Back on the truck.
The time had come for the glass installation, there are 2 corner windows, a back center window, and a 2 piece front glass the goes in this truck in addition to 2 vent windows and 2 roll up windows in the doors. All the glass came from Bob's Classic Auto Glass, primarily because he had just had a run made of brand new corner windows. The corner windows are not easy to find, they only fit the 48-53 truck cabs, and then they were an option. Good used corner windows were going for $200+ a pair, when you could find them. Bob was selling brand new corner windows for $200 for a pair, and you could get them in clear (which most of the factory glass was), or you could get a green tine, or a smoke tint for no extra cost. Add to that, the tinted glass had the tinting between the two safety glass pieces. All the other glass could also be tinted to match (again, the tint was between the two layers of glass, not applied over either the inside or the outside) all the glass except the two corner windows (which sold separately) cost $365. Shipping for all the glass was $25! The glass other then the corner windows is all flat glass, I priced it out from he local guy I've been buying my flat glass from for over 20 years, and his price was almost $500, without the corner glass. I (bought the rubber for the glass from Bob's as well, thinking if there was a problem, it could be easily solved). The rubber added another $500 to the price. Bob had a tech line if you needed any assistance.

If you have ever seem me operate, you know fully well that installing glass is not something I can, nor should be doing. My friend at the body shop recommended a glass guy that would install the glass for me, and guarantee it wouldn't leak. His estimate was $450. The glass was here, the date was set for the installation. It would be done in my garage, because it was starting to get cold outside, and I have heat. When the day arrived, he and his helper started on the two corner windows. Those windows and rubbers were fighting them all he way. After about 6 hours, the corner windows were still not in. They installed the center back glass, and the glass guy called Bob's tech line, but it was after their hours by then. We rescheduled another day to try again. Between times he was going to make the call to Bob's, and also talk to a couple older glass guys he knew.
The next week we tried again. The call to Bob's was fruitless, no one there had ever installed the Dodge corner windows. He gained some knowledge from his older friends, but not much. We arrived at the conclusion that I was willing to make a few cuts to the roof structure to help with the glass installation, which we did, and we got the glass in. I have no idea how it could have been installed without those minor cuts. After the corner windows, the rest of the glass was a breeze. I intended to install the door glass myself, I've done those before. The 2nd day was also a 6 hour day. When I asked about the bill, he stood by the $450 estimate! I gave him a little extra, those two guys busted their butts on that glass.

One downfall of waiting the extra week for the glass installation was it pretty much put a stand still one everything until it was done. During that off time, I could walk around the truck and make plans on how things needed to be done from that point. You sit and look at the truck, and dream of the finished project, but you also look at how things are fitting. That was about the time I discovered that the front wheels were not centered in the wheel opening, like I had planned for. The wheels were about an inch and a half too far forward in the wheel arch. First you look for the cause, but in the scope of this build, 1.5" doesn't take long to add up. A little here, a little there, a bit more at this point, well crap. The longer you look at it the more it bugs you. After you figured out how it happened and understand it probably couldn't have been avoided, you start looking at how you can fix it. The bottom line was the front clip would have to move forward 1.5", which means the cab would have to move forward 1.5", which means the firewall would need to be moved back into the cab 1.5" That would either leave another 1.5" wider gap between the box and the cab, or the box would have to move forward, which would require trimming another 1.5" off the ends of the frame, or cutting the frame apart and making the wheel base 1.5" shorter, which would require shortening the driveshaft and the gas and brake lines. Or I could move the wheel arches on the front fenders forward 1.5". Once the body work was done, no one except me (and now all of you) would know I did that. I chose the last option.

The next step on the truck was going to be make a set of inner fenders for the front. If the wheel arches were going to be moved, now would be the time, the fenders would both have to come off anyway. The inner fenders would have to wait until at least the front and rear glass was installed. I had a little less then a week to figure out a plan. Gene