Ford Glass Bugs:

[40ford]

I was trying to locate the write-up Roy Nacewitz did on the Ford glass date codes.
Does anyone have that information.

[Drbrown]

The Early Ford V8 Club Book has a section that tells how to decipher Ford glass bugs.

[glennsanders]

Roy sold that part of his business to Mike Driskell.If you need them 3 Rd generation Ford parts

[DavidG]

Or by e-mail at [email protected].

[mike42]

40 ...... what I remember is that the date on the glass means the car was assembled 30 days prior to that date. Mine is 4-40 meaning the car was produced in March of 1940. What else are you looking for ?

Mike

[V8COOPMAN]

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Originally Posted by mike42

40 ...... what I remember is that the date on the glass means the car was assembled 30 days prior to that date. Mine is 4-40 meaning the car was produced in March of 1940. What else are you looking for ?

Mike

Sooooo.......you're saying that the car was produced 30 days before the glass was produced? DD

[woodiewagon46]

I know you are asking about a '40 Ford but the 1941/1948 Book put out by the V-8 Club has a great explanation on the "Bugs". I would think that the 1940 book offered by the Club has the same info. I used the kit last summer and was amazed how great it came out.

[DavidG]

With respect, I'm pretty confident that the glass is dated as it is manufactured and only subsequently installed in bodies in the assembly plants. The proof of that is a lot of original glass dated in the month before Job #1 (when the first vehicle of the model year is produced) of any given model year.

[woodiewagon46]

I don't think that a correlation to the glass date and car build date is exact. For example my '46 Station Wagon is a July built car. All the glass was original and date coded as September. Now one can say that if the car was built in very late July, and the glass was manufactured in very early September, that it is about 30 days, but who knows?

[TonyM]

Originally Posted by woodiewagon46

I don't think that a correlation to the glass date and car build date is exact. For example my '46 Station Wagon is a July built car. All the glass was original and date coded as September. Now one can say that if the car was built in very late July, and the glass was manufactured in very early September, that it is about 30 days, but who knows?

I don't agree. Your glass was produced before your car was manufactured. My car was manufactured in Feb 1937; the original glass on my car is dated Nov 36, Dec 36 and Jan 37.

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by woodiewagon46

I don't think that a correlation to the glass date and car build date is exact. For example my '46 Station Wagon is a July built car. All the glass was original and date coded as September. Now one can say that if the car was built in very late July, and the glass was manufactured in very early September, that it is about 30 days, but who knows?

This is becoming quite confusing, folks. woodiewagon46 is the second guy in this thread after mike42 seemingly stating that his GLASS WAS PRODUCED ROUGHLY 30 DAYS AFTER THE CAR WAS PRODUCED. Even David G in post #8 above gives credence to the probability that glass was dated as being produced BEFORE the cars were built, which is only reasonable. Not wanting to swell ol' David's head up here, but David IS fairly knowledgeable when it comes to some of this "nit-pickin' " technical stuff. So........did the horse really come before the cart? Were the cars really built, delivered and sold approximately a month before the windows were made for them? DD

[Anton Voycheck]

Originally Posted by mike42

40 ...... what I remember is that the date on the glass means the car was assembled 30 days prior to that date. Mine is 4-40 meaning the car was produced in March of 1940. What else are you looking for ?

Mike

With all due respect, you are wrong about this.

[TonyM]

Originally Posted by mike42

40 ...... what I remember is that the date on the glass means the car was assembled 30 days prior to that date. Mine is 4-40 meaning the car was produced in March of 1940. What else are you looking for ?

Mike

No not true.

If this were true, then my car (with Nov 36 glass) would have been manufactured in October 1936, two months before the original engine/trans combo was built in December of 1936.

[mike42]

Hey this is my best guess from reading something put together here 4 years ago. My glass I'd dated 4-40 and the car was built in May of that year. Sorry to have been so mis-leading.

Mike42

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by mike42

Hey this is my best guess from reading something put together here 4 years ago. My glass I'd dated 4-40 and the car was built in May of that year. Sorry to have been so mis-leading.

Mike42

Ahhh.......Now that makes all the sense in the world. Thanks for the clarification.

Now, I wonder about woodiewagon46's numbers? DD

[woodiewagon46]

Tony M , please explain your logic. My car is a 42K original milage car. Firewall markings indicate a July build. As I stated all glass is original with a date code of I, D, F. I=September, D=4, F=6.

[JSeery]

So your belief is the car was assembled in July and then set around for two months before the glass was installed? At the rate they came off the assembly line it would be interesting to see where all these cars without glass would be stored and protected with no glass in them. From a business prospective this would be a very odd way to produce cars and get them to the buyer.

[40ford]

On these ford bugs I have heard so many different stories on how they should read.My thoughts were they should read on the outside looking in the drivers side should be reveresed or backwards and the passenger side looking in they should be readable?Do I stand correct?Now I have also heard they may be either way according to when they were put on at the assembly plant.I orderd a passenger window glass and a vent glass from a very reptable reproduction glass company.The glass is very nice but the bugs are not readable on the outside?I called them and they told me some were either way?I argued with them on this and told them they were wrong!I guess I should have spicified which way they should read!Sorry for long post!

[TonyM]

Originally Posted by woodiewagon46

Tony M , please explain your logic. My car is a 42K original milage car. Firewall markings indicate a July build. As I stated all glass is original with a date code of I, D, F. I=September, D=4, F=6.

My logic is that Ford did not manufacture automobiles with glass to be installed one month after assembly. My logic is that my original Ford glass for my 1937 Ford is dated Nov 36, Dec 36 and Jan 37 and the car was manufactured in Feb 1937. According to your logic, my car would have been manufactured in October of 1936, two months before the engine/trans combination was produced. Not Logical.

Now please explain your logic about Ford manufacturing cars with no glass and then installing glass a month after the car was manufactured. Does not make any sense. Maybe with wood bodied cars it is different.

[TonyM]

Originally Posted by 40ford

On these ford bugs I have heard so many different stories on how they should read.My thoughts were they should read on the outside looking in the drivers side should be reveresed or backwards and the passenger side looking in they should be readable?Do I stand correct?Now I have also heard they may be either way according to when they were put on at the assembly plant.I orderd a passenger window glass and a vent glass from a very reptable reproduction glass company.The glass is very nice but the bugs are not readable on the outside?I called them and they told me some were either way?I argued with them on this and told them they were wrong!I guess I should have spicified which way they should read!Sorry for long post!

They are either way because they are bugged on one side only and then installed. The right and left part of my windshield are the same shape, except reversed. On one side the bug reads from out side, on the other the bug reads from inside. That is because they are identical pieces of glass that were bugged on the same side. When the pieces were installed, one piece went left and the other was reversed for use on the right side. The same applies to some side windows. All bugged on the same side of the glass and then depending on which side the window went determines whether it can be read from the outside or the inside.