Thread: 32 Ford Roadster Windshield Finger Pulls

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When you cut Lexan, use a table saw with a piece of plywood on the table so the sharp table edges don't cut through the protective paper.

A sharp 60-80 tooth carbide blade helps as well.
Cut the basic shape close to the line with the table saw and use a bench style disc sander to reach the finished shape/size.

Use a piece of plywood on the sander as well.

Don't let the Lexan flap up and down on the table saw, hold it firmly in place with your hand
If it does pop up and slam back down you'll probably end up with a chip in the outer edge.

Sand a light chamfer on the edges of the Lexan and wet sand the edges until they look like a typical glass edge.
240 - 360 grit wet/dry works ok here.

Note as well that Lexan has an ultraviolet resistant coating on one side.
That goes toward the sun.

Be sure and make a left and a right side....

C9X, Thanks for the excellent details on the rear quarter window. Yes the stainless stanchions are evidently pressed from heavy gauge stainless with the panel with the groove for the rubber welded across the U-channel of the pressed shape. The holes were drilled through the stainless behind the panel that has the groove for the rubber. C9X, thanks for your excellent help, I can only approach your excellent workmanship in a rough way, but your practical ideas are excellent. I see what you mean about the stop. I could thread a hole in the channel welded across the stanchion near the bottom and use a small bolt with a spacer protruding at the base of the stanchion. Probably a 1/4" stainless bolt with the head cut off and rounded should be enough to prevent the windshield from coming back too far and a short rounded stainless bolt sans head might not look too bad, I'll think that over.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don and all,

First of all, I DO NOT have faith in anything that Brookville says or makes. They have been proven wrong too many times during my '31 build to the point that I wont talk to them. They have literally thrown me off their display at NSRA York My car was improperly assembled, dimensionally incorrect in many places and built out of the wrong very soft draw quality steel. You can read my review on another site.

But with that said, Brookville (as do all others) purchase their OEM style stancions from Lebarron-Bonney or Mac's. They were made in Taiwan, but are probably made in China now. There is no lip. They simply repackage them exactly like NAPA does with Standard electrical parts.

Sorry - any mention of Brookville gets me going

C9, I do like the LEXAN wind wings - much nicer then the usual oversized glass versions, especially on an A. Something to consider next spring.

Originally Posted by IC2

First of all, I DO NOT have faith in anything that Brookville says or makes. They have been proven wrong too many times during my '31 build

A side note on Brookville business practices ...

I was at the Brookville booth @ the NSRA Nationals in Louisville this year ( 2007 ) and Ray ... the owner of Brookville ... was making a sales pitch to a fellow about the 32 Ford 3W body. He said that a fellow who had a deposit down ( 5 grand ) was #141 on the waiting list had gotten Cancer, had 6 months to live and Brookville had just gave him his deposit back ... I was impressed ... I thought that was real good of them

Then Ray offered the new guy ... the #141 slot ... if he put down a 5 grand deposit that day

I think that stinks to high heaven ... all the deposits after #141 should have moved up one spot and the new guy start at the rear of the line IMHO.

I know I would be very UPSET ... if I was waiting for a 32 3W from Brookville and they moved a new buyer up ahead of my deposit.

Thankfully ... I have a original 32 Ford roadster and a original 32 Ford 3W coupe ... and do not NEED ANY of Brookvilles products.

Originally Posted by Deuce

A side note on Brookville business practices ...
Thankfully ... I have a original 32 Ford roadster and a original 32 Ford 3W coupe ... and do not NEED ANY of Brookvilles products.

I have a Brookville '32 grille shell for my '31. With the amount of time that I have in repairs, I could have bought an OEM off EBAY. When I approached Ray Golohan about it at York 2-3 years ago and explained what my problems were, he said that they had been addressed and showed me a pristine copy. My (lucky) buddy then bought it for his car project. Last fall I stopped by Dick Spadaro's shop and asked if they had one of the better versions. The two that they had just gotten into stock were even WORSE then mine.

The problems that I had are sunken areas on both sides of the top(1/4"), .060 ridges top to bottom on both sides, the upper right detail ridge was off by over 3/8" and to make things even worse, the insert stuck out by a 1/2". Quality stuff NOT!! And yes, I do understand that there are tolerances - but those were beyond any reasonable assumptions as well as almost everything else on the car I bought. Golohan and I have had several 'discussions' but never more.

C9X,
Sometimes you win one in spite of stupidity! I bought a 2'x3' sheet of acrylic because it is much cheaper than lexan and I thought I could buff out any imperfections. I don't have access to a band saw so I took the acrylic to the glass shop that made a minor problem with my windshield and to my amazement the shop guy there first cut out the windwings from the acrylic and when he found that sanding the edges made chips he supplied lexan copies for the same price quoted to saw the acrylic. So we have two lessons here. First, acrylic looks clear and nice but the edges can't be beveled or smoothed over easily without chipping. Apparently the lexan is much harder than the acrylic. Second, sometimes you get lucky and find a helpful person! I am not proud of the holes I drilled in the stanchions but it is one of those cases where it is not very easy to look at both sides of the car at the same time and from the front they are at least six feet away. The stainless is tough. I put the stanchions in a vise holder on a drill press at John York's Cobra shop (nearby) and used a brand new bit, but after four holes the bit is useless! John York is a good guy to know, he turns out about 3 or 4 turnkey Cobras a year and does just about all the assembly himself so he is my closest car guru and I try to stay on his good side! Still without this Forum and a lot of help from some of you I would really be up a creek without a torque wrench!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Good on ya.

Lexan is far better than Acrylic or Plexi.

Years ago I worked at Oxnard airport and the plexi windshields were always scratched to hell and gone.

Lexan is the material used to make jet fighter canopies.

Reputed to be able to have bullets bounce off, but that's probably at an angle.

I oughta take the 1/8" quarter window prototypes and pop em with a few different calibers next time we go shooting.