Driver's door won't open on my '69

[Michael L.]

Guys,

I'm working on my 69 L-46 restoration project and suddenly I can't get the driver's door open. I haven't installed the door panels yet so I can get at all the mechanisms. The door is acting like it's locked, but moving the door lock lever rod doesn't help. Anyone ever have this happen?

Mike

[Floyd B.]

Re: Driver's door won't open on my '69

Mike,

Well... you could pretend it's a race car and always climb in through the window. Sorry... more seriously...

When you say the "door lock lever" what exactly are you referring to? It's been a long time since I've worked on the guts of a C3 door, but as I recall, there are two rods. One (the long one) connects the interior lock knob to mechanism at the exterior handle, the other (the short one) connects the exterior handle to the to the latch. Both of these rods are secured with little metal clips that are very brittle and can pop off or break. I had that happen in my C4 which has a similar mechanism. There is also an adjustment for the length of the the long rod (kind'a like a shower curtain rod), if this is way off the mark, the latch won't work.

You might find this YouTube video helpful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtEyRuOX6lY

Good luck

[Michael L.]

Re: Driver's door won't open on my '69

figured it out. Door was not closed all the way, so the lock mechanism wasn't fully tripped, resulting in it not releasing when the handle was depressed. Pushed the door in all the way and the handle opened the door without issue.