Jump to content

Logic Behind Passenger Door Key?


Dennis Detweiler

Recommended Posts

My 39 Plymouth 4 door has one keyed door lock on the Passenger door. The two rear doors and driver's door have to be locked from the inside (no key locks). What was the logic behind this? Seems like it would make more sense to put the key lock on the driver's door? As it is, if the car is locked, the driver has to unlock the front passenger door and slide across the seat to the driver's side.??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was to encourage entry and exit on the curb side of the vehicle rather than the street side. Safety issue.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Right hand drive cars had the  lock on the left hand (passenger) side.   Can you imagine having to slide across the  seat of a modern car?  I had to do this on a ferry with  our Dodge Journey and it was not a pretty sight.  Probably will appear on "Funniest Home Videos" with the language blocked out.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Early Ford Model T's had no driver's door & our '29 Model A Tudor has the door handle with the keyed lock on the right side only.  The driver's door just has the inside sliding lock actuator.  Cars did not come with door mirrors from the factory for quite some time as well - no wonder they didn't want people getting out into traffic!  Looking back from our perspective, it seems like an inconvenient way to enter & leave a vehicle, but I'm sure from their perspective, it was a whole lot easier than mounting & dismounting a horse :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dpollo mentions RHD cars............lol...........yep we had the opposite to what you guys have...........my Oz assembled 1940 Oz Dodge sedan  has the key lock on your, US drivers side but the doors, locks & in fact the whole body shell is different to the US versions, see attached pic, the lock was out when the pic was taken, but the hole shows where it lives.......lol..............the only hope you have to get a door lock on your drivers side would be to find a FACTORY RHD car................lol..........well buggar me!!.........lol!!........thats what I had, a Detroit factory export RHD South African assembled P11 Coupe, it had the correct US door lock and mechanism with the key on your drivers side, yep.......I had to side across the seat and exit out of the curbside.................my car was the burgundy coupe, a mate had the ex Texas 1940 dodge Coupe , note the differences in the rear view pics of where the door locks are on each car............and finally just to add to the confusion...........in the interior pic you can see the seat adjuster on the drivers side..........o/k so its RHD thats where it should be.................except that there was another, exactly the same seat adjuster on my cars passenger side, yep....this cars seat could be adjusted from BOTH sides.............lol..........now go work that one out........lol.............regards, Andy Douglas  

IMG_1530.JPG

IMG_1475.JPG

IMG_1474.JPG

P1000696 (800x600).jpg

IMG_1477.JPG

Edited by Andydodge
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beautiful cars!  I don't see any backup lights, either...  Thanks for sharing the photos!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

   Andy, another example of humorous situations from you from “the Land Down Under”. I’d love to see you, and your passenger, trying to adjust the seat for your respective/individual settings. Who had to tell who that a bench seat wasn’t the same as bucket seats?

   I’m a fan of TV shows from the 50’s and 60’s, such as Perry Mason, and Andy Griffith. Even in those decades, those shows show people getting in and/or out of the car on the passenger side, even tho’ those cars had keyed locks in the driver’s door. Old habits do indeed die slowly. Plus, as Donald alluded to above—some locales had statutes mandating entry/egress on the non-traffic side.

   Times have changed. Case in point—I was in the District, and saw a woman open her SUV’s door just as a pickup came by, and the pickup hits the door, snapped it off, and it bounced down the street in front of morning rush-hour Washington, D.C. traffic, sending sparks flying!!! While it was obviously dangerous, and could have been tragic had she been just a few seconds quicker—and gotten out of the vehicle. But, as it was, it was something that you’d expect from a Keystone Cops movie of the 1910’s/1920’s.

   Regards to all . . . . . .

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Something else Andy.   The foot actuated starter would be really inconvenient if it had to be used on a RHD car.  

"Pilot to Copilot......engage starter...."  of course your car has a button and a solenoid operated starter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep.....re the foot starter..........when I got my 1st copy of Andy Bernbaums catalog and was thumbing thru it I could not work out what a Starter Pedal Pad was as my car and any others I had seen had the dash mounted key ignition switch and starter button........."Whats this Starter Pedal Pad rubbish?"............lol..........you see that by this stage my car had had the V8 etc for about 15yrs and the side valve 6 and its starter motor were obviously long gone..........it wasn't till I started seeing pics of LHD cars and their Foot Starter Pedal and engine bay bracketry that it all made sense..........lol..............and if you think I'm a slow learner this will confirm it..................I've been playing with 1940 Dodges since 1969, I decided to get a pair of lovely 1/4 vent rubbers in the mid 1990s as the VW Beetle ones I installed in the early 70's had seen better days.......it wasn't till they had arrived and I did a quick comparission that I found they wouldn't fit and the pivot holes were in a different position............well......duh!!!........I had been looking at various pics of US 1940-48 Mopars for 30yrs and had never noticed that the US doors didn't have outside door hinges which would have given me the clue that maybe there were more differences than I realised and in some pics you could actually see that the pivot for the 1/4 vent WAS in a different spot.......I could have cut and shut the new rubber to fit but coulkdn't bring myself to hack into $150.00 Oz dollar rubber.........so they say on the shelf for about 10 yrs until when I bought the 1941 Plymouth Coupe, which was a Detroit export car, factory RHD...............guess which weatherstrip rubber it needed replaced..............lol...............and I've just recently obtained a generic pair of 1/4 vent rubbers locally so the 'ol brown turd is getting a present............lol...........btw the Starter Button is that chromed button, the black one is the windscreen washers..........regards, andyd       

IMG_1377.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice, Andy.  I am Canadian so I had to learn all the differences in production.  Applies to GM and Ford too.Canada had a very distinct Pontiac built for the most part on Chevrolet  bodies.    Best wishes.    btw  my favourite Australian  novels are those by Nino Culotta  which will give you a clue as to where I am intellectually.  They're a Weird Mob being the first and favourite.  The episode with the taxi driver is a classic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dpollo.........if you had of mentioned Nino Culotta a few yrs ago I could have sent you a whole pile of John O'Grady novels, the author of the Nino Culotta/Weird Mob series as I had a 2nd hand book shop, Big River Book Exchange but closed it March 2016, no shop stock left now.......btw I also had a 1957 Pontiac Sedan Delivery, an ex Canadian S/D, one of 682, these were only built in Canada and one was imported in the late 1990's unrestored, I bought it thinking that it would be a great shop truck but apart from collecting all the body & suspension rubbers which were all Chev and various badges, lights etc I ended up selling it around 2005.........have attached a couple of pics of it.............I was able to get it fairly cheap as I think no one really knew what it was..........I rang the Pontiac Owners Club International or POCI and got onto their Canadian Pontiac expert to confirm exactly what it was, he was not happy that it was in Oz as he had been searching for one for a few yrs..........but he did confirm that it was a legit vehicle so i bought it............there are about half a dozen restored apparently, neat cars............regards, andyd         

img004 (19).jpg

img004.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

Terms of Use