The author's life is so bright...
The author's life is so bright he must wear shades, or at least remedy the glaring problem with his replica roadster.
One of the interesting nuances of our open roadsters is having the body come under the windshield and into the interior. With our shiny paintwork, and dash faces with no visors or overhang, we get all sorts of added reflections we normally don't have in our daily drivers. We have this distracting imaginary steam and reflected sunlight to contend with on sunny days.
The automakers found these problems years ago, and solved it with soft, flat-colored dash-pads that also doubled as safety bumpers. These pads extended well past the gauges, and eliminated any reflections. In addition, the shapes and angles, along with the flat or textured finish also killed off any glare. (Have you noticed that when you Armor-All your dash in your classic muscle car, you get the glare?) Only in our replica roadsters, whether it's a Speedster, snake, or Lotus, do we get this phenomenon.
Though our faithful test car is still in gelcoat, it still has a shine and the problems we're talking about. A fun afternoon in the sun and an investment of $10-$20 fixed two sources of aggravation that had bothered us for years. The solution was almost too simple! Follow along and we'll show you what we did.
Many owners of open roadsters...
Many owners of open roadsters that have the dash up close to the body edge will get the reflections of the gauges in the windshield at night. Very much like having your own HUD system! Here are the gauges below and the reflections above.
Another common problem on...
Another common problem on the open roadsters is sunlight and images reflecting off the painted and shiny surface behind the windshield. To the occupants it looks like steam is coming out from the front of the car.
Part of our plan was to repaint...
Part of our plan was to repaint the offending surface with a non-reflecting paint. But, before any painting was done, we took two pieces of body cutouts, painted one with the paint and stood them side-by-side in direct sunlight. We borrowed this idea directly from the aeronautical engineers who combated WWII fighter aircraft and Mach 1 Mustang glare.
The first step was to remove...
The first step was to remove the rear-view mirror and any other parts up top. We cleaned the surface off, then smoothed and prepped the surface for paint.
Not wanting to remove the...
Not wanting to remove the windshield, a very thorough masking and taping job was done to prevent overspray. Painting would have been much easier with the windshield off!
Here's the secret formula!...
Here's the secret formula! Bought at the local hardware store for $4.50. It's almost as expensive as the special coating for the Stealth aircraft (not).
After a final wipe to remove...
After a final wipe to remove any dirt, we applied two light coats of paint so there would be no runs or ugliness. A steady hand and broad sweeps made for an even finish.
After a final wipe to remove...
After a final wipe to remove any dirt, we applied two light coats of paint so there would be no runs or ugliness. A steady hand and broad sweeps made for an even finish.
After a final wipe to remove...
After a final wipe to remove any dirt, we applied two light coats of paint so there would be no runs or ugliness. A steady hand and broad sweeps made for an even finish.
Next up on the list was to...
Next up on the list was to eliminate the gauge reflection at night. This is caused by these cars having no dashboard lip or "hood" like on our regular cars-and allowing the light from the gauges to have a direct sightline to the windshield and our eyes. We surmised a simple lip made from lightweight, flexible black plastic might be an easy way to get rid of the night reflection.
We trimmed a piece to roughly...
We trimmed a piece to roughly 1.5 inches wide, and made it long enough to cover all the gauges. We used two of the dash mounting screws for locating and securing simple brackets, which would mount the visor. No cutting, and the whole thing was installed in three minutes.
Here is our visor ready for...
Here is our visor ready for its night trials. We added an extra brow from black gaffer's tape so we could trim as needed. No pics to prove it, but at night, we had a clear windshield, no instrument reflections, and just the road ahead to focus on.