New Reproduction Pilkington windshields

[firstgenaddict]

This is the etching that Pilkington put on the Glass I bought for my old 69 Z.
I have another Pilkington front Glass in the garage with a logo as well, I will try to get a better photo later today.




To me it looks like the original etchings are done using a stick on mask which creates a HARD edge on the letters whereas the repros look like a paper mask was taped in place allowing grit to work under the mask and the edges are "softer"

[rick 67]

  The Pilkington windshields are made in Mexicali Mexico. They produce about 100 a month. Even today windshields are assembled by hand on a moving conveyor. The shade band does have a transition from shaded to clear. The height of the shade band will be pretty consistent but some can be higher above the AS1 or just a bit lower because of the hand assembly.

[BillOhio]

I think in this topic is the day I picked up my glass at pilkington.  The windshield markings looked real nice. The one on the back glass wasnt exact and they might have changed it. The stencils were like rubber if I remember right and I watched the guy sand blast it. That was like 3 years ago so hopefully my memory is right

[rick 67]

 Yes the stencils were cut out of rubber.

Rick

[Mike S]

 I was able to get to my car and get a picture of the windshield etching.
At first when I called ECS and they quoted me a price, I opted to go with Auto City Glass because of the lower price and the example of the fonts they (ACG) sent me looked like the ECS fonts posted here for LOF:  http://www.ecsautomotive.com/productdesc.php?co=g&id=1
 Look at the letters O and S (Soft) of ECS and compare to the Auto City picture below and you can see they are the same type. But, compared to the original 67 LOS glass on my coupe, the O split is in a different position as well as using a different S. The letter A on the Auto City etch is flipped between Safety and Plate. When I do restore the original 67 coupe, that will be my opus and I will see if ACG can correct the letter positions when the stencil is prepared. Maybe ECS uses ACG to do the etching?

Mike

[Edgemontvillage]

I did a comparison between ECS' "in house" LOF etching and the original from my former 4C Norwood RS Z/28. Its unlikely that ECS and Auto City Glass ("ACG") collaborate on glass etching as the LOF border differs. Its possible they sourced their templates from the same supplier. I plan to inquire if ECS or ACG is willing to correct their template before I place an order.

 

 

[rick 67]

  One should assume that LOF, Pilkington NSG has not sandblasted a monogram since the mid 80's. That's when we stopped doing it that way at LOF. Pilkington NSG in Collingwood Ontario. Windshield and backlite monograms were painted on when I started in 1984. Sidelite's we started painting in about 1988. Certainly our die cutters for monograms are long gone as well as the machines to do it. No one stores obsolete equipment for very long. If anyone has original die cutters for monograms it would be Pilkington Classics. Anyone else would not and are trying their best to be correct. Since I have never seen how they used the dies and am now retired I may not be able to ask anyone. It may be difficult and expensive for a supplier to change or replace a die to make it factory correct.


Rick

[Edgemontvillage]

I sent the above photo of my (former) original glass etching and the above markup of the sample etching from their web site to ECS who responded promptly they have several other templates and could match my spec exactly...so I plan to place an order and see how they perform. Will post when I receive the order in a few weeks. On their web site they state: " We now offer FACTORY EXACT Date Coded Glass for 1960 1/2 thru 1975 GM vehicles. We have done the research to guarantee that you get the correct logos and print styles, according to your vehicles build date and manufacturing plant".

[BULLITT65]

So I see guys talking about the different etchings and finding better prices. What are some the prices you guys have paid and did it include the delivery?

[Mike S]

 I paid $260 total (includes shipping) in 2017.

Mike

[69Z28-RS]

Mine wasn't a lot more from Pilkington Classic and I think that was 2017 also.  An earlier post in this thread gives the exact amount paid shipped to me at a local terminal.

$305 (post 17)...  but it was 2015!   (How time flies!)..

[68camaroz28]

If one goes to spring or fall Carlisle I ordered and picked up there to save shipping.

[mgg003]

So.....to this point, I have seen that there are only three vendors that etch the factory logos, ACG, ECS and Pilkington. Is one of these vendors better than the others or are they all equal? Does anyone know where Rick's Camaro get their date coded windshields from?