When you own a classic muscle car, you expect to spend some time fixing things. That’s just the nature of older cars — they need some occasional TLC.

Glass repairs can run the gamut from simple DIY jobs to tasks only reserved for professionals. If you do suffer damage to your car’s front glass, know how to assess it and take the proper next steps.

Identify Rock Chips and Small Dings

When the dually driver in front of you unknowingly flings a salvo of gravel in your general direction, there’s not much you can do. This type of thing can happen just about anywhere, and it often results in small but annoying dings to your windshield.

With these types of minor blemishes, you can usually continue driving. You probably won’t even become aware of the damage until you’re off the road, washing or detailing your car.

Though there is no immediate danger from a glass chip, you’ll want to identify chips and cracks when they are small to save money on repairs. When these types of damage are left un-fixed, they can spread and lead to the need for an entirely new windshield.

Repair and Replace Any Major Damage

Auto glass has come a long, long way since the 60s and 70s when today’s classics were just rolling off the lot. The modern materials are stronger and more resilient, but they’re not invincible.

If you’ve allowed a crack to propagate or suffered an impact to the front of the car or windshield itself, you’ll need to have your windshield replaced outright. This is a job for professionals. An incorrectly seated windshield is a safety hazard, and it could end up costing more in the long run since it could expose your interior to damage.

Additionally, a properly installed and secured windshield adds to the structural integrity of the vehicle. So it’s very important that the vehicle is not supported on jack stands when the windshield is installed. Always follow the recommendations of the installer, too, to make sure that the urethane used to seal the windshield has ample time to cure.

Do some research and see whether a reproduction windshield is made for your car. If not, having a piece of glass cut is likely a better option than pulling an old windshield from a junkyard. You’ll be getting the newer, stronger glass, and many junked cars have already had glass removed anyway.

Keep Your Sightline Clear

Making repairs to the glass on your classic might not be as cool to talk about as mounting up a new exhaust or a slick set of heads, but it will keep you seeing clearly on the road and deter attention from the boys in blue. A cracked windshield, in some states, is a mandatory fix-it ticket.