So, to revive the thread somewhat, my dear Ratmobile recently had the unusual circumstance of someone-else working on her. A storm brought down a pretty big old part of a tree limb I'd mischanced to park under; fortunately the 300K-mile-old windshield I'd been wanting to replace anyway took the brunt of the force, leaving me with a roof-dent to massage out (I ended up using my 'It's gentler to cut hole in rigid headliner to match rubber plug that may be handy' technique... less destructive than bending the thing out the tailgate,) and bye bye what little savings I had, but I had it, so called in a local outfit who had what I needed nearer, sooner, and cheaper installed than my usual parts supplier before shipping, so it's hard to regret.
Makes me want to actually get to long-delayed cosmetic work on this paint now that there's shiny new glass, but I'm still enjoying the whole 'This car doesn't feel 25 Southern years old' experience. Which may be the salient point when it comes to older cars, polished, or if necessary, renewed glass, makes a pretty big difference. (I don't think the inside safety coating on the old glass would have been polishable at all, but that was so pebbled it was hard to even clean. So. I'd put up with it and put it off until gravity pressed the issue.
)