Originally Posted by JWA

I'm in the big truck windshield biz---has been a lot of changes since 1988 for sure. When first starting out I did sooooooooo many IH 9670's, 9700's, GMC Astro's, Pete 372's KW K100C & E, Freightliner FLC---they were everywhere!

Later 80's brought back conventional cabs from White/GMC/Volvo, Freightliner FLD's, both of which pretty much dominated my local area. Newer ride comfort features, nicer interior appointments etc seemed to make the high-turnover rate of drivers lessen up a bit. (At one time I was buying 40 FLD windshields, would take no more than 2 months to go through that many.) Pete 372's seemed to almost make a foothold here but never really caught on for whatever reason.

Had one shady customer with the most ragged fleet of IH 9670's, a few wrecked and repaired so poorly stock windshields just wouldn't properly fit. Before going bankrupt I was called to replace several, arrived on-site to find these junkers loaded on a flat bed---was told they were heading to South America. WTH? Even though mechanically able to pass DOT inspections they were better suited to the scrap yard---here in the USA anyway.

Seems so much of what we discard here is still quite usable and valuable elsewhere. I'm sure the cutting apart and reassembling some of this stuff goes on---makes me sad for the drivers though. If there's an upside its when a Mexican truck crosses the border its subject to DOT road side inspections----glad I live further north of all that!