Last year Delmer Teet and Ron
Conlon made up two of these simple devices to block the wind that
whips from behind the driver at highway speeds. Here is an update
on their effectiveness and plans to make your own.
The materials are 1/4"
plexiglass or lexan and some straps. These I found hiding in the
garage from old projects but they are not expensive. Lexan is
harder and scratch resistant but the plexiglass polishes well.
The tools were a hacksaw, drill and file.
Dimensions are 36"x12" with rounded corners to taste.
Seatbelt notches are 1"x 3".
Mounting holes or slots are 3" from the edge (not the seatbelt
slot which would be 2") spaced 6" apart and 1.5 inches
from the lower edge. More than 12" above the seat back (not
headrest) will get too close to the top mechanism and lower than
10" will muss your hair.
Comments on these are from using one for a year. It works well
to keep a hat on and cut down on wind buffeting. It is all but
invisible. With the windows down, side draughts will still take
a hat particularly at intermediate speeds 30 to 45 mph
or when a big rig passes in the other direction.With
the mount on the seat, you will feel an occasional push from behind
as a gust hits it. In just the correct angle of sun, it will reflect
straight ahead and into your mirror. This happens only at dawn
and dusk. The straps mean I can easily remove the windbreak for
town driving. This prevents scratching from stuff being tossed
in the back and eases top operation from the seat. The seats can
still be adjusted but can make the top edge look slanted if they
are too different. I usually balance the look. The rearview mirror
use is as normal. There is a lot of wind now from between the
two seats under the windbreak, which is fine in summer but tends
to lift my full rim hat above 70mph. So I added a flap of heavy
material between the seats hanging from the windbreak to address
this. The straps are horizontal but could be placed on the vertical
to wrap the headrest itself. The plexiglass could be a lighter
grade but heavier is not going to help anything.
There are alternatives to this approach. A screen material like
the plastic bug screens will work if stretched across a roll bar.
Certain types of car shades will do a good job inexpensively.
There is a net bag that covers both headrests and or seats. I
have seen one of these on a Bimmer that looked awful but looks
can be fixed and old pantyhose would have been better looking
on this car. Pantyhose works, by the way, if you cut the legs
and crotch out and pull it over the two seats and headrests. It
comes in appropriate colors but the teller won't believe you if
you tell 'em what it is for. So don't try.