Etching Ford Bugs on to glass.

G

Graham Freeman

Senior Member
I have an etching kit to install the Ford Bugs on to my glass.
Problem, I have had it a couple of years now and when I went to try it the other day I found that the activator had escaped from its container.
The top was on tight but somehow must have leaked via a bad seal.
Has someone on Fordbarn recently etched their glass, and would they have surplus to requirements some activator that they would be prepared to part with?
The kit was originally sold by Mike Driskell in case there are variations in other suppliers kits.
Thanks
Graham
 
Graham, I just pm’ed you. The activator and etching cream both have a shelf life so check the etching cream to insure it is still good. If it is not I will gladly mail you more.
 
35fordtn said:
Graham, I just pm’ed you. The activator and etching cream both have a shelf life so check the etching cream to insure it is still good. If it is not I will gladly mail you more.
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This is a good guy. Support Third Gen Automotive. You won't be disappointed.
 
Absolutely a quality product! I was very apprehensive about putting an etching solution on a brand new windshield and it worked great! There is no way to tell the difference between the original "bug" and the new kit.
 
I'm sorry and hate to sound uneducated...but what the heck are "Ford Bugs"? I tried google but to no avail.
 
34pickup said:
I'm sorry and hate to sound uneducated...but what the heck are "Ford Bugs"? I tried google but to no avail.
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The "bug" is the etched Ford logo and date code info Ford put on the window glass during production.

For those of us who are really anal, we etch the "bug" back onto new glass we re-install during a restoration.
 
In a pinch, they sell glass etching solution in most craft stores. It worked well for me.
 
Ford46 said:
In a pinch, they sell glass etching solution in most craft stores. It worked well for me.
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Gotta be careful with “some” of the store bought etching solutions as some aren’t compatible with the stencils and some can damage paint if accidentally it were to come in contact with it
 
Aren't the original bugs in the middle of two pieces of glass? Do these etching kits have a year with the stencil?
 
All we need is your month and year and we supply the rest. On 1937- and up vehicles the windshield takes a different bug from the side windows.

Originally they were media blasted on with a rubber brass stencil. The kit we sell is a acid etch and when finished they look just as original.

Earlier this year we were doing a lot of custom kits, where street rod builders wanted us to make stencils with their logo so that as the car changed hands people always would know who built the car. Clever little idea far fetched from originality
 
As a side note, Bugs were originally placed on the glass to indicate that the glass was safety glass and not just plain plate glass.
 
Ford had their own glass plants. They certainly wanted folks to know that it was their product.

On flat glass, it can be installed on both right and left sides. If there is no individual part numbers for right and left sides then one side could be on the inside and one could be on the outside depending on which side the bugs were put on at the Ford glass plants. When the vent window assemblies were made, it could end up the same way but Ford usually had them on the outside so they may have had right and left glasses. Replacements could also end up the same way if they used genuine Ford glass.

I don't know what the manufacturing processes were so I can't say whether they were installed in frames at the glass plant or at the assembly agencies. If they were prepped for assembly at the glass plants then the bugs may have been put on for right and left after there was an assembly that could be identified that way. It would be nice to know how they did it but all we have now is actual vehicles that still have the original glass in them. Maybe an original F1 owner will step up.
 
As Ford's engineering drawings were made for the right side component and not for the left side when the components weren't functionally different side to side, flat glass such as door glass of the period would have the logo readable on the inside of the car/cab on the right side and readable on the outside on the left side door glass.
 
34pickup said:
I'm sorry and hate to sound uneducated...but what the heck are "Ford Bugs"? I tried google but to no avail.
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That's the same question I had 45-50 years ago when I listened in on conversations about having bugs on glass. It took me awhile to figure out what they were really talking about. :)
 
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