The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks 60-66 Inside Door Handle

I installed some arm rests on my truck today and when I went to reinstall the inside door handles I looked at my '65 service manual to see what the "factory" orientation was. There were photos showing the handle horizontal (pointing forward) and vertical (pointing downward). Not that it matters but I just found it interesting that there wasn't one standard way that they installed them.

So which way are your door handles... just curious? I went with horizontal:

http://i645.photobucket.com/albums/...s%20July%202013/GEDC1372_zps4db78b74.jpg

I think down would look funny and be awkward to use. I like the way you have it. Mine will go on horizontal too.

The orientation you have requires you to push the handle down to open, correct? I prefer to pull either back or up. Mine point about 7-8 o'clock on the LH door and 4-5 O'clock on the RH door.

Pushing down locks the door, lifting up unlocks the door.

When I bought my 1963 (in 1977) and my 1962 (in 2006), both had the handles oriented downward (6 o'clock) so that pushing forward locked the door and pulling backward opened it. I don't know if this is the factory correct orientation, but it works for me.

...7/9 o'clock on the left and 4/5 o'clock on the right is how my 52 is... I realize there are years difference but as I recall when working at the dealership in 65/66 the handles were like MickeyD suggest. But then, that's been many years ago!!!

Really good question! I've wondered that myself so I looked in my 1965 Chevrolet Truck Shop Manual Supplement and on page 1-2 they show the driver's side at 3 O'clock and on page 1-3 they show the driver's side at 6 O'clock and on page 1-4 the passenger side is shown at 9 O'clock, so I say whatever you like.

I think driver's at 3 and passenger's at 9 looks best to me.

That's my two cents.

I noticed that in my 65 manual too! Page 1-2 shows another horizontal handle also.

Here's an old thread I participated in back in Jan. 2011 that shows quite a few original trucks.. it appears the door handle being horizontal was "factory" on 64-66, and vertical was "factory" on 60-63? But my '63 Service manual shows the handle both forward and down too? Perhaps it was "up to the assembly line worker" back in the day?

Some very nice low mile original survivor truck photos in this thread...
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=439322

And here are some old advertisements which seem to add to the confusion:

http://i645.photobucket.com/albums/uu176/lakeroadster/Generic/attachment_zps9e749803.jpg

http://i645.photobucket.com/albums/uu176/lakeroadster/Generic/250020vs201500_0001_zps8a390ecb.jpg

I was referring to the OP's horizontal pointing forward placement of the handle. Up would lock the door.

The drivers side on Deb's pick up will sometimes lock on its own when the door is closed. If you lock and shut the door, it unlocks like it's supposed to. I guess the linkage must be worn. The problem is, if it locks from the inside, there is no way to unlock it. The key only unlocks the outside handle. She leaves the drivers window down enough to reach in when it's in the garage because sometimes it's too close to the wall to get to the passenger side.

Nope.... With the inside door handle mounted horizontal, pointing towards the front of the truck, up opens the door, down locks the door. Well at least on my '65 that is

Mine is a '60 C30 Apache with flat bed. My '59 GMC operates in the same manner as I described. Learn something new everyday.

Does your inside door hand point forward or backward? ... clockwise locks the door, counter-clockwise unlocks the door ...

Both mine are opposite of yours. Must be an early year thing, like the wrap around windshields.

I have two of my burbs and one pickup, all GMC, a 63, a 65 and a 66 here at the house. All three have the LH handle at 1-2 o'clock and the RH at 10-11. Have owned five previous chevy and GMC 60-66 trucks and burbs, remember them all set up like this.

Page 9 in the 1966 owners guide shows them in the horizontal position with the ends facing the front of the vehicle.

We install the driver-side latch, pointing forward in the horizontal position and the passenger-side pointing forward in the horizontal position. With your arm resting on the arm rest, your hand lands comfortably on the handle. Pushing it down, locks the mechanism and pulling it up, opens the latch.

Although this is not what is indicated in the Truck Sales Data Books, we find orienting the handle, directly down, puts your hand in a pronated position, to grasp the handle, regardless of opening or locking the mechanism. We find it more ergonomic for the hand/wrist, to be in the horizontal position, pointing forward.