What does
 

The bird etched into the door glass of my 68 represent?

Pic?

I'll see if I can get one next time I'm in the trailer.

I'm guessing you are talking about this?

http://firstgenfirebird.org/forums/u...74932&page=all

http://thefirstgensite.com/tom/HO4.JPG

Yea, that's it. I guess it is just the difference between early and late 68 production build? Need to get the codes off of the build plate.

ahhh- one of the great mysteries. from what I understand it is somewhat rare and desireable and very random. It was etched into the glass by the factory, but did not necessarily come with any specific pacakge. Some cars had it with standard, or deluxe interior. Check out the firstgenerationfirebird.com website FAQ interior section. I have the "bird" glass on my 68 convertible with AC and standard interior.

Mine is a December 67 build date

From what I can tell, my car didn't have a/c. For as far as that goes, it didn't have anything but doors, wheels and tires, and brakes when I got it. That and a bunch of rust, haha. That's why it is now a drag car, wish I had the funds at the time to return it to it's former glory.

Judging by the pic in your sig, it is getting plenty of glory now ( and air ! )

Love the first gen birds, still one of the top 5 cars I've ever owned.

-Harry

I'll have to dig up some pic's of when I got it and scan them and post them. I got it back in '93. Took me 4 years to get it to the track. It also survived a marriage, buying a house, adopting my wife's son, having a 2nd child (daughter), a divorce and a second marriage. :)

Read through and the conclusion from fgf and this is what I found:

"... ALL pieces of bird glass were manufactured in one plant, in a limited date code range Oct-Dec 1967. Both tinted and clear glass were made, and this glass was installed primarily in Lordstown cars built 11/67-mid 01/68.

The glass found in later cars and earlier cars still bears date codes from this range of dates, and is virtually guaranteed to have been installed at some point in the car's post-delivery history."

Rich

I don't necessarily agree with FGFs conclusion regarding this statement. My '68 convertible is a factory 400HO, auto, non A/C car with standard interior, power windows and tinted glass-all. It was built at Lordstown in June of '68 and I do have the bird glass. Given that when I bought this car it had 36k original miles and was pretty much untouched. It still has its original top and interior and even still had its original deluxe wheel covers on it when I bought it. I am pretty sure my bird glass is original to my car even though it was built so late. Like other have said, there is no rhyme or reason to it. I think a few runs of it were made and the workers at the plant used it until it was gone, maybe judicioulsy or maybe randomly. I have also seen glass on '68 Camaros that has an "Astro Air" (or something like that) etched in the glass in the same spot. It seems GM did this on these camaros and birds with the deletion of the vent windows and inclusion of the new ventilation system in '68.

400 HO- Great point about the line workers using up the glass till they were gone. Again, no real rhyme or reason


cambird- That 'bird is leaving real hard. Great pic!!

Thanks, it'll go about 1.46 in 60'. Not bad for an old station wagon engine, haha.

There are exceptions to every rule
With the Bird glass there are no "rules" only observations and calculated guesses.
I think I may have made some of those FGF comments years ago when Geoff was putting the site together.
There is still alot of mystery to the "BirdGlass".
Ive never seen that late of a 68 with it before .
I did have a 68 that was only a few years old and was totaled, had one tinted and one clear bird glass.
It was a loaded 4 speed Sprint.

I used to have a 68 Firebird convertable, sprint 6 that came with the bird glass. Very cool feature and I wish more Firebirds had the option.

I like it also and have came close to buying some. Seems like it would be pretty easy for someone to come up with an etching kit to sell. Maybe not a huge market, but I'd buy one.

I may have some spare glass replacements

BTW its not etched on,but rather a transfer process similar to paint.

After getting data on dozens of cars with the glass, there was a general rhyme and reason to it. Is there a 100% guarantee on anything with the these cars, no. Yes your car could have had it direct from the factory but it is the exception. But the lack of cars with it from Lordstown in the intervening time period is an indicator. Similarly, as you don't know the full history of your vehicle(even given the mileage) doesn't mean it wasn't added later.

But to say it was random isn't accurate. Parts are produced at given times for given reasons because it takes work and effort. There is a reason why it is fairly obvious my current 03C Ram Air II head equipped car is a clone for those who know the general history of Ram Air II equipment.

I was once told that it cam on cars with deluxe interior, and I guess that build date comes into play. I have had over ten 68s none of the standard interior cars had it and only one deluxe interior car did.
But as 68bird400ho mentioned that his car has standard interior and bird glass.
Does any one have a list of 68 Bird options that might list the glass as an option?