The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors SPEAKING OF DOOR LOCKS

My 53 Chevy 1/2 ton has no door locks....Were locks an option for 53 trucks ?

zoegrant,

If you are referring to the inside door lock. If everything in your door hooked up correctly, you should be able to push your door handle the opposite way of when you open your door. It should lock your doors. If you are refering the outside door locks. Back in the day, the factory used to only install a door lock on the passenger side. Anyway, that is how my 53 3100 was setup. Hopefully this helps you out.

Rugo

My 56-3200 also has only one keyed lock on the right side. Does anyone know why Chevy did this?

I have very limited knowledge on the subject. I have been told that a many parking spots were a parallel spot. The streets were not always as wide as they are now. For safety reasons, auto manufactures only installed a outside lock on the passenger side. This was to encougage the driver to exit that side of the vehicle, in order not to open their door into traffic. I don't know that is the reason. But, that is what I was told when I asked someone that drove the 50's trucks, new in the 50's. If somebody else has another explanation, I would be interested in learning more about the reason or reasons also.

Rugo

Rugo is correct.

If you look at an old movie with a truck (like one of the last scenes in Hud, for example). You will see drivers getting in/out the passenger door (on street, or, by habit, at their homes).

Isn't much of a chore in a small old truck with a vinyl bench seat and flat floor. I'm imagining how much of a pain in the rear sliding over to the passenger side would be in my '13 Silverado.

I feel like people look at me funny for getting out of the passenger side when I'm out and about, but they're probably looking at me funny for being in a 67 year old truck.

Safety was one reason. But, I have read numerous replies over the years that state it goes back to the days of unpaved streets that often had horse drawn wagons etc. Getting out on the right side, passenger side, kept all riders from getting muddy or dung laden boots. The practice didn't change, for whatever reason, for many years afterward. ((If roads in this modern era get much worse, the practice may see a return)).

all about the pennies saved, cars had locks both sides

Bill

One more theory, the one I subscribe to till this day, was explained to me by the old guy I bought my truck from. He said it came from days gone by when chivalry was more prevalent....."when trucks were trucks and men were men and women were proud of it". He explained that after a hard week on the farm you'might take your wife/girlfriend/date into town for a dinner/movie. You'd exit your driver's side and close your door and your date would reach over to the inside driver door handle and push it forward to lock your door. She would patiently wait in her seat until you came over to open the passenger side door, extend your hand, and help her exit the vehicle. You could then lock the passenger side door with your key. After dinner, you'd open her door, and she'd get in, and you'd then close her door. As you'd walk around to the driver's side, your date would have reached over to your inside door handle and pushed it rearward one detent, unlocking it so that now you could get in from your own side. And that's the way it is.....other theories aside. Just roll with it......

That chivalry theory holds some water with me. I once rented a Lincoln town car that had only a lock on the passenger side. When driving a luxury car, one is expected to be chivalrous.

I like 46sparky's "add-on" theory - "get out on the right side for safety and to keep out of the mud/dung".

I think it was Denny who posted a GM video of a 50 Chevy automobile in which it showed a lady sliding over the seat and saying it was for safety....if my memory is correct tonight!

...my granddaddy, 1887-1971, talked about how the ladies, in a horse and buggy or in a vehicle, would step out onto the wooden boardwalks to keep from getting their pretty dresses dirty!

I solved the problem. Got a locking door handle for the driver side, too. Keyed to the same key.

My truck has no outside keyed door locks, previous owner must have replaced the door handle if one lock was supplied on the passenger side.
It would be tough sliding across the seat to get out on the passenger side due to the floor shift...