes enough to build brand new cars! I hope parts availability gets half as good like that)

The dealers being referenced are, of course, Packard parts dealers such as Tucson Packards, Max Merritt, Kanter’s. etc.

thanks for the clarifications.
it is a good thing that few of them still sticks around