Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Windscreen glass color

I am in need of a new windscreen for my '70 4/4. The existing glass has started to de-laminate and there is a chip in one bottom corner where the PO had used the wrong length screw. The glass that is in place has a slight greenish tint to it. Can anyone tell me if in fact,the original glass used had a tint to it or was it clear? I believe that the current windscreen is a replacement which means that I don't know if the tint is correct. My glass shop will make it up for me in any type of tint and the cost is very low in any color so money is not the issue. The last windscreen for one of my MG's was only $65. The biggest problem will be to find a suitable packing material to use when installing the glass in the frame. Hopefully the glass shop will have something that will be the correct size.
Thanks, Mark

Mark. the original would have been in a folded strip of rubber. The last two I have had done have been set in a semi solid goo. The glass fitters said that was the best way to seal it.PS uncle Melvyn can supply it. the rubber strip that is.

Hey Mark,
When I replaced my windscreen on the Plus 8, Binswanger in Norfolk used a piece of school bus glass. It is clear at the bottom but tinted at the top. Works great.

John in Chesapeake.

I spent a day with Steve Simmonds years ago when I wanted to learn how to fit windscreens in Morgan's. Steve showed me a couple of the 'dodges' the first was to get a wide strip of the rubber seal, he said the OE stuff is about an inch wide and he used seal rubber that was at least 1.5". He folded this over the screen and held it in several places with masking tape. After fitting the glass to the frame he simply trimmed off the excess inside and out with a razor blade. A good watch point is ensuring the glass is the correct way round as the inside and outer pieces are tempered differently, he says its seems a joke but even he has done it! ;-).the masking tape edges can't be seen once rubbed with a grubby finger ;-).

The other point Steve made to me after I had made the mistake is that the standard glass that Morgan put in was thicker than the stock glass you get from auto glass places - I'm referring to the ordinary stuff without the heating elements, as fitted to short-door cars.

So if you go to a normal car glass place and get them to cut you a piece to fit, make sure they measure the thickness correctly.

Two check points,
If the screen to be replaced is itself a replacement, check that the strips of hardboard that sit inside the uprights are present. It is these buffer strips that protect the wrapped rubber edge of the glass from the mounting screws, and,
The screws are of two different lengths.

Thanks for the good input on the installation. Definitely some things to watch out for. I'm still looking for some more input on the color of the glass. I don't really want to go with the two tone glass.

I could be wrong, but I can't imagine that in 1970 MMC fitted anything other than clear glass as standard. Even if they did offer tinted glass, it would have been an extra cost option. ISTR that Triplex glass of that era did have a very faint greenish tint, but that wouldn't have been deliberate, just a property of the material used.

Car windscreen glass has changed and evolved over the years, driven I suspect by safety legislation.

From experience, back in the 1970s glass was probably simply toughened. This is the stuff that shatters into granules.

Then laminated glass appeared, this is 2 layers bonded to a central plastic core. This is great as the windscreen never actually fails. But It was found that when a face hits this it can cause nasty cuts, even though the glass is glued to the plastic core.

Modern glass has the inner lamination made of toughened glass, so that an impact from the inside doesn't release and sharp bits.

So, what to fit in a 1970s car? I suspect whatever you like!

Simple toughened glass is the cheapest, but if it is hit by a stone you have no windscreen at all.
Laminated is fine, as long as you never face plant it....
Laminated/Toughened is the most costly, as screens have to be made to size.

Marcus if its a very light greenish tint is it Sundym heat reducing glass. Many cars of 60 & 70s had it. Have a close look at the markings as this would. have been identified as so