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Sterling Windshields

Brett Proctor

Brett Proctor

Well-known member
Just wondering with the continuing demand for sterling windshields and the difficulty getting them from the UK why hasn't anyone contracted a company here to make them.

There are companies here in the USA that can make them. Fuzz had a company here make Cimbria windshields for him.
 
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farfegnubbin

Site Owner
Staff member
Well… The windshields are coming from a US distributor. But that distributor has a global network of manufacturers which keeps the prices lower but which can complicate the process. The distributor buys them in batches of like 20 or more to benefit from the Economies of Scale. They currently are low enough regardung US inventory that they have to consider whether to order the next batch. The problem, I suspect but haven’t confirmed, is that ever-changing tariffs and trade policies right now are making planning difficult. If they bought an entire batch during a moment when the powers-that-be have jacked tariffs way up then they have a pile on windshields that are stuck at a high price, even if tariffs then go down. It’s a frustrating situation.

Anyhow, there would presumably be other options for actual US production. But the windshields would be quite a bit more expensive. People already are stressed about paying $1200 for the windshield. I don’t know what kind of market there would be for windshields at $2000 to $2500 before shipping. All that said, if the current source doesn’t replenish its supply then we’d have to find another solution almost regardless of cost.

I think that, if the trade environment stabilizes; we will very undramatically have access to those same very nice windshields at a manageable price. Time will tell.

But yeah, Fuzz paid many thousands of dollars to have a mold made and then still had to pay a lot per unit. He would have had to sell MANY windshields to get his money back out. He has admitted several times that he knowingly paid a heck of a lot simply to know that he had replacements for his own project.

Anyhow, that’s some of the additional back story.
 
Brett Proctor

Brett Proctor

Well-known member
So you can't order directly from Pilkington.? and cut out the middle man
I'm guessing thats the main source where the glass comes from.

Just asking, thats all
 
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doug-doug the mighy

Member
Resurrecting this thread based on a convo in another thread...

Given the subtle variation in Sterlings over the years and the Sebring, was the windshield the same across the years and variations? I know that this is not true for the side glass as the stuff I have for mine is dead wrong the the car I have (it is too long and tall). Some folks say that the windshield could be replaced using the rear glass from an old fastback Mustang and others say no.

At the end of it, how many types of windshields are there?

From here, my next question is about the above mentioned distributor. I assume they do not want to have an inventory on hand and would prefer to wait until enough people are asking in order to justify running a batch. Meanwhile, we are all hoping to find a source and when possible willing to fork out something hefty in order to have a spare on hand due to the scarcity. Am I right or am I wrong?

Would the answer here being (hypothetically) a member of the community purchasing a batch at a time? The distributor would be more likely to fill an order for 20 at a time. The "member" would of course have to absorb the cost and be able to store them until community members need to obtain one. IF there was such a hypothetical member, could this work?

For those of us that do not daily-drive, a Lexan MR10 option may be the way to go. It would be possible to add a tear-off laminate as is used in NASCAR and LeMans and other racing events for those of us that do daily drive. Going off the above train of thought, could Lexan windshields coupled with custom custom mylar (Rip-Offs/ Racing Optics) work as an alternative and having a hypothetical member act as a source/provider/broker ease our collective woes when it comes to replacing a windshield?
 
letterman7

letterman7

Honorary Admin
Let's clear up some misconceptions about windshields that are being repeated and perpetuated across the interwebs.
1: The Sterling windshield is the same as the UK's Nova, in all iterations of the Sterling and Nova.
2: The first generation Sebring shares the windshield with the Sterling. The second generation does not and that glass has not been available since the company folded in the '80's
3: Cimbria windshields are shared between the two models. It is not the same as the Sterling.

Pilkington Glass over in the UK supplies the Nova contingent. Pilkington USA has no interest in importing the glass to the US to make it available. Pilkington is now owned by Nippon Sheet Glass which complicates things as minimum orders tend to be on the excessive side.
Fuzz's contact who made the Cimbria glass did a reasonable job, but the glass does have some distortions that we can't overlook.

I'm going to shoot the owner of the company a message to respond to this thread as I don't want to get too far into details. At the moment, windshields, side and rear glass are backordered. We're working on that. The glass pattern is proprietary to both the Nova and the Sterling brand and while some people have successfully made their own, it is not lawful in every state to use Lexan as a substitute.

We realize the need for the glass but unfortunately manufacturers don't see it that way for one or two sales a year.
 
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doug-doug the mighy

Member
This is awesome to hear/learn. Thanks!

This also brings the other part of my post to its point - what if someone did buy a bunch of these (enough to get a manufacturer past the onesies and twosies - say 20 or more), and then the community could buy from that individual as they need? Would that solve some of our problem?

Yes, it is all hypothetical in that “someone” would have to absorb the upfront cost of buying like 30 windshields and storing them for a period of time but that is a separate issue. The main question is could we, as a community, get around the manufacturer reluctance for super small orders?
 
letterman7

letterman7

Honorary Admin
doug-doug the mighy said:
This is awesome to hear/learn. Thanks!

This also brings the other part of my post to its point - what if someone did buy a bunch of these (enough to get a manufacturer past the onesies and twosies - say 20 or more), and then the community could buy from that individual as they need? Would that solve some of our problem?

Yes, it is all hypothetical in that “someone” would have to absorb the upfront cost of buying like 30 windshields and storing them for a period of time but that is a separate issue. The main question is could we, as a community, get around the manufacturer reluctance for super small orders?
Click to expand...
That's the point, we have that "someone" - Sterling Sports Cars as an entity - to carry the costs. It's getting the current manufacturer to either get off their collective butts and cast the glass, or trying to find another manufacturer to start fresh. Not as easy as it seems. Again, most glass companies won't do small batches. And anything under 1000 units is a small batch. We did talk to one company local to me, actually, but their unit cost wholesale is exorbitant - nearly double what the companies retail on the old glass used to be. Nobody is going to pay that.
 
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doug-doug the mighy

Member
oh wow! Even better than I dreamed. I did not realize/understand that SSC was doing this. I will send a PM to you to better educate myself before I muck up the public forum too much.
 
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sector

sector

Active member
The SSC is only handling the Sterling windshields so there is no supplier for the Cimbria windshields.
I got mine 10 years ago from Pilkington UK. I don't believe they are selling them anymore. Whish I ordered two to have one as a spare.
 
Brett Proctor

Brett Proctor

Well-known member
With the help of a Nova member I got some numbers to show Warrens dilemma with getting windshields from Pilkington UK
I also contacted Pilkington USA and they wont import them.
At the time of this post here are the prices of the windshields from Pilkington UK


1776860481166.png



OK now add shipping and import tax of £3250 the price rockets to over $4000.00 per windshield and this doesn't include any markup on Warrens side
And there is a lead time of 15 weeks and an order of 3 to 10 windscreens

So if you have that kind of money you can get a windscreen from Pilkington UK

So you can see now the magnitude of what Warren is going through trying to get windshields.
 
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