Fiberglass Stress

[mfg]

A common place for the Avanti's fiberglass body to develop stress cracks, on the '63-'85 models, is toward the center of the cowl panel (under the windshield) near the left windshield wiper pivot.....True?

[Guest dapy]

False. Stress cracks often at top of front wheel wells.

[lschuc]

True.... the cowl panel often cracks in front of the passenger side wiper pivot. (They do also crack on top of the finders, behind the wheel wells too.)

[plwindish]

Most likely true and false. I had a 64 back in 66-69 that had stress cracks on top of the front fenders behind the wheel wells and also on the top of the rear fenders toward the rear of the wheel openings. No cracks on the cowl near the right side wiper pivot. I'm betting that the MFG bodies and the Studebaker bodies also cracked in different places.

[Gunslinger]

I've seen more than one Avanti with a slight crack at the drivers side lower corner of the windshield. Whether that's a point of stress or simply from the occasional aggressive installation of the windshield I've no idea.

[mfg]

WOW!....You guys have really 'been there' with these cars!....but by answering FALSE, 'dapy' gets this one....Avanti cowl panels rarely ever crack at their center point, near the left (driver's) windshield wiper pivot...unless perhaps the crack occured from accident damage....Good call 'dapy'! (Now, cracks at the right (passenger) pivot are a completely different ball game!)