Old cars with rised windscreen
 

At some old cars (pre-1960) you could rise the windscreen, so you could get some air into the car. Not much (the open side would be on the low side), but you could. At the ones that had the windscreen made of 2 pieces you could sometimes rise just one half. The problem is I can't find any more pictures with such windscreens in rised (open) position. Do you have any pictures?

I think American cars stopped having that feature in the 1930's.

A few of these 30s trucks are shown with the windshield open:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/557109416385875563/

jr

Back when I was young I owned a few early 1950s (American) cars . Specifically a 1951 Chevy , a 1951 Plymouth , and a 1953 Buick . On all three there was a fresh air scoop just in front of the windshield , just behind the hood , that could be opened and closed by a lever under the dashboard to force fresh air into the car . With that scoop open and the fly windows open , all kinds of fresh air could be had .

But as to your specific question of the windshield itself being openable I'll say that with American cars since at least the 1950s I know of none that open in the way you describe . The Jeep "Wrangler" and Volkswagen "Thing" both allowed you to open the windshield and fold it down onto the hood , to be held down with provided straps , but that was an all or nothing proposition , it was either fully closed or fully open .

Pretty much what I remember, too. Only vehicles I remember that the windshield could be lowered were standard Jeeps. Even if they DID open up, most people I knew kept ;em CLOSED, as nobody wanted a Southern Yellow jacket square in the face or mouth... That would ruin the rest of yr Day !

My 1937 Plymouth had the crankout windshield, pop-up screened cowl vent like init4fun described, and the wing windows in the front doors and back sides for lots of ventilation. You can see a picture of one of these windshields open on this web page: https://www.allpar.com/history/plymouth/1937.html


https://www.allpar.com/photos/plymou...windshield.jpg

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:thmbsp: Thank You for posting that Jim , now the OP has a timeline for American cars ; They had the tilt open windshield in 1939 and it was gone by the 1950s .

Why it was gone?
Look here at minute 2:06: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNNSc73W6cU
And here you can see a British postwar car (1946 model) with opening windscreen: https://classicmotorhub.com/blog/lea...nchester-ld10/

I suspect they were prone to leaking; also, it's cheaper to have fixed window as you eliminate the cost of hinges and cranks. The amount of air movement with vent windows and under-dash vents was quite good, anyway, at least in that era. (I've owned some vehicles from the 60's-70's and they really didn't impress me in that respect. I found the vent windows to be useless. But on my '49 Packard & '51 Ford? You can get some major turbulence going on!)

Plus a fixed windshield will actually add to the structural rigidity of the car.