West Bend, Wi – A piece of automotive history rolled into Glass Doctor in West Bend, Wi, recently, carrying both its age and a story that began with an unexpected crack of trouble.
Shop owner Josh Uelmen said the vehicle, a 1933 Plymouth, needed careful attention.
“The owner had an incident last year when he was driving home and someone threw a brick and it hit his back window,” Uelmen said.
Finding someone willing and able to repair a vehicle nearing a century old proved to be a challenge.
“He had a little bit of a hard time finding someone to actually work on a car of this age, someone that could actually cut the glass for them to make it fit,” said Uelmen. “Since the vehicle dates to 1933, there’s not a lot you’re going to buy off the shelf for it.”
Instead of a simple replacement, the job became a custom-craft project, blending old-world dimensions with modern safety.
“We removed the old glass out of that back door and made a template,” Uelmen said. “We’re cutting the glass to suit and then we’ll get it all fixed up.”
The original pane told its own story, one from a time before modern safety standards.
“Here we’ve got the old piece of glass — not safety glass or anything,” he said. “We will be replacing it with safety glass so it doesn’t shatter on them.”
Using the damaged piece as a guide, Uelmen carefully mapped out the replacement.
“We made a template out of this one, got the old window track off of it, and then we’ve got everything laid out here,” Uelmen said. “We just have to finish cutting it.”
The new installation will bring the 1933 vehicle closer to today’s safety expectations while preserving its vintage charm.
“This will be like most windshields now where if it takes a hit, it’ll chip, it’ll crack, but it won’t shatter,” he said. “The only thing holding the old one together is the tint film on the inside. So at least we’ll get him set up with a better piece of glass. It’ll fit like it’s supposed to.”
For Uelmen, the project reflects a broader mission: saying yes when others might pass.
“If you have a piece of glass or any concerns — classic cars that other people might decline working on — you want us to take a look at it, see if we can get a solution for you, feel free to stop in,” he said. “Call the Glass Doctor. We fix your pains.”