When I was painting my 68 convertable I discovered that the hardtop was much lighter to move around without the glass in place. The thought of replacing all the glass with Lexan or Speedglass crossed my mind. I see no problem with the hardtop since the curveature could be over come with fasteners & thinner plastic if necesary and it is unlikely to be a problem in a collision. However does anyone know anything about collision safety and speedglass?? How about the windshield and ridgidity?? Or the side window and windshield curvature?? If these obstacles could be addressed it would be a great way to lose weight.

 

I have worked with Lexan/plexiglass on many projects but never replaced auto glass using it. A few years ago I read a story about a guy who replaced broken C-3 rear glass with Lexan and liked it better. If my memory serves me, he bought it from HD and it was already smoked at a cost of $10. From my experience I'd say it could be easily done. I have produced many pieces of curved Lexan by heating it in my kitchen oven on a sheet of foil laying over the oven grate. You need to be careful it doesn't get hotter than about 350 or it will bubble and discolor. It gets soft enough to shape between 325-350. Slow steady heat with close monitoring was most successful. You could duplicate a side glass curve by just laying a heated piece on top of real glass with down pressure until cured. I used to place a piece of aluminium foil between my form and the heated Lexan. The foil was first rubbed smooth on the form before laying the lexan on top. Immediately after laying the heated Lexan over your form and foil, place another piece of foil over it. Lay a towel over the foil and Lexan and maintain down pressure on towel ends until the Lexan cools to its new shape. They came out pretty good. A little Armor-All makes it look even better.