This section covers the glazing of the MGA, the windscreen on roadster and coupé, the coupé's wrap-around rear screen and side dropglass, and the various seals, finishers and mounting components that secure the glass to the body. Glazing is one of the most variant-specific areas of MGA bodywork: the roadster's flat, stanchion-mounted windscreen has nothing in common mechanically with the coupé's curved, scuttle-mounted screen, and the coupé adds an entire glazing system absent from the roadster (rear window, side dropglass, quarterlights).
Roadster windscreen, flat, on stanchions
The MGA roadster windscreen is Triplex laminated glass on all models regardless of market, set in a chrome-plated brass frame made by Auster. The frame is held in two vertical stanchions with splayed-out feet at the bottom, mounted through the scuttle and the body. A combined support and grab handle is fitted on either side, attaching to the scuttle and to the stanchions, these handles double as passenger grab handles in the open car. A rubber apron seals the windscreen to the scuttle, with rubber gaskets where the stanchions pass through the body.
The roadster windscreen is much flatter than the coupé equivalent, a defining visual difference between the two body styles. The roadster windscreen also carries the front hood attachment pegs (two pegs on the windscreen frame fitting into sockets in the front hoodstick), the windscreen wipers and motor, and on later cars an additional over-centre catch for hood security. From chassis 57100 (September 1958), the windscreen hood pegs were changed from plated brass to plated mild steel, a small production change.
Coupé windscreen, curved, in shroud channel
The MGA coupé windscreen is markedly more curved than the roadster's and is mounted directly into a lower windscreen channel built into the modified front shroud, there are no stanchions on the coupé. A chrome-plated brass finisher runs around the rubber surround, providing the polished frame appearance. The coupé front shroud was specifically modified in the scuttle area to incorporate this channel, and the windscreen aperture geometry differs from the roadster as a result. Coupé windscreens and roadster windscreens are not interchangeable.
Coupé wrap-around rear screen
The coupé has a wrap-around rear screen consisting of three separate pieces of glass set in a one-piece rubber surround, which in turn has a two-piece chrome finisher split in the centre. The rear shroud panel was cut back to the line where the lower frame of the rear screen met the panel. The front and rear chrome surround finishers are each in two pieces, joined by small clips top and bottom at the centre. The wrap-around design gives excellent rearward visibility for the period and is one of the coupé's most distinctive design features.
Section structure, two sub-categories
The Glazing section is divided into two sub-categories. Windscreen & Fixings covers the windscreen glass (roadster and coupé), the chrome frame and stanchions on roadsters, the chrome surround finishers on coupés, the rubber apron and seals, the wiper motor wheelboxes and arms, washer system components, and all related mounting hardware. This is the primary windscreen-restoration sub-category. Dropglass & Fixings covers the coupé-specific wind-down side glass, quarterlight (vent window) assembly, glass channels, winder mechanism, seals and weatherstrips.
This sub-category has no application to roadster cars.
Triplex laminated glass, period and modern equivalent
The original MGA windscreen specification is Triplex laminated glass, a sandwich of two glass layers bonded to a plastic interlayer, providing safety glass behaviour (the glass cracks but does not shatter into dangerous fragments in an impact). Modern replacement screens are typically supplied as direct-fit equivalents in modern laminated specification, providing equivalent or improved safety performance while matching the original optical and dimensional properties.
Ordering considerations
Confirm whether the car is roadster or coupé before ordering any windscreen items, the two systems share no major components. For roadsters, identify whether the existing screen is original (Triplex) or a previous replacement, and order the matching specification. For coupé wrap-around rear screens, the three glass pieces should be ordered together to ensure correct optical and dimensional matching across the assembly.