The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Lefty Lock?

Any bolter know why GM and others did not place a external lock on the drivers side door? To lock the 1946 Chevrolet Truck, you need to twist the “T” lock, and then slide over the seat and exit through the passenger door. What were the engineers thinking? Was it the same thought as suicide doors, thusly being a possible accident waiting to happen due to exiting traffic on the drivers side?
When did GM decide to place an external lock on the drivers side?

so you wouldn't have to get out in traffic, so the story goes. long ago i switched outside handles, put the lock on the drivers side. BTW mines is a 54. ron

That is correct. In many areas, it was illegal to exit a vehicle on the drivers side when it was parked on the side of a street (take a look at very early cars, most didn't even have a drivers side door). I beleive that a drivers side outside lock became an option when they went to the pushbutton doorhandles in '52. I'm not sure of when it became std equipments, most likely sometime in the early '60s, at least by '67.

For What it is worth, all the info I have on the 52 trucks is the drivers side door was the same as other earlier years - no external lock - I don't know what year the drivers side door lock was used. Jimmie.

I have a '59 F-word truck that still does not have a key lock on the driver's side. I don't think my '58 Binder does either.

In '52, they changed the handle from the turn style to a pushbutton type, the same handle was used to the '66s. With that handle, the outside lock is part of the handle mechanism, specifically, in the button, than mounted in the door itself. According to the Standard Catalog of Chevy Trucks, the left hand door lock was available, RPO 395.
My '55 did not have the external drivers side lock, either, but I added one by swapping out the button.