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Technical
Indestructo
Glass
Date Coding

Ford Anglia 105E - Technical - Indestructo Glass Date Coding

All glass on a motor vehicle bears a manufacturer’s mark and (if you are lucky) some sort of dating code. This can be particularly useful when attempting to verify the year and month in which a vehicle was actually manufactured. (Although please note that this is not a foolproof way of determining a car's age, as the glass may have been replaced at some time during its life).

Ford used three different glass manufacturers for the Ford Anglia, "Indestructo", "Triplex" and "Tyneside".

Indestructo Glass

"Indestructo" safety glass was manufactured by British Indestructo Glass Ltd (Chase Estate, Park Royal Road, London, NW10). It was a glass used by the Ford Motor Company at Dagenham during the years of the Ford Anglia's production.

British Indestructo Glass Ltd (BIG) was incorporated as a public company in 1929 to manufacture safety or laminated glass. After 1944 BIG, which was by then Triplex's only remaining safety glass competitor of any substantial size, incurred trading losses and found itself in serious financial difficulties. At the end of 1951 the Austin Motor Co. Ltd., Briggs Motor Bodies Ltd., Ford and Pressed Steel Co. Ltd, provided the additional capital required to keep the company in business. Sales to the BMH group and Ford accounted for about 93 per cent of total sales. Although there was no supply agreement or other formal understanding between BIG and its shareholding customers, the latter were broadly committed to placing sufficient business with BIG to keep its capacity reasonably employed.

From 1961 to 1966 the British Motor Corporation and Ford purchased similar annual quantities of glass from BIG, these quantities represented less than one-third of BMC's total safety glass requirements, and well over one-third of Ford's. When BIG expanded its capacity in 1966 it received assurances from BMC and Ford that the additional capacity would be taken up, provided the prices were right. Unfortunately difficult conditions in the motor industry mean't that this additional capacity could not be taken up. In 1967 British Indestructo Glass Ltd was acquired by the Triplex Safety Glass Company Ltd and subsequently closed down.

The name "Indestructo" is usually etched on the glass in an arch shape, with two letters under the bottom of each leg and the British Vehicular Safety (BVS) kitemark under them. For dating purposes, the letters of interest are the two underneath the letter 'I' of the company's name. The letters below the 'O' are not used for dating purposes.


Coding for the Quarter of Year of Manufacture

Of the two letters beneath the letter 'I' of Indestructo, the one on the extreme left is used
to indicate the quarter of the year of manufacture using the word
BRIT

B = 1st quarter, R = 2nd quarter, I = 3rd quarter and T = 4th quarter.


Coding for the Year of Manufacture

The year is indicated by the second letter below the 'I', using the word INDESTRUCTO

I = 7, N = 8, D = 9, E = 0, S = 1, T = 2, R = 3, U = 4, C = 5 and O = 6
(The second 'T' was ignored, except for the first six months of 1966 when T = 6 and the O was ignored)

This gives the dating codes shown in the table below

  Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
1959     ID TD
1960 BE RE IE TE
1961 BS RS IS TS
1962 BT RT IT TT
1963 BR RR IR TR
1964 BU RU IU TU
1965 BC RC IC TC
1966 BT RT IO TO
1967 BI RI II TI
1968 BN RN IN TN

Shown below are a couple of examples of the Indestruco glass marking from Ford Anglia's.

The letters BE are shown under the letter "I" denoting that the glass was manufactured in Quarter 1 of 1960

Indestructo Glass

The letters ID are shown under the letter "I" denoting that the glass was manufactured in Quarter 3 of 1959

Indestructo Glass


(Article Copyright © MellY Designs - Please do not Reproduce without Permission)

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