Having a vintage car comes with a certain level of clout among automobile enthusiasts, but owning a vintage car also means taking great care to give it the attention it needs. For many automobile owners who love keeping the car as close to original as possible, this means going to great lengths to find all those original parts. However, there is one original part that would be best replaced with a more modern version: the windshield. That original vintage windshield may have a certain draw, but finding a new version is the safest bet. Here's a look at why that is the case.
Today's windshields are treated as a safety device, which means further testing.
When you buy a new windshield and have it installed, you can rest assured that the specific model has been thoroughly tested for safety in a controlled environment before it was allowed to be sold to the public. Old windshields were merely a fixture meant to keep the wind and rain off of your face while driving, but today's windshields are far more advanced and treated more like a safety feature, which they should be.
Old windshields may not have laminated glass to prevent shattering.
Imagine what would happen if you were driving down the road, a piece of gravel flew up and hit the windshield, and the whole thing shattered in your face. Unfortunately, this was a huge problem with old windshields because they were pretty much just panels of glass that busted with little impact. The lamination process, which involves using plastic sheeting between two glass panels, was not always the usual way of making automotive glass. In fact, this process didn't become the norm until after there were incidents in which drivers were severely injured by shattering glass in the early 1900s.
Modern windshields are created to protect you and your vehicle from UV light.
Even though the sun shining through your windshield is bound to still leave you needing sunglasses, your modern windshield replacement is equipped with features to ward off damaging UV rays in most cases. These UV rays can be hard on your eyes, for sure, but they can also be damaging to the interior of your vehicle, which is definitely something you want to prevent with a vintage ride. An old windshield will not have this same line of defense, and, therefore, can directly contribute to fading and damaging the interior of your prized vehicle.
