The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 51 Chevy passenger door lock?

I have a question that has been bothering me for a while....why does my 51 have a door lock on the passenger side and not the drivers side? There has to be a reason!!!

Its common on most older vehicles. The thought was to stay out of the lane of traffic.

....and in the earlier days it was nice to step out onto the "Boardwalk" than into a muddy street. But, mainly a safety issue to keep folks from getting run over by another vehicle which probably included horse and buddy in the early days.

And, a safety measure due to narrow roads when parking at sidewalks (in the good old days of narrow streets and roads with little or no shoulders).

Chivalry. You unlocked the door and helped the little lady in, then as you walked around to the drivers side, she reached over and unlocked your door, which was a good excuse to get her to slide over to the center of the seat

Twotone

My 48 Chevy has locks on both doors! should I discard the drivers side one??

Jianis

Yes.
Send it to me, and I'll put it in my 47.

Thanks for the info....I thought it had something to do with chivalry...and the fact that not too many people worried about their car / truck being stolen. I suppose a locked passenger door could be advantageous if you wanted to leave the little lady behind too!

No one really knows the reason but as you can see, there are lots of theories.

There are locks on both doors, only one keyed lock however.

.... a lot of guys are putting key locks on both sides these days. Not original but hardly anyone notices and most folks don't know. I'll probably key both of mine.

I'm so far from thinking about that right now I hadn't even given it a thought. I guess I'll need to get my doors on first.

Fords and Internationals also used a keyed lock on the passenger side only.

Funny, I was watching the Andy Griffith show the other day, and in the episode, Sheriff Andy parked the squad car in front of the court house and slid across the seat and got out the passenger door. Later in the episode, two other officers were visiting, and when they got back in their car, they both slid across the front seat from the passenger side. A little TV trivia.
Mike

The early T (blue oval brand) "Prior to the 1911 model year (when front doors were added to the touring model), U.S.-made open cars did not have an opening door for the driver." Whatever the reason it started awhile back.

I guess that carried over to buses. None of my 17 passengers and up have a driver's door.

I've meant to ask this question for a while, but now I have the answer. Thanks for the urban myths. I'll put push buttons on both sides.