im looking for a measurement of the backglass for a 51-52 buick hardtop. i just need the vertical measument of the heighth from front of package tray edge to center of top of backglass. thanks guys.
im looking at the hardtops because it looks like they are layed down more. im looking at chopping my buddies 52 sedan right now. looking at all options out there. dont like the look when people lean the backglass on these..
Keep in mind that the 40/60 series cars (Special and Century) will have a totally different roof and rear window glass than the 50/70 series (Super and Roadmaster) regardless of whether they're hardtops or sedans. You need to specify which model of hardtop you need the measurement from.
what ever one is shorter. looking to swap out the whole backglass suround. needing to know what to look for. kind if why im looking for measurements. thanks.
The Special will be shorter, but it'll be a tough job just cutting the surround out of it to swap it into another car, and if the angle isn't just right, it's going to be a poor fit on a chop job. Consider the rear window from an earlier car like a shoebox Ford or 49-52 Chevy or Pontiac. Wraparound rear glass adds 10x difficulty to a chop job. I learned my lesson on that with my '53 Ford, sank the glass into the trunk and now it leaks, soon to be replaced with a '49 Merc rear window and surrounding sheetmetal.
I've had a few Buicks. I'm not so sure about the Super/Special being different than the Century/Roadmaster. What I do know, is that the Rivieras (Buick's designation for the hardtop) definitely had a lower roof-line than the sedans. Sorry no measurements...sold my '51 Roadmaster Riviera 2dr years ago.
i am aware of the level of difficulty added in doing it this way. im not a novice at this and have been doing custom work for a while now. i prefer the look of the wrap around windows over the rounder ones like squablow suggested. people do it all the time and more power to them. i am a picky person and the chop would be based off of the flow of the back window. not vise versa. in my eyes thats how it should be. a lot easier to move metal then glass. compare the difference. both 51 buick specials. the hardtop is laid down more for a sleaker look.