The glass from my firebird is PPG 208 glass. I am planning to put a new windshield in and have been looking at some of the date coded windshields and other side glass that is offered. My driver door glass has some pretty bad scratches. The other glass is acceptable.
So far, the date coded glass I'm seeing is LOF glass. Was LOF glass in 68 firebirds and would it be OK to use LOF glass in place of PPG? Can you mix the manufactures or do I have to replace all the glass for it to be correct?
Is there a source for PPG date code replacement glass?
So far nothing but crickets chirping on this topic, eh? I'm not an originality guy, but I'll play along. Here's a pic of my 68 (HARD to get my crappy camera to focus that small).
BUT...I don't have the FOGGIEST idea whether any of my glass is original or not. My entire car is about as far from original as you can get. But I've owned it since about Y2K, and I haven't replaced the windshield yet. I do have ONE factory bird glass. And my windshield is all pitted and scratched all over...it's definitely old.
Our stamps are quite different eh? Especially the print of the font. Mine is like a stencil, yours looks typed. Spacing is all different. And yours has that DW689 and mine does not. What this all means? I dunno and don't care too much...but maybe this helps out a fellow fgf'r who always tries to help others like you do...hopefully it does?
Another question I have, if billing sheet does not state me having the soft ray glass or windshield.
Could I have had a option where the windshield was soft ray as standard. Example: Did deluxe interior have a tinted windshield as standard or maybe the 400 option?
If the windshield was not soft ray did it still have a sun shield at the top?
I need to order a windshield but trying to determine if I need to order the tinted or without. Seems it would be best to have it tinted even if it did not come with it.
If your going original and your a purist Id stay with non tint. I myself replace all on my bird. they were non tint and scratched deeply and went tinted. I Got to say, I like it better now better then the non tint original. Check the quality on the glass.
Any one have a guess to the date of this glass. My PHS docs did not show tinted glass and the Codes seem odd. Think it had been replaced at some point in its life?
Types of w/s WxxxC (Clear windshield) WxxxT (Tinted windshield, no sun shade) WxxxS (Tinted windshield, with sun shade)
Color & PPG bran names Clear glass: Vehicles w/o/a/c. Soft Ray: Tinted tempered glass. Vehicles w/a/c Solex: Tinted laminated glass Sunshield: Shaded band on top, available only on Solex glass
Mine is a W-688S, an oem replacement. The only more ‘correct’ would be an original w/s. Look around at logos; these are almost nonexistent, either original or oem. I bought it for my other car in ’81. The market was flooded with many other brands such as LSI (now Safelite) Guardian, Shatterproof, Pilkington, and everybody else I forgot to mention. It didn’t cost any more than the others, but I did have special order it because there was already a limited supply, so these have been gone-gone for quite a while.
Craze’s w/s is the next-newer PPG logo, a DW-688T. His w/s didn’t include a NAGS number because NAGS was updating their numerical system. NAGS, not the glass manufacturer, runs the number game. Just after the “DW” change, there was also talk about changing all 3 numerical numbers to 4 numerical numbers, not just some, so while NAGS got its chit together, w/s manufacturers dropped the NAGS numbers from their logos. (See the 3 to 4 number change W-942 to DW-1024?)
I don’t know how new Craz’s w/s is is, but it cannot be much older than 89, about the time of the “W” “DW” upgrade. Remember I just fixshit, not an historian, so I’ll say about ’89 + - as ballpark. But I am positive that in 1990, all domestic w/s were identified as “DW.” I don’t know how long it took for PPG to change its logo to include NAGS because I bailed out in ’92, no longer aware of logo changes. It could have taken a decade to change to a new logo, possibly longer.
Yours is newer than Craze’s because it has DW. How much newer, I don’t know. It could be newer than the internet, possibly made during this century.
Speaking of glass, I have a couple of short vids, installing the windshield (1:24) and backglass (1:01). I would youtube them, but I cannot register. When I register, it ‘cannot complete the process.’ If I try to register again, with the same user name or a new user name, it says someone is already using the email address.
If someone wants to youtube them, I’d email them the vids. They would belong to whomever I sent them, and they would be their property to use as they wish. The only ‘terms of contract’ would be that the posted youtube videos are named: “How to install a windshield” and “How to install a backglass.” They are parody, not how-to-install, videos. After watching, the user will think, ‘Yep! He installed them! I think I need to look at some other vids.’
If someone wants to youtube them and you pm me, let me know at this post because I usually don’t log in.
Wow this is some good information. Thanks for all the details. You most have been involved with glass for a while.
So I'm getting ready to order a correct date coded ppg windshield. I would like to go with a tinted windshield. I saw on the phs docs that there was a option for just the tinted windshield. Could it have been ordered in a non ac car? I know mine was not but wanted to know if it would be completely wrong to have it.
After taking a look at PS glass, I can see why the communication problem exists.
That isn’t a TINTED w/s pictured at PS. It’s a SHADED w/s, a DW-689-S. IT’S NOT A DW-689-T. Look at the w/s color c, t, s that I posted about w/s colors. Based on what I see at PS, the only w/s they have for the fgf is a shaded, no tinted and no clear.
If the tempered glass is clear, it came with a W-689-C. If the tempered glass is tinted, it came with a W-689-T or a W-689-S. Could a w/o/a/c car have tinted glass? Most likely people wouldn’t special order tinted, but I don’t see why the dealer would deny such a request.
This would be interesting to know: If w/s has modern-day NAGS part number DW-689, it isn’t the NAGS number that was used when Pontiac made your car. It would have been obsolete NAGS W-689. As for ‘correct’ date-coded glass, you need to consult an expert, and I’m not an expert. The expert is the person who hands out trophies, so if the expert tells you a “DW-689” is date-coded glass, it’s date-coded glass.
