In an episode of the BBC2 television documentary series “Inside the Factory”, presented by Gregg Wallace, Cherry Healey and historian Ruth Goodman, entitled “Inside the Factory XL: Buses”, the programme examined the production of an electric version, of the iconic Transport For London, red double-decker bus. In this episode screened on BBC2, on Monday, 8th August 2022, enormous 2•5 metres wide x 1•4 metres high, electrically-heated, laminated windscreens, for the buses, were shown being manufactured by
Tyneside Safety Glass.
It was also mentioned that the passenger seats of these buses are upholstered / trimmed with
“hard-wearing” moquette fabric, which might be a good option for our 1968~79 VW Type 2 seats.
There have recently been some further developments in the following topic thread of The Samba’s 1968~79 VW Type 2 on-line forum.
Forum Index >
Bay Window Bus >
Heated Front Windshield
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=627310
It seems that some 1968~79 VW Type 2 electrically-heated front windscreens, purchased from Ricky Evans Motorsport, were actually manufactured by a company in China.
Noting that one of the windscreens is etched with the following information, I concur that the windscreens seem to have been manufactured by a Chinese glass manufacturer.
www.heatedwindow.com |
XYG Laminated | CCC inside ellipse | DOT563 | AS1 M150 | 43R-001531 | TIS 2602-2556 | E1 in circle | * 22
My research suggests that the manufacturer is the Guangzhou Dongxu Automobile Glass Company, in Baiyun District, Guangzhou, China, which appears to have a subsidiary in North America, based in Markham, Ontario, Canada.
Guangzhou Dongxu Automobile Glass Co. Ltd, Room 318, Building A3, No. 12 Longgang Road, Nanling Village, Taihe Town, Baiyun, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
https://dongxu.en.made-in-china.com...-Front-Windscreen-Auto-Glass-Factory-Xyg.html
https://www.made-in-china.com/sendI...t=en&from=shrom&type=cs&style=2&page=p_detail
XYG North America, 3601 Highway 7, Suite 702-704, Markham, ON L3R 0M3, Canada
https://xygna.com
https://xygna.com/contact-us/
https://xygna.com/product-for-automotive/
« Fully Heated Windshields »
« Fully heated windshields are made by embedding many tiny heater wires within the lamination that covers the whole windshield. But how do heated windshields work? Once turned on, these tiny heating elements provide rapid and effective defrosting of the entire windshield surface.
»
« The XYG fully heated front windshield will rapidly melt snow and ice in the wintertime to give drivers the visibility they need to start their journeys safely. Although the wires are spread throughout the windshield, they are small and barely visible only if a close-up look is taken. As such, visibility at a distance from the driver’s seat out through the windshield is unaffected.
»
« Still, looking through a heated windshield on a cold day is an experience worth having!
»
It’s not clear for what vehicle marque & model, prices of electrically-heated front windscreens are being quoted, but
US$26 each, for batches of 50~99 units, or
US$23 each, for batches of 100+ units, would suggest that buying batches of 50 at a total cost of
US$1,300 plus shipping directly from the manufacturer and VAT & import duty, would probably be significantly cheaper than buying them in very-small batches, from a retailer in Great Britain, such as Ricky Evans Motorsport.