Ford DATED safety glass.

[highbeams]

Ford DATED (month & year) safety glass. (?) reason?
My '33 serial number = January '33. Its surviving safety glass= 6 Ford 33.
Anyone (other'n Henry) know the reason? Thank you.

[Graham Freeman]

Could have been an early replacement?

[highbeams]

And what is the need to date glass! Who cares when it was made. Hmmm. My dormer windows, picture window, framed glass storm door. I better get busy . . . . .

[DavidG]

Your engine number (you call it your serial number) date is the build date of the engine and transmission assembly and not the build date of the vehicle that it ended up being installed in. While a five month spread between the engine build date and the date on a piece of surviving glass is a bit unusual, the glass date is likely to be representative of when your '33 was produced. If your '33 were truly a January, 1933 build, it would be loaded with components that only existed for a very short time before being changed.

[51 MERC-CT]

In 1928, Libbey-Owens was the first company to produce automotive laminated safety glass and won a contract to supply the Ford Motor Company with windshields for the Model A. Libbey-Owens merged with the Edward Ford Plate Glass Company (no relation to Ford motor Co.) in 1930 to form Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company.
So the date coding may have been for the purposes of the glass
company, not Ford motor Co.

[CA Victoria]

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The surviving glass in my 35 (2-35) predates the serial number by about one month and the dated features by 2 months. Albeit I’m not a restoration expert but from others’ remarks it is consistent with time lags in assembly.
The purpose is a mystery to me too,maybe a DOT requirement...... looking forward to others input.

[ford38v8]

Identification of who made it and when establishes liability.
Same reason Ford started putting FORD script on coils, in order to be free of warranty replacement of defective foreign manufacture coils.

[rockfla]

Opposite of CA Victoria


Our 39 Mercury has a 10-Ford-38 Glass, consistent with several "other" early production differences with later 39 Mercury's. Maybe the fact that it was a completely NEW model from start-up made it "SO"??

[Newc]

An Early V8 member made the 'bugs' for glass dating and sold them to Sanders Glass of Vancouver, Wa Newc

[al's28/33]

Rear window of my '33 pickup.

[highbeams]

Thanks - my '33 windshield will be here this week.

Regarding the windshield 'bug' I've read: which is the correct; driver side? or passenger side? . . . inside? or outside?

Answer: The way yours was installed on the assembly line!

[highbeams]

Originally Posted by 51 MERC-CT

In 1928, Libbey-Owens was the first company to produce automotive laminated safety glass and won a contract to supply the Ford Motor Company with windshields for the Model A. Libbey-Owens merged with the Edward Ford Plate Glass Company (no relation to Ford motor Co.) in 1930 to form Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company.
So the date coding may have been for the purposes of the glass
company, not Ford motor Co.

Have you read the history regarding Henry's glass division/company? Upon driving a friend around Willow Run in a new '31 'A', Henry had a collision or accident, and his friend injured his face upon hitting the windshield. Upset regarding his friend's injury, Henry contacted his glass subcontractor so all Fords will have 'shatter-proof' glass installed.

Still upset regarding his friend's injury, Henry decided to create his own safety-glass company with FoMoCo engineers' specifications, becoming the (only) and largest safety-glass manufacturer in the world; supplying to each US competitor as well as car manufacturers in Europe. (replies welcome for corrections, if any). Thank you.

[DavidG]

I don't know about the content of your first paragraph, but your second is in error as Ford was but one of many safety glass manufacturers around the world during the 1930s and later and certainly not the largest. Pilkington and Saint Gobain in Europe produced safety glass before Ford started production of glass as did LOF and PPG in the U.S. Further, Ford did not exclusively use its own glass. That letter below the Ford oval indicates it is Ford-made glass when it is an 'F'. If that letter is other than an 'F', such as 'L" and 'P', then the glass was not made by Ford. That relates back to the earlier comment about identifying glass by source for warranty purposes.

Depending on the country in Europe during those days, Ford could not use the oval and script on the glass in its vehicles either built in Europe or imported from the U.S.
because it refused to be a party to the infamous Pilkington/Saint Gobain glass cartel.

[Don Rogers]

Factory drawings show the bug located in the lower left corner of windshield on the surface facing up on the glass conveyor belt. After that when the glass was placed in the frame it could be on the left facing in or the right facing out.

[ford38v8]

Originally Posted by highbeams

Have you read the history regarding Henry's glass division/company? Upon driving a friend around Willow Run in a new '31 'A', Henry had a collision or accident, and his friend injured his face upon hitting the windshield. Upset regarding his friend's injury, Henry contacted his glass subcontractor so all Fords will have 'shatter-proof' glass installed.

Still upset regarding his friend's injury, Henry decided to create his own safety-glass company with FoMoCo engineers' specifications, becoming the (only) and largest safety-glass manufacturer in the world; supplying to each US competitor as well as car manufacturers in Europe. (replies welcome for corrections, if any). Thank you.

For one who obviously enjoys reading about FORD history, I would suggest that you pass on reading anything that is contained in car magazines, with the major exception of the V8 Times. Those monthly rags employ hacks to fill their pages for the casual reader. For the serious student of Ford history, there are several hundred hardcover books that were researched far better than any monthly car mag could hope for. My favorite source on all subjects Ford is the three volume set by the historian Allan Nevins known as the Ford Trilogy. Titles of those volumes are:

FORD Expansion and Challenge
FORD Decline and Rebirth
FORD The Times The Man The Company

[DavidG]

According to Google, the European Union Commission has levied nearly $2 billion in fines against the cartel in recent years, evidently finally ending its market distortions.


In more recent times, Ford's glass production included architectural glass and it was marked with the Ford script in an oval. I was taken aback when I first saw it on a shower door.


All long gone now, along with agricultural equipment, heavy trucks, and Sidewinder, Trident, Peacekeeper, and Minuteman missiles.

[highbeams]

Originally Posted by DavidG

Your engine number (you call it your serial number) date is the build date of the engine and transmission assembly and not the build date of the vehicle that it ended up being installed in. While a five month spread between the engine build date and the date on a piece of surviving glass is a bit unusual, the glass date is likely to be representative of when your '33 was produced. If your '33 were truly a January, 1933 build, it would be loaded with components that only existed for a very short time before being changed.

I refer to the serial number as 'the serial number' because that is what it is. Read about it: The 1933-34 Ford Book Restoration Manual, copyright 2006 The Early Ford V-8 Club of America, Inc., OR, post a blog here on Fordbarn.com

My 1933 Ford 3w is (using your words) "truly an early build" because it has a January serial number per The 1933-34 Ford Book Restoration Manual, copyright 2006 The Early Ford V-8 Club of America, Inc. Serial numbers don't lie.

Motor number: Post a blog here on Fordbarn.com for education.

[Bubsyouruncle]

David, you are the Man.
May you live forever!

[DavidG]

highbeams, You likely do not know this, but that book that you refer to is considered obsolete by the Club and is not being reprinted as it has led to numerous misunderstanding in concourse judging.

My reference to engine numbers is correct as that is what they were and what Ford called them, not a term used by someone coming along 60 years later and calling them serial numbers. You may do as you please regarding the terminology that you prefer, but please do not lecture those who have paid their dues in Ford's archives both here and abroad.

Your car has an early '33 engine, but that does not mean that it is in an early '33 Ford car as the manufacture of its engine and the installation of it in a vehicle often took place months apart (one engine plant and multiple assembly plants spread across the continent and no "just in time" inventory control).

[al's28/33]

The "5 33" dating on the Ford glass in my pickup corresponds to the Model "B" engine number stamp that is on the driver side frame rail and also dates the truck to May, 1933. The current V8 engine is supposedly a '36 with a '37 transmission that were installed by previous owners who removed the 4 cylinder to "upgrade" to the V8.