rkt455

Need your help.....again, ‘70 442 vert, was original windshield tinted or clear? Blue shade across top or no?
Need a new one. Local glass repair shop can only get tinted with shade and antenna. I’m pretty sure antenna was not oem
woe is me....

Allan R

It depends on what options were originally ordered with the car. You're describing A01 glass. If your glass shop has the windshield with the tinted top and antenna, get it installed. The windshield antenna was a stock item for those cars. Did away with a mast on the fender or trunk.

joe_padavano

The base equipment was a clear windshield. A tinted windshield was available by itself under RPO A02 or as part of the full tinted glass package under RPO A01. Every 1970 Cutlass came from the factory with the antenna in the windshield.

Allan R

Just a quick note. This is not a fast or hard rule but most of the verts were built with AC and almost all of the AC cars that I'm aware of had the tinted glass RPO. The windshield on the 70-72 verts will all be the same fitment.

joe_padavano

What's the basis for that statement? The installation rate of A/C across the totality of US automotive production was only 54% in the 1969 model year, so slightly above that for 1970 which is the year of the OP's car. That number is the average across all manufacturers and models. Obviously high end cars like Cadillacs, Ninety Eights, Electras, Lincolns, and Chryslers saw a much higher install rate, which means that lesser car lines were under 50% install rate. I've not seen any production data to suggest that "most" convertibles got A/C, in fact I would think it was just the opposite. Why spend the money on a convertible if you plan to run the A/C all the time?

SanTan Devil

I have a 72 Supreme and the windshield was just replaced (it's still in the shop). The mechanic and I discussed that the windshield in the car had an antenna in the windshield which could be seen as a thin line down the middle of the windshield. When I last went to check on the car, the windshield looked beautiful however, I do not recall seeing the antenna in the new windshield. tbh- I did not look closely but, I did look.

Questions:

• Are the antennas still quite visible in new replacement windshields? Could it be hidden now
• IF for some reason a windshield was installed without an antenna in it, what are my options besides having a new one with antenna installed?
  • I don't feel like having an antenna mast installed, that would cost more than the right windshield and not look right IMO
  • push comes to shove, I could do without local radio but...

Killian_Mörder

I've just had it explained to me that the top down is fine for cruising. However, when taking a convertible onto the expressway, the air turbulence casued especially to the passenger end was quite annoying. In that case, the top would get buttoned up and the vehicle cooled with the A/C. Having owned only a two-seater convertible, I couldn't have known that.
Tinted windshields were standard on air-conditioned vehicles, so that the A/C wouldn't have to needlessly work harder

joe_padavano

Every single 1970-72 Cutlass came from the factory with the antenna in the windshield. The 68-69 windshield is exactly the same but does not have the antenna.

SanTan Devil

Thanks Joe. Yes, my original windshield had that, just wondering about the replacement possibility of not having one in there (ex, just a generic A-body windshield). Looking closer at a picture I took, potentially there's an antenna built around the edges of the windshield (but not the thin lines down the middle) bc I see a ~1" black tinted lip all the way around the windshield. So, hopefully all is good.

69HO43

You smell like Spam.

joe_padavano

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2hwqlw

VC455

Look at the center bottom of the windshield. If it has an antenna, there is a lead wire coming from the windshield. This lead wire attaches to the radio antenna connector at that location.