Glass

At some point in the last 20+ years, the adhesive for Pandora’s rear window deteriorated pretty severely. I noticed the glass felt loose before we hauled the car up here and I knew it was something I was going to have to address before I could ever get her back on the road. Unless it is blazing hot out, I prefer to drive with the windows down and my mind’s eye would always show me that glass blowing out driving down the highway.

Side windows are no problem, but windshields and rear windows have always kind of made me nervous. I’ve watched people replace them, but have never even thought about doing it myself. Until now! Turns out removing them is really easy when they are only held in with a few inches of adhesive!

The window channel was pretty rusty, but only ate all the way through over a small length along the passenger side. The rest is just very, very pitted.

I cleaned things up as best I could with a wire wheel and coated the whole thing with some rust converter to keep it from rusting further.

Test fitting the glass, it appeared that it didn’t lay up against the metal all around. There were some pretty big gaps, so I ended up using about a thousand times too much adhesive to compensate. I think it looks pretty even and, unless a professional glass installer gets a peek, I don’t think anyone will know that it was installed by a rank amateur!

All that’s left is to snap the bright trim back in. Ultimately, all of that metal will be repaired. If I’m unable to fabricate replacements, I found places that sell them. But all of that will wait until I start in on the bodywork. I sure hope the window stays in until then!