[DeTomaso] Glass for the Pantera

[Charles McCall]

Mike - 
The glass on my GT5-S was manufactured by Saint Gobain. At least the glass
in front of the gills is. I took a photo of the manufacturing mark a few
years back but can't find it right now. Does this fit in with the scheme you
mention?  

-----Mensaje original-----
De: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] En
nombre de MikeLDrew at aol.com
Enviado el: Tuesday, 07 August, 2007 3:03 AM
Para: markn at nyga.net; Detomaso at realbig.com
Asunto: Re: [DeTomaso] Glass for the Pantera

Mark wrote:

> I am looking for a new windshield and
new door glass (including the vent glass in the front of the door).  I
received about 3 or 4 responses and prices varied greatly.  The variation
has me quite perplexed and I am wondering if there are some different
"types" of glass being sold? 

>>>The very, very early Panteras had glass which was made in Italy, and 
>>>was
perfectly clear (no tint).   The overwhelming majority of Panteras
(including 
virtually all USA cars) had glass that was made by Sicursiv in Germany.   I 
believe the later cars (GT5-S) had glass by another German outfit called
Sigla 
(somebody please confirm this?).   I have a Siglia windshield in my car
since my 
original glass was badly stone-bruised.

About ten years ago, the Finnish arm of Sicursiv, known as Sicurvsetro
(sp?), 
began manufacturing the Pantera windshields and side glass.   Unlike the 
cheapo aftermarket windshields, all of these companies guarantee the highest
OEM quality, but the Finnish windshields are (or at least were) less
expensive than the German/Italian units.

Marino Perna, of Pantera East, is the exclusive importer of these suckers, 
but he sells them to other vendors also.   

Although he only stocks tinted glass, he can special-order clear glass if
you have an exceptionally early car.

FWIW, the factory windshields pass through so many hands (Germany to De
Tomaso, De Tomaso to Wilkinson (importer), then Wilkinson to Wilkinson
(retailer) 
with a mark-up each time--they were selling for $1300-1400 a few years back.

The presence of these nominally identical factory-spec windshields has
caused the profit margins to be trimmed down mightly though, and has brought
the German-made Sicursiv windshields down to $900 or thereabouts, I believe.

Whatever you do, do NOT go the cheap route and get one of the Brazilian-made

windshields that Hall sells (or at least, used to sell).   These have a nice

feature, an FM radio antenna incorporated into the glass.   However, the
glass 
quality is quite poor, with big-time distortion towards the sides of the 
windscreen.   I drove a Pantera to Las Vegas about ten years ago fitted with
one of 
these things, and it literally gave me a severe headache, sort of like 
wearing glasses that aren't designed for you.   Images, and the stripes on
the road, 
would suddenly bend and distort as they disappeared out of the side of your
vision.

No, this is something that's worth paying good money for.   But fortunately 
the good quality stuff is still fairly reasonable.

Oh, and to reiterate, Marino at Pantera East in Florida also stocks all new 
side glass (all three pieces), plus new rubber gaskets.   He's a little
flaky 
when it comes to answering e-mails, but is great on the phone:

(381) 727-1181

Steve Wilkinson sells The Good Stuff in California at (562) 634-3434.   He 
also sucks at e-mail. :>)

I don't know what kind of glass the others stock, but if it's one of the OEM

manufacturers listed above, you can't go wrong.   

Chuck mentioned having great luck with his local glass shop, and I wouldn't 
rule them out either, at least for the windshield.   But make sure you are 
getting a quality piece of glass from them.   For awhile, US glass makers
made 
Pantera windscreens (when the cars were still relatively new, and plentiful
on the roads), and I think Chuck got lucky and managed to get a leftover 
high-quality US-made NOS windscreen from one of those companies.   I
wouldn't count on 
that happening today though.

And finally, he also raised a good point when speaking about how local glass

shops treat glass which you bring to them.   If the glass is procured
outside 
of their supply channels, they can't vouch for its quality, and thus
normally 
they won't stand behind their installation.   If they bust it, they shrug 
their shoulders and walk away.   So it's as important to shop around for a
good 
glass shop, as it is to shop for good glass (that is, unless the work is
being 
done by a body shop).   If necessary, let them order the glass for you, and 
perhaps even mark it up, to ensure they will stand behind their work.

Good luck!

Mike




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