GLASS & SIDE TRIM

Most of the original glass was de-laminated and shot to bits so another trip to Russ Pepper to pick up a new set. I wobbled between the grey tint or green for a while but went for the green in the end as this seems to suit the red and has a more classic look.

After a bit of homework on Chevytalk.com I picked up the correct width of glass setting tape on ebay and tackled the re-chromed side frames. I’d had them chromed years ago at the London chroming company, they were jaw droppingly expensive and not that great quality so I won’t be going back there again. The vent windows were the hardest as the frames were a bit distorted.

I was worried about the screen rubbers as they’d been sitting in the loft for 8 years, they seemed OK on a trial fit. Another UK tri-Chevy owner is an expert on Chevy glass, he kindly took a day of his time to come over and put the front and rear screens in. A big thanks again fella, I would have really struggled to do it myself.

I spent a boring day fitting the headliner tack strips, best way I could see of doing this was to screw them in.

The stainless trim on the rear glass was a nightmare, one length is slightly distorted but it’s in there and it’ll have to do.

So good to get the side glass in and some shiny stuff on there. Aligning the side glass is a dreary slog, I still haven’t got it spot on as the vertical rear quarter window seal drags on the front door glass. No idea how to stop that, a temporary fix was to trim the seals back with a scalpel. The door flippers needed no end of adjustment to get the things to work properly.

The door vent stainless was a really tight fit on the front cowl. I blame the new door skins, I should have trial fitted all the stainless before welding the door skins in place as I had to grind metal off painted doors to get everything to fit, nightmare. I was proud of the door vent stainless restoration as these had been badly damaged in the US when someone must have tried to break the vent window open with a screwdriver.

New quarter inserts are a serious investment at over $500 a pair but are fabulous reproductions. My original old lower rear quarter trim was beyond repair as in my youth I’d managed to muller them on various gate posts over the years.

The finish on the repro side stainless isn’t great and they all needed a polish, they’re also thinner than the original so wherever I could I used the original pieces.
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