Anyone replaced their plastic rear screen with glass?

[SonicHedgeHog]

My Tamora is due a new roof and I’ve been mulling over a smaller rear window to avoid the plastic creasing when it’s folded down. I just had a thought that with a smaller window a glass replacement might be possible. We had an MGTF with the glass rear screen that was miles better than the MGF it replaced so I can’t really think of any problems. Has anyone tried this on their Chimaera/Griffith/Tamora and if so how did it go?

[bobfather]

I remember seeing a car with a zip-out glass window, can't recall what car it was though. You could align a zip so that the top half unzips to allow the roof section to fold down

[SonicHedgeHog]

That’s a little more fiddly than I had in mind. If the smaller rear screen folds without creasing the plastic then would a glass screen not fold ok too?

[Hamish400]

I cracked my original plastic screen about 18 years ago, and then renewed ithe roof on my 400SE .
Since then I have rsuccessfully used a "sausage" made from a rolled up bath towel which sits in to the fold when the roof is down. This prevents a sharp crease forming, thus avoiding cracking.

Regards
Hamish

[brownspeed]

Not on a TVR, but my wife had a mk1 MX-5 about 10 years back; I got the roof replaced c/w a heated glass rear screen. The screen is unzipped at the top and sides and folds down before the roof is dropped. It was done by a guy out near Macclesfield, Cheshire. I was thinking on the same lines when I replace mine because I also managed to crack it.

[philburch]

My Tamora is also in need of a new rear window,I will be having the smaller one fitted . I had this done to my Chimaera and it folded down without any creasing, so should last a lot longer. I wasn't worried about rear visibility as the roof is always down ( unless I get caught out in the rain )

[citizen smith]

bobfather said:

I remember seeing a car with a zip-out glass window, can't recall what car it was though. You could align a zip so that the top half unzips to allow the roof section to fold down

My old Triumph TR6 had a zip out rear window, which was really nice have on those top on days.

[ray von]

Think Clive Reed?? the Zertec guy had a glass screen on his Griff. Possibly done by Lee at Trim Unique?
Done as bobfather said
I've got in my head it was from a Mini

Edited by ray von on Saturday 6th February 12:37

[RAS]

bobfather said:

I remember seeing a car with a zip-out glass window, can't recall what car it was though. You could align a zip so that the top half unzips to allow the roof section to fold down

The previous owner of my Griff (which I no longer have), had a zipped rear plastic screen put in when he had a new hood made. There are several photos and comments in the following thread:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[anonymous-user]

Coming up to 16 years with our Tamora with a pretty much undamaged rear screen. No towels, just common sense and the TLC afforded to a fun car?

Couldn’t cope with the loss of rear vision.

[QBee]

I changed the whole roof to this, made by Steve Edwards:



Not a cheap solution, but the whole rear section unclips and goes in the boot, with the targa panel in the boot too, on top of the rear section.
Hard plastic screen though, not glass, but looks like glass.

I don't know if he does one for the Tamora yet, but ask him. www.steve-edwards.com

[SonicHedgeHog]

Thanks for the replies. There is nothing wrong with the plastic rear screen and my default position of “keep it standard” will probably win the argument. My screen is probably the original one fitted in 2007 so it’s done pretty well to last this long. It is however a little surprising that with all the upgrades made to our cars over the years no one seems to have really nailed the rear screen issue.

Due to COVID my roof will probably have to wait til the late autumn - it’s never up anyway - but I’ll have a ring around the usual suspects and see if anyone has a glass solution that keeps the view out the back original. I’ll let you know how I get on.

[GreenV8S]

QBee said:

I changed the whole roof to this, made by Steve Edwards:

I particularly like the fact it's a decent width rear window. So many of the glass screen options leave you with a tiny porthole.

[QBee]

You might try googling some of the Mazda hood repairers on the net. The mark 1 and 2 MX5s had a glass screen (possibly an option, and they may be able to do something for you using an MX5 rear screen. A bit of wiring and you could have a heated rear screen

[ray von]

QBee said:

You might try googling some of the Mazda hood repairers on the net. The mark 1 and 2 MX5s had a glass screen (possibly an option, and they may be able to do something for you using an MX5 rear screen. A bit of wiring and you could have a heated rear screen

The Mini one I mentioned above was heated. Cue the keeping your hands warm when pushing it jokes