Technical Exterior Door handles

I just got my first Hot Rod recently. A 1953 Dodge Coronet. The only problem is that it is a sedan that only came with 1 door handle.

At first, I thought nothing of it. But after looking into it, I can't find these things anywhere. Everything I find is NOS that is $200 a handle... This is a sedan, I just want to get it running and driving.

I would prefer to keep a handle on the door for simplicity's sake. Does anyone know if there is an aftermarket option? Or does anyone have any kicking around they would be willing to sale?

The other option that I have been thinking about is to fab some push button door handles like on this article:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hotrod.com/articles/fabricate-push-button-door-handles/amp/
These seem like a good option, but I don't know how practical this would be. Time wise, this looks like a lot of time to get these to work.



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Post a wanted ad in the classifieds. HRP

 

Are you a standup comedian?

 

I had to laugh, but then I thought. What the hell. Welcome to our world. I don’t matter what is cool. What do you like. Have fun with it.

 

Sure if you want me to be. I usually do House parties. Give me a pm sometime if you need some entertainment.

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Thanks, I guess I am wondering if the door handles are a lost cause or not. Or of there are some aftermarkets that will work with this car that I may be overlooking.

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Remove handle and depending on your skill set:
Use it to make a mold.
or better yet take it to a place that will 3D scan it. or buy a 3d scanner and do it your self.
take the obj file and either get a foundry to cast it or get it 3D printed off and use as a mold.

melt down some old handles and pot metal and poor as many handles as you can.

Clean em up. send them off to get chromed.
Use the four best ones. Sell the others to recoup costs.

If you got it 3D scanned then you will have the file to do future ones.

 

Post a wanted add like HRP said, call French Lake Auto Parts, Owens Salvage, Windy Hills, check Hemmings, check some of the Mopar sights; because nothing beats an original part.

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Try here for a handle....https://www.wildcatmopars.com/
or here....http://www.frenchlakeautoparts.com/

 

'50s Mopar parts can be really tough..... Do a search, there's several all-mopar salvage yards around, somebody will have some but they may not be very good cosmetically...

Parts for these cars cheap aren't cheap...

 

I think I would rather just fab the push buttons over this option. Don't get me wrong, I like where you are coming from, but that would be more within my skill set.

Thanks for pointing me in this direction. I will check this out.

I have $100 into the car by just buying it. I know that isn't normal, but it is hard to justify the $200 NOS price. I think I am OK without it being perfect. I just would prefer the doors to be able to open easily at this point.

Has anyone done the push buttons like in that Hot Rod article? My fear is that the mechanisms aren't going to be easy enough to push. They are designed to open with all the leverage of the handle.

 

If the door hardware is still intact, just the handles are missing, push the mechanism through the hole in the door, to check how much effort it takes. My Merc handles are different than yours, but that's how I determined that I could use simple buttons in a streamlined teardrop piece, and they wouldn't be too hard to push.

 

Be creative. I found this in a janitor's closet at work.... no wait...it is the door knob from the janitor's closet at work.
Works for me.

 

enough said!

 

Did you fabricate you buttons?

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Just leave the window down a bit .. till a handle comes along....

 

Haha, that is what I have been doing to get in and work on it. Once I get it running, I would like for my family to be able to ride around in it. It would be a PITA to have to open the doors for my 7 and 9-year-old everytime they want to get in it.

 

I have a 53 Coronet that I've taken a bunch of parts off of, I'll check the door handles tonite.

 

This is what I'd use:

 

I would kill for a $200 NOS handle for my 57 desoto, they are hard to come by. Get it while the gettings good man! Just call it a $300 car instead of a $100 car.

 

I thought the same thing when I saw 53 Dodge sedan and hot rod in the same sentence. But what the hell, it's yours, call it what you like. Just don't ask most guys what they would call it

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1953-Plymo...025305?hash=item2357a10359:g:2CoAAOSwTapV3pgD

You get a whole door for $200 and I bet if you offered $50 for the handle they would take it. I think plymouth/dodge in '53 interchanged