Just do like like you see them do in the old movies and TV shows... Take out the windshield! Then get yourself some snazzy goggles to keep the bugs out of your eyes. Look for a sign shop in your area that prints vinyl wraps, like you see on a lot of city busses and such. There is a finely perforated vinyl material that they print on and apply over the side and back windows. Maybe they can spare a scrap of this material to apply to your back window at least to cut down some of the glare and reflection from behind you. And it will still leave you with some vision thru the back window. You see this same material also used in the back windows of some newer pickup trucks. But it usually has a picture printed on it of a trout jumping out of a stream. Probably not considered traditional around here...
A couple of years ago the glare from other headlights oncoming or from the rear was really starting to bother me. I got to where I didn't enjoy driving at night. I mentioned this to the people that make my eyeglasses and they recommended getting a teflon coating on my lenses. I did and you would not believe the difference. Of course if you don't wear glasses this won't help.
i've always used polarized glasses while riding at night, heck, i use them all the time. no tint to them but they do reduce the glare.
Good info here, something I never thought about much and got used to, until this thread. Now I think I have The glare issue. LOL!
I use a plastic perforated pull down shade that auto parts stores sell on my back window. It is held on with suction cups and you can still see out your back window at night. It takes very little time to attach and works great against the glare.
I know what you are talking about. I', 67 and wear glasses. I am almost to the point that I don't want to drive my deuce roadster at night. The glare issue is the reason that Ford put a pull down curtain in the rear of the sedans. I don't know if anything will work to reduce the glare when modern headlights hit my windshield.
I think tinted glass has been around since the 50's, not sure about the attachable tinted film, probably 60's for houses and nearly 70's for cars...
I've got some of the problem in my 37 Dodge, even with the front and back windows slanted. I can always see 3 or 4 sets of gauges in the side windows, only 1 in the windshield. Now days you pay extra for those "heads up displays"!
My 49 chevy pickup is the same way. Flat front and back glass. Im only 18 and thought I was going crazy! Headlights, gauges, streetlights, turn signal flashers. they all do it, just have to deal with it.
In my tudor I had, it was really bad. The car wasn't chopped and I had beetle seats in it. I sat fairly high. Year round, day or night I had the windscreen out to the little lock on the arm brackets. And if it was dark, I would roll the door glass down about 3 inches and so my eyes were above the door glass. That killed 80% of the problem. In my Coupe, it is chopped, I sit low and really won't be seeing "over" the door glass... I think it will be more of a problem in this car actually.....
I've done a fair amount of night driving in my pickup. You get used to it and more capable of telling what is real and what is a reflection. But man,the first time I drove it at night was a little weird.
If you chop it enough the problem isn't as big, but like has been said, it's because of the flat glass. Sometimes when driving down the country road that leads back to my house it looks like I'm driving through the woods.
Well I have newer ot type vehicles which I find are still a problem, mostly from the side and rear view mirrors and feels like I'm being attacked on all sides..In my old truck 92' the oncoming cars isn't too bad but if they piss me off I put me Hi beams on and aim for them....My 51' shoebox is the worst at nite, most of the dash reflects in the windshield so I toned down the lighting but on coming is so bad sometimes I check to see if my lights are on!! Yea I'm old so my eyesight isn't great so I choose roads less traveled; I can see great if there is no other cars around..I will check into the tinted, polarized, Teflon glasses at my next eye exam ...
The slanted 2 piece flat glass windshield in the Chevy is not real bad, compared to the one piece flats, but reflections are there. Be careful of driving a long ways at night with regular polarized or tinted lenses, as it forces your eyes to work harder to see through the tint, and the very light "polarized" lenses don't really cut much glare, compared to normal dark polarized glasses. The link below is what I recommend, not just because I work for the company, but have been wearing since introduced in 1998 in the US, and won't wear a pair of glasses without Crizal. No Glare lenses are the only way to go, not just for night driving, but for better vision all the time. http://www.crizalusa.com/About-Crizal/Crizal-Benefits/pages/default.aspx
I put some 3M window film on my back window. It doesn't take much and you can get it at any area shop that does vinyl car wraps. The cool thing is if you want them to print something on it they can or they can just print it black. It installs on the outside and makes it difficult to see in but from the inside looking out, you can see through it.
could i suggest a matt black interior no chrome or polished items in the cab.black wipers , fitting a dimmer to your gauge lights and fitting the best lens and bright bulbs in your lights.a curtain sounds good and a modern rear view mirror that adjusts for night driving with a dull plastic frame.i intend powder coating the winders etc matt/satin blak .
The reflections inside a '34 Ford sedan are really bad in the side glass. I know, I just made a 300 mile night drive this week.
Just took a friend's A coupe to a run tonite. Never had that problem with my roadster, but in the coupe was really bad. I pushed the windshield out slightly and as someone else said, "bingo," fixed.
The reflective phenomenon that you're experiencing is exactly why the windows in air traffic control towers are SLANTED, to preclude reflections as would be experienced by the humans inside. Probably something you'll have to live with in an A-bone. Opening the windshield slightly should help. DD
was about to say the same thing , My Pete day cab was a refelection nightmare , I used a antiglare tint on the back window to cut it down , they also sold a clear version of the stuff for side windows , it looks like a screen close up but its clear and doesn't tint or obstruct view . I will try to find out from my window guy were to get it .
Something that hasn't been touched on is to have good headlights on your hot rod. When I built my truck I used the newest headlight kit that Bob Drake had just recently introduced,,this is a retro fit kit for the original headlights and instead of the old silvered concave reflectors the have the silvered plastic style reflector that is patterned after the mini cooper headlight reflectors . After just a few trips at night I bought 2 more sets,one for my 4 door and another for my coupe. This lights use heligon bulbs,,no more shadows in front of you. HRP
I wish they had a solution for us guys that still run 6v. A 12 volt system would be a smart upgrade, but I cannot justify the change. I love my 6v... Maybe there is an upgrade and i just haven't seen anything? My plating is nice in my headlights but they are still dim. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
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