rear view mirror question

May 07, 2006 10 Replies

I have two day/night mirrors... one is nice stainless but with bad glass. One is painted with OK glass. I was thinking that I would just swap the glass between the two and/or have a new mirror cut for the stainless one (I did inquire at my local glass shop and they can do this, with the correct glass) just one question, the stainless one has a post about 4" long before the bend, the painted one slightly only half that. What's the difference between the two? Does that make one "incorrect" for my car? (C-body)



thanks,



nate


OK, I gotta ask... Why are you so obsessed with the "correctness" of your car when it does not have..

  1. The correct engine

  1. The correct transmission

3 The correct external trim (including the incomplete grille)

  1. The correct interior

  2. And who knows what else

Confused minds need to know..

JT

In article , Nate Nagel says... ( SNIP) just one question, the stainless one has a post about 4" long before the bend, the painted one slightly only half that. What's the difference between the two? I'd say the difference would be about two inches.

Yeah, after a certain point, who shives a git about those who shive a git?

Not sure this applies to the day/night mirrors, but.....

The glass on the original non-D/N mirror for my '53 K was so-so. I got a mirror with perfect glass from a '53 sedan (I took it out myself so I am sure of the source!). I noticed that the stem was a little shorter. "So what?" I think. I put it in the car and what do ya know, I can't adjust it to see more than maybe 100' behind the car! I am about

6'-1". I put the old one back in and I can adjust to to see the horizon back there. Go figure. I'd sure like to transfer the good glass over somehow tho.

Jeff in ND

so you're saying the C/K one has a longer stem than a sedan? good news for me. you can disassemble by prying off the bezel. now reassembly, I haven't tried that yet so no pointers there :)

nate

mine's better! :)

see above

other than the items that have been "shaved" (hood ornament, trunk handle) AFAIK it's all correct now

working on that...

well, I just like to know when I'm doing something "wrong." I may go ahead and do it anyway, but that's another issue :)

nate

Okay Dale, now you owe me a monitor cleaning. I just spewed coffee all over this new hand-me-down moniter I got from Lee D.

Yup, longer for C/K. My theory of why is that the sedans I think have a higher roof line in the back. With the short stem mirror in my car, if I tried to adjust it so I could see any distance out the back, I got a view of the top of the rear window. The long stem mirror moves it lower down so that its probably more centered with the REAR window. The downside is the mirror can block the view looking out the windshield for oncoming cars on the right at intersections. Had the same problem with my old ford ranger pickup and darn near got T-boned once when I started to pull out. Mirror blocked my view.

Jeff in ND

thanks, it's not often you get the answer you want to hear, is it? will proceed with using the nice stainless mirror then. Oddly enough the mirror in the car when I bought it was a short-stem unit but it interfered with all the sunvisors I tried, this might be the solution to several problems at once. (THIS is why I ask these authenticity questions, when you know what stuff is supposed to look like, things make more sense, even if it's not a real resto.)

JP, do you have any of your repro Hawk sunvisors in stock? or would you be willing to sell me the used ones that are in the car now that I "borrowed" until I could figure out what the issue was?

nate

I've learned that when I see a post by Lark or Calvin I automatically swallow whatever beverage I may be sipping before peeking. I sure did get a chuckle though!

JT

Jerry Forrester wrote:

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