Rear Window Trim Delete

[Lil John SVT 27]

I was thinking how my coupe would look without that big black window trim around the back glass. I have to do some rust repair in that area. So I was wondering if it would look good without it. I know the gasket will be exposed. Just a thought. What you think?

[shaun071 62]

I've been thinking the same thing. A lot of cars had the exposed rubber back in the day.

[Lil John SVT 27]

It'll take some work. But you could fill it in and smooth the place where it it would screw to the car.

[RogerC 136]

There's an older thread somewhere on the site that discusses options for rear glass trim. For mine, I intend to fill the texture and paint body color.

[Pakrat 1,043]

I'm not exactly sure what is involved skill wise but I have seen cars that converted to the '70 stainless trim.

Makes you wonder what Ford was thinking when creating this piece. Looks fine on a vinyl top car but I've yet to hear someone say they love the look of it, especially on a painted roof.

 

 

[Lil John SVT 27]

Yeah I removed the vinyl roof. Absolutely hate it. And the trim is just bulky out of place. Painting it to match might hide it some. But I'd rather it be gone. I've also heard of using the 70' coupe stainless trim. I'll do some more researching on the conversion. I know it'll be labor intensive making the area around the rear window smooth. But I'm thinking it'll look a lot better. All you'll see is the window gasket.

[dblizzo 10]

I wish i would have thought of this before my car resto.  It would definitely would look better.  If anyone does decide to this, I need a couple of the clips that go on the bottom of the side molding pieces.  I guess the fastener slides on the bottom of the trim and the two studs go through to the trunk.  For whatever happened, I lost mine and now my trim doesn't sit  flush.  Send me a message if someone has some.  Thanks and good luck with the project.  

[Lil John SVT 27]

I went ahead and removed all the trim from surround the rear window. Body work wise, it'll be easy to eliminate the trim and smooth it out. And honestly, looking at it in tough form, bad paint- rust holes, it doesn't look bad without the trim. I think if it's smoothed out and painted it'll look real good. So my verdict is it's not going back on along with that horrible viynl top. But it's gonna take a lil work since I have rust around the window. But hey it's a project!!!

[Rsanter 152]

Just thinking here....

What about getting a slightly bigger window cut for the back?

If you made a pattern for the new window that fits very tight to the body like the newer cars do, then you can hold the window in with the same adhesive strip used on the new cars. If you want to finish the edge you can use the same rubber beading the newer cars use around their windows..

Would be really cool

 

Bob

[Lil John SVT 27]

Very interesting Rsanter. You could weld in a small lip all the way around it an seal it like the windsheild along with the rubber trim. Would take some work but I bet it'd look nice. But looking at it, in its very rough shape right now, I think it being smoothed and painted with just the rubber seal would look nice. I will see this summer hopefully. The trim isn't going back on

[SA69mach 39]

Not a bad idea at all. Maybe something that would appeal to restorers of 69s and 70's for sure, since the 70 chrome trim surround is not reproduced, and can be expensive to buy, if you can find it.

I replaced the rear window seal on my 70 coupe and needed the chrome trim. Tricky job, and a modern seal would have been worth the effort to weld in the lip.

 

You may be on to something that would apply to most early Mustangs, but certainly the 69 due to the strange trim, and the 70 due to the lack of available trim.

[Lil John SVT 27]

I have no clue what ford was thinking when they designed that bulky trim around the back glass. It looks out of place. Like they just threw it on there. I haven't seen the chrome trim on the 70' models. But if you say they're expensive and hard to get then it's no use trying to go that route.

[Rsanter 152]

What I said about getting a new piece of glass that is slightly larger made for you is one option.

 

The other way to do it that I have seen done on many older cars that are turned into street rods is that they weld a strip in around the window opening to make the opening a little smaller. But then they also have to weld a strip on the lip to space the glass out so it is flush or close to flush with the body. Then they can mount it like they do the newer cars but use the original glass ( because some of that curved glass is mega bucks.....)

Because you do not need to flush mount the glass because the shape of the body there you would only need to weld the piece in that would shrink the opening dimension.

If you are not a welder or don't want to go that route, the having a glass shop cut a piece of tempered glass and then gluing it in would be the other way to do it.

As far as the are being rough. Yes but it's not that bad. A little sanding and grinding, then use an epoxy based body filler to smooth it out should not be that bad

 

Bob

[Pakrat 1,043]

Just thinking out of the box here as I have never taken apart the back window on a sportsroof but given that you would be modifying the surrounding metal area of the car anyway I wonder how hard it would be to modify and use that? It is full stainless I believe and I can't imagine that it has any less than 4 pieces to it so cutting and re-piecing back together seems feasible.

[shaun071 62]

I was thinking about that too Pak. Either sportsroof trim or a local car from Aus, maybe 70s Falcon sedan. The rear window is larger but if the corner shape is the same it could be workable.

[Pakrat 1,043]

Hmmm, for that matter a cougar or any previous year Mustang Coupe could probably work as well so long as you are modding the opening anyway.

 

Might be worth trying to hit a ford show and measure some cars and collect some data Lil John for the best/easiest option.

[shaun071 62]

 

This might work for me

[Lil John SVT 27]

Anything has to be better that the stock bulky trim.

[SA69mach 39]

The fastback trim does not fit in the 70 coupe window.

The bottom turn is less than 90 degrees, and the top turn is greater than 90 degrees. I looked at that option when the PO lost the trim years ago and I had to fix the look of my 70 coupe.

I ended up buying a set of trim from an ebay dealer, who had a few sets from parted out 70's.

 

They are around, maybe not every single day, but some enquiries with the usual second hand parts shop would be worth the effort. West Coast Cougar, and ebay. (look for second hand 70 coupe parts, and contact the seller, especially if they have multiple Mustang parts)

 

It is going to be tough finding any trim parts from other vehicles that will be an exact fit for the 69/70 window. More work to weld in a new rim, but it is the sort of job you can just start immediately. also, you can always cut off the lip if you don't like it, or it does not work. Some chrome edge strip will look similar to the chrome trim, and is also available at any windscreen store.