Technical I'm locked out of my '39 Ford Sedan

I found out the hard way you can lock a '39 Ford Sedan. Usually you can just use the key but they filled that in. I called the lock smith this morning and he is having trouble unlocking the doors. Any help? How do I get in without breaking the window?

 

trunk key might be different.. if you can get the trunk open the seats are easy to to lift up and unhook from the trunk. just a thought.

 

The trunk deck has been shaved. Thanks for the suggestion

 

got AAA, or know someone who does ? they are very good at getting inside a locked car without damaging anything. 'Course it all depends on who they send out.
I've had 2 vehicles locked (both with keys inside) and they got them open in less than 5 minutes.

 

we have gotten out of that jam by trying everyone's keys...
there are only so many combos [22 I think it was]...
a pick up key fit a locked out astrovan...a swinger key fit a parked jaguar... HIH...

 

This morning I called my local locksmith and he is good, he is just stumped on this one.

 

This is why I was mad when my wife threw away my bucket of 30's, 40's and 50's keys...

 

Have you tried the old coat hanger trick. Some times you can use a small wooden wedge between the door and the body doesn't damage paint and gives you enough room to hook the inside door handle with the coat hanger wire. I have also seen guys go through the door seal on the bottom with a coat hanger wire might save your window.

 

Help us out. Stock latches and handles, but filled the lock? Or all filled and bearclaw latches? Are the windows power or hand wind?

Can you push a window down a bit then snag an inner handle with a wire?

 

Once you get into the car then maybe see if it is possible to put a release cable on the trunk lock mechanism that could be accessed from under the car. I could not get the electric actuated fuel door open on a rented Chrysler 300. I pulled back a trunk panel to see the back side of the fuel door. It had a cable with ring to manually release the fuel door.

 

Put some stickum on both palms of your hands, place them face down on each one of the side windows towards each end, and attempt to shimmy the glass down, It just might work, it did for me in one of my 32's. Even if you get the glass down enough to get a hanger or long object in, you may be able to unlock.

 

When the door is locked does it just lock the handle, with the sliding latch still free to slide? If so you may be able to use the burglars trick of using a credit card to slide between the striker and the latch, to push the latch back thus opening the door. You would have to angle the credit card or thin piece of metal/plastic in from the top inside of the latch to catch the bevel on the latch and push it into the door. If the lock locks the sliding latch this will not work. Good luck, Brian

 

Stock latches and handles


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I've never owned one. It all has to be pretty basic stuff. Slim Jim?

 

See if there is a pull or manual release cable under the bottom driver door edge. Second option would be (if still has manual windows) the '39 slides back in the track a little for ventilation when up. maybe try sliding it rearward?

 

My '40 has '39 doors and I locked myself out by allowing the inside door handles to be both in the locked position! The ford tumbler only unlocks the outside handle not the inside so I had to resorted to going thru the trunk & kicking out the rear panel behind the seat and I still had to have a smaller(thinner)guy than me (I'm 6'5") slide in to release the drivers door lock. Never doing that again! do what PONTNAK123 suggested back seat access

 

I have a small hole drilled in the trunk floor just in front of the latch , as I also have a shaved decklid with inside pull cable to release the decklid. I can release the decklid latch with a small screwdriver if the pull cable ever breaks.

 

Hinge pins been out recently?

 

Last night I tried to sliding the passenger side glass without any luck. I've had it on the lift multiple times and don't remember seeing a pull cable to release the door. I'll check it out again when I get back home.

Thanks guys for all of the help.

 

have an endoscope around? (cheap at the harbor) poke it down the window gap and have a look at what you need to be pulling/pushing on. cant be too hard to do if you can see it

 

The stock 39-40 latch has a short link pointing to the front of the car that the long connecting link attaches to, then the handle attaches to that. If you can see under the window a bit, maybe you can spot these arms on the backside of the inner door panel. If you can spot them, maybe you can hook a strong wire into one of these links and pull forward to unlatch the door.

 

What would you do without friends. Thanks guys for the help. Travis Miller (Two tall Okie) Tim Powell and the local authorities.








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It's relatively easy to do, if you have a stock door and glass, I'll PM you, so the wrong
person doesn't see it.

Never Mind....

 

They took the top hinge bolt out and pulled top of door out and used a clothes hanger. That was easy.....


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whos that guy looking over my shoulder laughing lol

 

And now as soon as you get home youre removing the locking mechanism from the latch?

 

I see that it doesn't have vent windows, we paid a locksmith to come out and open my brother's Ford truck one night only to see the locksmith pull out two wires, one shaped like a J hook and one like an L He used the L to hold the lock button on the wing while he used the J to turn the handle on the lock/latch. 60 bucks worth of after hours charge education.

 

All's well that end's well! HRP

 

Cool - time to build in an emergency release cable - had some friends that owned a '34 Ford sedan that had a very trick custom paint job - closed door with key in ignition - called a towing service to help out - guy got frustrated using a slim jim type tool and put a big scratch in paint and still did not open door - had it towed to shop that did much of the work - they got door open - but, could not match the paint even though they painted it - did not record how much of what they added to get color - ended up doing more custom paint - bottom line is just as safety first is important, access to your own ride is important too

 

One time my Uncle used the rod off the top of the master cylinder, it worked out perfect to get into a truck with a wing vent. Yes an emergency release cable is in my future. Thanks again guys for all of the suggestions.