Something I've never seen at a swap meet till today

I went to the Lockport ny swap meet today and saw a few different venders had a box full or a bucket full of used keys. I had never seen this before and was just wondering is there really a market for used keys ( if so what is it) or is this like the usual box of wires?

 

Well if you were looking for old keys, that would be the man. I have noticed that people will try to sell anything these days. So I guess if he sells any of them, then there is a market for em.

 

I can see some value in it. I worked with a guy that bought real cheap cars at auction, many without keys. Had a bucket of keys that he had sorted by brand and rarely did he ever have to re key a car. He would breath on them just a bit and resell.

 

I got a bucket full of old keys, and I can usually find one that fits my locks and ignition switch. Beleive it or not but there is more than one key with the same pattern.

 

if you think they are all different,your wrong and it isnt just old cars. i have a 03 gmc and a 99 dakota ,my gmc keys work in the dakota.

 

Do they work the other way too?

 

My 07 silverado keys work my honey's 98 grand prix.
Damnedest thing I ever saw, she says it a match made in heaven, I say its G M running out of patterns.

 

Back in high school, I had a 53 Chev. The trunk key would start a buddy's aunts 66 Caddy

 

I've got a a winter beater '87 Toyota 4Runner that I can start with the key from my '97 Dakota....of course, maybe this one doesn't count because it will also start with a Craftsman screwdriver.

Doc

 

My grandad had a shitload of old keys which I now have. I've found several that matched old ignition switches or door locks over the years. Yep, there's a market. Nothing like having an old worn key for your "traditional" ride.

 

In highscool i discovered my Volvo keys
worked in a friends Volvo I used to move
his car in the parkinglot he got real frustrated
when he dont "remembered"were he parked
his car

 

I've got an '06 chevy and a '00 gmc... The chevy key will open the gmc, but not the oher way around, and the ignition is still good to go.

Years ago, my folks had a Ford van, the neighbor had a Mercury Marquis, and the local dealership loaner van all had keys that would interchange. Nothing but an interesting coincidence.

 

My aunt and uncle both drove Fords. Their key would start either car.

Many years ago I agreed to swap cars with a fellow employee who wanted me to work on his car after work in the evening. I gave him my keys and told him it was the blue '68 Cyclone in the Ford Engineering parking lot. I was surprised next morning when I came in to work that my car was exactly where I had parked it the night before. Apparently he went out at quitting time, tried my keys in the first blue '68 Cyclone he saw, and drove off.

I always wondered what the owner of the other Cyclone did when he discovered his car missing, and then returned the next day.

 

I have heard that GM only had 5 different keys in the 50's. From my experience that may be correct. We always had a bunch of keys and could open almost any make GM car with them.

 

Most Aussie's will back me up on this, any old Holden key will unlock & start any other old Holden & some Chevy's also.

 

I was out camping once with some friends....hours from anywhere. I had my 72 blazer and my friend had her 1993 blazer. Somehow she locked her keys in the car. yep, you guessed it. My truck opened hers.

 

In 1966 my dad got mom a new mustang for christmas. On christmas morning we took her down to the ford dealers lot,dad handed her the keys and told she would have to go find her present. After trying about 20 different cars,she tried the keys in a fully loaded thunderbird. When the door opened on it,dad nearly had a heart attack. It was pretty funny watching him try to explain that the thunderbird was not her present.
After that he took her to the mustang and said "Here,try this one"

 

I was at Hershey in the 70's and I seen the strangest thing I had ever seen at a swap meet for sale,.... Are you ready for this ????,.... A shoe box full of used dentures and partial plates...

Seriously !,... I asked the guy where they came from,.. He said he worked for a funeral home... still kind of creeps me out. So I would assume that a bucket of old keys would have more appeal. IMHO

 

When I was in high school a friend had just moved into a new subdivision and was keen on showing me how his house key fit all the houses in the new development. It was kind of fun looking through the unoccupied, newly built houses, but then he showed me one that people were half moved into. I got very anxious about being there and didn't go exploring houses with him anymore.

He ended up getting in a lot of trouble with the cops some time afterwards. To try to straighten him out, his family agreed to move to another nearby small town and he apparently got back on the straight and narrow.

 

If there was one original Model A Ford key in there the Ford Barn people would spend all day looking for it.

 

Man, that is nasty on so many levels...

 

GM's had alot of like keys.....and since I have alot from the old wrecking yard....Ford not so much....have yet to find keys to unlock the 35 up locking columns I have around....damn the luck....

 

If you have an 80-86 Subaru with stock keys, and happen upon another Subaru of the same era, you have a 1 in 8 shot of your key opening, and starting the other Subaru.... not that you'd really want to, but, those are the odds.

 

how many of you guys have been out trying to unlock cars with your keys since this thread started ? maybe we can start a key swap list. what keys fit what cars. lol...

 

In 62 I had a 56 olds with a worn out key,it started every GM car i ever tried it on.

 

Yep got a bucket full of keys for the same reason of needing one for a car w/o a key.

Used a Tauras key for the ignition of a 69 Muraurder the other day.

You can buy a key set that will work for a lot of cars. I have a GM set of about 80 keys or so that works from the 30's -60's......

 

Some of us just like old keys. I still have the original keys for my '56 Ford Customline Victoria HT that I foolishly sold in 1968. Cue the sad music while I wipe away the tears.....

 

70's Datsuns are known for many keys starting or opening doors of many other cars. I had a few friends in the 80's with 70's Datsuns. after a while getting your car stolen wasn't funny anymore.

a lady at our work had her orange 240 Z "stolen" by a lady who had a 240 Z and parked a aisle over. .

 

Many years ago my boss tossed me a set of keys and told me to replace the steering rack in that red ford escort "over there" as he vaugely gestured toward a car in the stripmall parking lot in front of the shop. I pulled the car in, with the steering all stiff and binding, and had the new rack almost in when we saw the police out front. Yep, wrong car. woman got a free steering rack. I had to do the job all over again on the orange escort a couple of rows over.

 

I guess I wonder about the circumstances where something like this might be discovered ... boys behaving badly?