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I believe if done with careful planning and real glass this could be the best way to go.

The downside is when you drop the glass down for cleaning anything on it ends up inside the car, and as you pointed out it would still need a drain set up on the outside,
Sealing the glass wouldn't be too hard,

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I'm definately leaning this direction now after giving it thought. I never drive a nice car in any kind of inclement weather, nor would I leave it parked outside, so debris would be almost a non-issue for me.

My Mako has some sort of ledge molded in or 'glassed to the underside of the louvers (inside the car); the guy I got the car from said it had a slide-out/in rear window... really cheesy, since it wouldn't be air-tight, or weather-tight... probably just rattled around in there.

I'm afraid of broken glass with the small pieces, too. Looks great, and practically-speaking it may not be an issue with thicker glass, but small pieces can break very easily.

Great thread and lots of great input; thanks to you all.

Bro' FF

I don't think in a "show car / trailer queen" way, nothing in the world wrong with cars like that, pampered cars is the way to go for some, I don't dis trailer queens that get driven here and there,
When I talk about stuff I am in the daily driver mind set, because that's what I build,

I drove my 81 and 66 daily, and both were ready for weekend shows when I didn't have to work,
No reason my Mako Vert can't be a daily driver up to par with the 81, the 66 was more racer and a pain but I did drive it daily,

If it doesn't hold up real well, I can pop it out and use them as patterns for real glass ! As always, time will be the true test ! The short-tail will always be garaged.......... so most of the elements it will see is when I wash it !! LOL

As for the louvers, As I said in my other post.......... I used microflake of various blues, so it will look like water running off a sharks back. The cool thing with the microflake is that with no light (or fluorescent light) You don't see much of the flake......... but when sunlight hits it....... it really pops !

From what I've seen and remember...... the short-tail makos are 6 inches shorter than the average one. The rear point behind the louvers is the easiest place to see where its missing that half foot ! Rick

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ShawkRider,
To do a motorized slats which I really think is beyond sweet

I put my dad on that one, he is working it out using a small motor,
and the same idea a home AC vent, when it gets done I will share it
here,

My dad is pushing me to make a second set of louvers out of aluminum
to be the slats that move because they would be thinner and with
that slight curve ridged enough, I believe that is how they did the
ultimate Mako, wild colors as the lovers look too thin to still be
fiberglass, but I am guessing,

Like I said I am going to make a mold off the rear clip to make my
parts as I don't want to hack that rear Motion Mako clip.

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Your dad is correct, the only way to do it is with aluminum slats
and that is how Wildcolors-Mako Shark III did it.

My grandmother use to have a house back when she was alive that
had storm shutters on the outside of the windows that did this
and on the inside of each window was a knob you could turn to open
and close the shutters. They were a top to bottom set-up and the
slats were made out of aluminum and I thought about them the first
time I saw Wildcolors-Mako Shark III rear window treatment. These
shutters were old, I'd have to say late 70's early 80's but looked
good. I tried searching for them on the enternet but todays storm
shutters are styled differently then back then.

If your dad can get a set-up full scale running I definatly would
like to be in on it. I would even purchase a set if he would build
me one. Check into the idea and let me know. Thx

Of course, today you can buy a Windex product that you just spray on and rinse off... not sure how hard that might be on the paint the runoff might contact.

As a show feature, they are beyond cool... Ideally a guy would have those louvers, as well as an electric or electro-hydraulic hood actuator cycling through constantly at a show; that would just be too cool!

Bro' FF

Been a royal PITA installing the rear glass.........................

......... er........ Lexan ! Got a special sealant and got 2 pieces installed.................... a major mess ! The Lexel sealant was a major screw up......... it seemed to dry up and get lumpy within a couple of minutes and wouldn't smooth out and clean off. Smeared all over the paint and would not clean off ! After 2 days it still never dried and I pushed the lexan out. Had to cut a couple more pieces and clean all the sealant back off..............took me days !!!

Ended up using pure silicone sealant and got everything looking pretty good. Still gotta clean the excess off, but I can do that later ! Got most of the rear interior installed......... hopefully I'll get the rest of the interior finished up soon !!!

Then I can get you guys off my back by getting the doors on the car !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rick

Your car looks just great... way to go on the rear interior treatment, and I like the CD changer and stereo speaker arrangement. Should rock just has good as it rolls down the road.

Fantastic car.

Bro' FF

Question on your rear carpet treatment... did you do it yourself (cut and sew), or did you use a kit that was for a hatchback model C3, like a '79-'82? I've been wondering about how to do the carpet and I think the hatchback kit might work just fine?

~Tim

Bro' FF

The only C3 that was a factory "hatch back" was the 82 CE
As far as I know besides color the CE rear carpet was the same as any c3 only some plastic trim for the rear hatch latch and hinges was different,

While I suppose a person could start with 78-82 rear carpet I believe in the end it would be cheaper and look far better to sew or have it custom made to fit the Mako rear.