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521 windshield


71Ratsunguy

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Hey guys I might be picking up a '71 521 project that I would have road ready in a month for a daily driver. It needs a windshield, any good sources besides fleabay? I cant afford to have $500+ in a windshield and install. Maybe someone here has one they would want to sell? I have searched the net some and didn't come up with much. I am in Redding, CA north of Sacramento a couple hours. Just for an idea if it was local.

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 I have physically been in the office of the company in the link above and talked to them about 320 windshields, they told me they don't cut curved glass.

The place in the Ebay link below is the most reasonable place I know of for new 520/521 windshields, I have talked to them on the phone about what they have, everything they have comes from Asia, they are made, cut, and shipped from somewhere in Asia.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1965-1966-1967-1968-1969-1970-1971-1972-Datsun-Truck-520-521-Windshield-Glass-/252501700688?fits=Make%3ADatsun&hash=item3aca463050:g:NlQAAOSwgZ1Xsmbd&vxp=mtr

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I bought three new Pilkington windshields, the best of the best available, with a slight blue tint. At that time 21 windshields were available.

 

I sold one to Ray "MrBigTanker" and installed one in my fresh retro 69 521, and I actually have been driving around for two weeks with the third new one in the back seat of my BMW cuz I need to make room in my shed to safely store it. I will ropily keep this one JIC as when the current Pilkington allotment is exhausted, these will be out of production for some time. Pilkington makes these in England in lots of at least 100, so they are not made often.

 

I researched this through a connection I have at Pilkington Glass corporate. I talked to the folks at Pilkington Classics:

1-800-848-1351 or visit http://www.pilkingtonclassics.com/

 

It is expensive to crate and ship these. I ordered three at once to save some bucks.

 

Pilkington glass is exceptional in quality. Same as OEM fitment, but much better modern "Safety glass" - i.e. the plastic membrane layered into the glass to keep glass shards from taking out your eyes or injuring occupants in a crash.

 

As one of the few (I hope in this case the only person) people on Ratsun who may have had to endure and survive a very high speed head-on collision with a drunk driver, I can tell you good safety glass can make a significant difference in not going blind. If you have not personally experienced a windshield shattering in a high speed crash, believe me, you don't want to.

 

Of course, if anyone gets hit that hard in a Datsun, they'll be turned into a shattered meat sack. I was in a modern car with 6 airbags, and I used them all:)

 

But back to my 521, I wanted new safety glass that had not been through 47 years worth of aging, as the safety liner loses effectiveness.

 

My '69 now has a new windshield and three point belts, too! Give Pilkington a call. Ask if the 521 windshields are still available, and if they have a dealer near you who can order one, as this may save some shipping. The first time you drive your old car at night with a brand new windshield, without decades worth of sand pitting and so on,is a marvelous experience;)

 

Otherwise: Contact Safelight, their supply is very hit or miss, they are made in Chana, and the glass is typically 2 mm thinner than the Pilkington, but it is new glass.

 

You might say I am a little anal about sourcing new "quality" windshields. That's why I am very grateful to Wayne for stepping up and having 25 new 320 windshield made a few years ago. But that is another story and if you can avoid that much work, having to custom order the manufacture of a new batch of a sh**load of windshields, I would do so.

 

I have no financial interest in Pilkington, other than they liked my money and gladly took it, and provided excellent service. If you want a driver's review of the new Pilkington glass, ask MrBigTanker what he thinks. His project is on the road - a claim I cannot yet make;)

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Laminated front windshields have been in wide use since the 1930s, Ford in 1919 but mandated in all cars since 1937. The plastic used in between the sheets of glass has been around for 27 years before this. Naturally it is all much improved today, but to say Pilkington glass is laminated and implying that the Nissan glass will shatter into your eyes is just wrong. ALL Nissan Datsuns would have had laminated windshields of DOT safety specification for the year of manufacture for sale in N.America. ALL side and rear glass is tempered Safety Glass that will shatter into fine granular chunks and not splinters.

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 I have physically been in the office of the company in the link above and talked to them about 320 windshields, they told me they don't cut curved glass.

The place in the Ebay link below is the most reasonable place I know of for new 520/521 windshields, I have talked to them on the phone about what they have, everything they have comes from Asia, they are made, cut, and shipped from somewhere in Asia.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1965-1966-1967-1968-1969-1970-1971-1972-Datsun-Truck-520-521-Windshield-Glass-/252501700688?fits=Make%3ADatsun&hash=item3aca463050:g:NlQAAOSwgZ1Xsmbd&vxp=mtr

Wayno, just out of curiosity about how much does a 320 windshield  go for these days? There's an L320 here locally that looks fairly complete minus the windshield. 

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Wayno, just out of curiosity about how much does a 320 windshield  go for these days? There's an L320 here locally that looks fairly complete minus the windshield. 

This is a tough question to answer, you see every once in a while a few 320 guys I know of get motivated and set up a group buy from a guy/company that I don't know about, they get pretty good prices, I have bought a Roadster windshield from Ted at a reasonable price because of one of these group buys.

I have heard of a 320 windshield buy once from Ted, don't know if it happened or not as I already have all the 320 windshields I need from that bunch I had made about 5 years ago.

I have one left for sale that is a local pick up only sale, but these guys are selling or supposedly will be selling them in the group buys for less than they cost me to have them made, I expect that unless you can get into one of these group buys, you will pay at least $400.00 for a new windshield if you can even find one.

Every once in a while I here about someone that finds a glass outfit that gets/makes them one for cheap, but I have only heard about this a couple times in the last 6 years.

There were 3 NOS Datsun 320 windshields on ebay a while back(year ago?) down in Texas in the Houston area, I believe that they sold for $200.00 or less each, they were starting to de-laminate around the edges, but everyone that contacted me about 320 windshields gladly bought them when I told them about them on ebay, one guy actually lived within driving distance and picked his up in person.

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Laminated front windshields have been in wide use since the 1930s, Ford in 1919 but mandated in all cars since 1937. The plastic used in between the sheets of glass has been around for 27 years before this. Naturally it is all much improved today, but to say Pilkington glass is laminated and implying that the Nissan glass will shatter into your eyes is just wrong. ALL Nissan Datsuns would have had laminated windshields of DOT safety specification for the year of manufacture for sale in N.America. ALL side and rear glass is tempered Safety Glass that will shatter into fine granular chunks and not splinters.

AND he was not syaing it has it , as in stock windsheilds did not, its of better quality.

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I bought three new Pilkington windshields, the best of the best available, with a slight blue tint. At that time 21 windshields were available.

 

I sold one to Ray "MrBigTanker" and installed one in my fresh retro 69 521, and I actually have been driving around for two weeks with the third new one in the back seat of my BMW cuz I need to make room in my shed to safely store it. I will ropily keep this one JIC as when the current Pilkington allotment is exhausted, these will be out of production for some time. Pilkington makes these in England in lots of at least 100, so they are not made often.

 

I researched this through a connection I have at Pilkington Glass corporate. I talked to the folks at Pilkington Classics:

1-800-848-1351 or visit http://www.pilkingtonclassics.com/

 

It is expensive to crate and ship these. I ordered three at once to save some bucks.

 

Pilkington glass is exceptional in quality. Same as OEM fitment, but much better modern "Safety glass" - i.e. the plastic membrane layered into the glass to keep glass shards from taking out your eyes or injuring occupants in a crash.

 

As one of the few (I hope in this case the only person) people on Ratsun who may have had to endure and survive a very high speed head-on collision with a drunk driver, I can tell you good safety glass can make a significant difference in not going blind. If you have not personally experienced a windshield shattering in a high speed crash, believe me, you don't want to.

 

Of course, if anyone gets hit that hard in a Datsun, they'll be turned into a shattered meat sack. I was in a modern car with 6 airbags, and I used them all:)

 

But back to my 521, I wanted new safety glass that had not been through 47 years worth of aging, as the safety liner loses effectiveness.

 

My '69 now has a new windshield and three point belts, too! Give Pilkington a call. Ask if the 521 windshields are still available, and if they have a dealer near you who can order one, as this may save some shipping. The first time you drive your old car at night with a brand new windshield, without decades worth of sand pitting and so on,is a marvelous experience;)

 

Otherwise: Contact Safelight, their supply is very hit or miss, they are made in Chana, and the glass is typically 2 mm thinner than the Pilkington, but it is new glass.

 

You might say I am a little anal about sourcing new "quality" windshields. That's why I am very grateful to Wayne for stepping up and having 25 new 320 windshield made a few years ago. But that is another story and if you can avoid that much work, having to custom order the manufacture of a new batch of a sh**load of windshields, I would do so.

 

I have no financial interest in Pilkington, other than they liked my money and gladly took it, and provided excellent service. If you want a driver's review of the new Pilkington glass, ask MrBigTanker what he thinks. His project is on the road - a claim I cannot yet make;)

Thanks for the reply, my glass is still sittiing in the shed that I made room for.lol  they are nice windsheilds and have a cool green tint to them.

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Correct. Windshields do delaminate and age. And not all glass is the same thickness. DatsunMike: somewhere on Ratsun there are some posts about this, and more specifically, talking about the difference in thickness of various third party windshields causing fitment issues in terms of watertight sealing in old/new gaskets.

 

I have also noticed this when replacing/evaluating windshields for Volvo 122s as well.

 

You are correct in implying a DOT rated windshield will be laminated, but there are variations in quality and thickness depending on manufacturer.

 

Another shopping differential is tint. Some people don't like tinted windshields but if you drive a lot with the sun in your eyes, tint does make a difference. I don't particularly like a dark tinted band at the top, I prefer uniform tint spread top to bottom. I particularly liked the slight blue tint offered by Pilkington, cuz it matches the slight blue cast in the side mirrors I'm using, the NOS BMW flag mirrors I found. Maybe this is due to my other love, fine German sportscars.

 

Unfortunately, no automakers offers a commercial windshield version of the polarized glass that Astronauts have enjoyed for years....lol! I once looked through an Apollo-era Astronaut helmet. Fricking awesome at cutting glare! Closet thing I've ever seen to this in the semi affordable consumer world is the old style Revo sunglasses. 

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Correct. Windshields do delaminate and age. And not all glass is the same thickness. DatsunMike: somewhere on Ratsun there are some posts about this, and more specifically, talking about the difference in thickness of various third party windshields causing fitment issues in terms of watertight sealing in old/new gaskets.

 

I have also noticed this when replacing/evaluating windshields for Volvo 122s as well.

 

You are correct in implying a DOT rated windshield will be laminated, but there are variations in quality and thickness depending on manufacturer.

 

Another shopping differential is tint. Some people don't like tinted windshields but if you drive a lot with the sun in your eyes, tint does make a difference. I don't particularly like a dark tinted band at the top, I prefer uniform tint spread top to bottom. I particularly liked the slight blue tint offered by Pilkington, cuz it matches the slight blue cast in the side mirrors I'm using, the NOS BMW flag mirrors I found. Maybe this is due to my other love, fine German sportscars.

 

Unfortunately, no automakers offers a commercial windshield version of the polarized glass that Astronauts have enjoyed for years....lol! I once looked through an Apollo-era Astronaut helmet. Fricking awesome at cutting glare! Closet thing I've ever seen to this in the semi affordable consumer world is the old style Revo sunglasses. 

Ok never mind that, is your truck running yet?????lol

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Only saying the factory windshield was laminated safety glass. Most Datsuns came as 6.6mm thick, yes after market glass can be thinner. After the 510, car front glass was glued in so fitment would be unaffected. All Datsuns have tint standard starting around the last year of the 510?

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