WTF?? How did this happen??

Dobalovr

Being on the Cbody diet SUCKS!
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So walked out this morning to find the back window of my 79 300 shattered! No evidence of something hitting it just completely shattered. Hasn’t been too hot or too cold to be temp related. No interior is in the car so what gives??? More importantly who knows where to get another one?
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Dang!

Sorry to hear that Graham!

Any idea what happened?
 
Son of a!! That sucks! Are you on any of the Cordoba pages on Facebook? Might be able to find one there. Magnum pages usually have some parts cars as well.
 
Seems to be an oddity of the heated rear glass. Has it been sunny where you have the car parked? This has happened to me a few times, (and yes it does suck).
 
I think the tint may have something to do with it. Trapping heat or UV light rather than allowing it to pass through? I could be wrong. I had two friends in high school that both owned 80's RX7's, both back windows eventually mysteriously shattered, both had tint. Coincidence? Possibly. I also agree with traintech55 regarding the suspect defrost wires, both RX7's had those too. Combination of both? A '78 'doba just showed up at pick and pull, fingers crossed.
 
Give Safelite a try...yeah I know it's a long shot, but they had a windshield for my '62 300. And yes, That really sucks!!
 
Thanks guys I am checking parts recycling depots like @LeBaron1973 suggested but only seeing non-heated glass. Go figure I scrapped my parts car that had a good rear window a week ago :BangHead::BangHead::BangHead:

I have no idea what caused it but being tempered glass wouldn’t take much
 
Check some demo derby sites where they may be removing glass from cars...properly?
That sucks. Had to be under a lot of pressure to happen....time for frame connectors!!!
 
Seems to be an oddity of the heated rear glass. Has it been sunny where you have the car parked? This has happened to me a few times, (and yes it does suck).

Yup the sun shines right on that back window where it’s parked. Wonder if expansion was the issue.
 
I had the same thing happen on my convertible in 1971 when the car was only 18 mths old. I drove from Kingston to Mississauga to buy a house and as we were walking away from the car after parking it, the rear window just fell into the back seat and started popping like pop corn. By the time it was finished there wasn't a piece of glass bigger than course salt. Scared the crap out of my poor dog sitting in the middle of the back seat.
The dealer said it was a common tempered glass failure usually caused by stress in the glass sheet and no it wasn't covered by the 5-50,000 mile warranty.
If you cover your window inside and out with clear packing tape you might get it out in one piece. I wouldn't be surprised to find some of those glass bits are still hiding in my car after 48 years.
 
I had the same thing happen on my convertible in 1971 when the car was only 18 mths old. I drove from Kingston to Mississauga to buy a house and as we were walking away from the car after parking it, the rear window just fell into the back seat and started popping like pop corn. By the time it was finished there wasn't a piece of glass bigger than course salt. Scared the crap out of my poor dog sitting in the middle of the back seat.
The dealer said it was a common tempered glass failure usually caused by stress in the glass sheet and no it wasn't covered by the 5-50,000 mile warranty.
If you cover your window inside and out with clear packing tape you might get it out in one piece. I wouldn't be surprised to find some of those glass bits are still hiding in my car after 48 years.

It has window tint holding it together at the moment Bill. Going to talk to Flatla’s tomorrow. I know he has several Doba’s so hopefully can get it handled by next weekend.
 
Yup the sun shines right on that back window where it’s parked. Wonder if expansion was the issue.
That'd be enough to do it. I chose to reply to this one because the cause is as close to explained as you're likely to get. Tons of good theories in here. Glass is just plain weird, tempering only helps assure it will break into smaller pieces... IDK if it has any other engineering advantages, but from a practical stand point, that's all you get.

Because these failures were not uncommon when new, they shouldn't be too surprising as they age. Ever see a 100 year old pane glass window that looks like it has a sag in it? The semi-fluid will get thicker at the bottom over time from gravity, heat cycles, etc.

Unless you find a true structural deficiency in the car or glass frame, or something jamming the glass from expansion... just replace it and call it a day. Get a cover on it if you want to reduce the direct sunlight it receives.
 
I bet there’s not one car that I’ve taken apart that didn’t have at least a couple of pieces of glass laying around somewhere inside.
 
I remember my Dad's brand new '74 Satellite having the rear window grenade as he backed it out into the cold one morning. It was the beginning of winter and really the first under 30 degree day. Just enough change in temperature to cause the failure.
 
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