Shaved handles on hot rods. Show me your mechanism.

I put the handles on my coupe and dont like the look of them sticking out.
I have seen hot rods with shaved handles.
What i want to know/see is the door opening mechanism and how you hid it or made it a un-noticable!
I dont want poppers or anything electronic, good old mechanical levers attached to the door

 

im on the boat, i wanna see some too. btt.

 

Leave the window open, then you won't have to have anything electronic...!!!

Electric solenoids/poppers work very well these days, technology has surpassed VW starter solenoids.

Good luck with your search...someone somewhere must have figured it out for you but it's not me. I like electrical.

R-

 

What about the ever-popular Lincoln door buttons?
Took me 10 seconds on Google to find this: http://www.customclassictrucks.com/..._pushbutton_door_handle_install/photo_04.html

 

check out logic industries for lincoln door buttons he is a alliance vender has some nice buttons in satin and polished even offer recessed panels to install, very nice items, we installed on our 57 buick!

 

I used a door lock knob out of a 80s ford, the chrome smooth ones you can't grab ahold of while in the car... mounted it outside the door near the window, the rod goes down and around the window channel and connects to the mechanism. works well... Sorry I don't have pics.

 

I have handles,my buddy does not. True story! We were in Denny's when it began to rain. He has open carbs, so he carries some covers along just in case it rains.

Like I say it began to rain. He jumps up from breakfast runs out to the car. I see him run back in and talk to the lady. I see her run to the back. I'm thinking What is going on?

By now it is pouring down. I see him run out with a couple plastic bags. He comes back in all wet. The lady hands him a coat hanger from the back.

Well if you haven't guessed by now, He forgot to leave the window down.

I like my handles!

 

Thanks for the replies.

Leaving my windows open is a good one, but no dice, this state has 4 seasons in one day, plus its a legal requirement to have an outside door mechanism.

Electric poppers scare the shit out of me, as I dont trust electrics as I dont understand it.......human nature.

That Lincoln door popper tech was a good one, but i think more suited to a custom. Thanks for posting it, I always thought the Linc buttons operated a solenoid.

I have seen the inside door lock post thing before, Its a good one.
I was thinking a similar thing, but more an arm that sits near the door b pillar and moves in an arc.
One of my favorite rods of all time has shaved handles and i cant work out how he opens the door. Maybe its solenoid.

Again, thanks for the idea's, keep em coming.

 

My truck has solenoids...got home one night, hopped out and opened the garage, started to get in the truck...DAMN, fob is on the key ring, in the ignition switch...and the engine is running, must have taken a half hour to break in, then a couple of hours toching up the scratches the next day. I WANT HANDLES!!

 

There's always a price to pay for being cool...!!!

R-

 

try some good door poppers and the lincoln buttons, nice clean look with out handles and the poppers will open the door without grab handles.

 

Here is one of my all time favorite hot rods.....see no handles!!!!

 

I did a vehicle once where I ran a cable operated bicycle brake handle under the rocker panel. It was actually a backup for the electric solenoid in the door, but the weatherstrip was so tight that the door wouldn't pop right off the electric solenoid unless you gave the door a shove with your hip as you were hitting the button. It was easier just to reach under and squeeze the brake lever. Pop.

 

Good one XXL, I had not even thought about a cable. The tricky thing is that I want it attached to the door.

 

My chopped 33 Ford Cabriolet had no exterior handles. The original builder installed another door latch in the cowl where the striker plate originally mounted with the striker sticking out curved face out. The striker in the door latch and the striker in the cowl slid over each other and locked flat side to flat side.
A simple choke cable mounted in the cowl and handle in the firewall under the hood opened the door.
This simple to do conversion allows the inside handle to open the door using the door latch and the outside pull to open the cowl mounted latch from outside.
This could easily be used on a forward hinged door and have the pull in the wheelwell under the fender or just under the lip of the runningboard.

 

X2 ^^^. I would run a cable from the door to a handle mounted on the firewall.

 

On an OT project I'm currently working on, I'm installing a bearclaw "backward" from convention, which will put the release mechanism outside the door, and so the (electric solenoid in this case) won't have to run into the door.

Sounds like Lincoln switches, or some derivative of them might be the best way to go for your needs. You could carve out a shape (whatever-- oval, rectangle, etc.) from the body metal and graft it onto the Lincoln switch to give you a different look that could be made flush with the rest of the door. Make sense??

 

just a random idea and probably way far out there but what about making everything flush but building havin a small square panel that you push in. have it attach to the door mechanism and when you push that little square in it does the same thing as a handle but without the actual handle? like i said just an idea but who knows it might actually work with the proper ingenuity.

 

kind of the same as what xxl said only i didnt look at the lincoln switches everyone was talking about.

 

On my '48, there is a simple solid rod running straight down from the latch arm, it sticks out through one of the drainage holes in the bottom of the door. It sticks out past the door shell, but is just a little shorter than the bottom of the outer door skin. Basically you cant see it unless you laying on the ground under the truck, its very simple to operate. I put some flat topped door lock knobs on the rods to make them easier to push on when you open the doors.

 

Golden rodtronics makes a suicide door release kit for cars without handles I used this kit on a normal opening door and mounted the handle on the fire wall

 

Thanks for all the replies fella's. I am going to work out some kind of mech arm that comes up from the orig locking assembly. A trigger type shape that sits in a slot as close to the lower window corner as possible.

 

One more tidbit from the Safety Police... if you decide to put something under the rocker or anywhere else where a stray rock might pop open your door, consider a positive lock of some sort on the inside of the vehicle... something that you'd latch once you were in, but would obviously be unlocked if you were out of the vehicle (because you couldn't get out until you unlocked it).

 

Good point XXL.

 

on my first daily driver an OT 84 S10 i had shaved door handles. the way i did it was as follows. the outside lock (key) mechanism and the door handle mechanism were more or less parallel inside the door. i made a new rod that went from the key hole to the door latch, it worked smooth and looked good. a few times i locked my keys inside and got into a habit of putting an extra key in my wallet.

later jim

 

I used a rod and normal lock knob that comes up on the outside of the window opposite of the knob on the inside.Most people never noticed them.

 

I ran bike cable through the firewall, works great.

 

Just tried to do a search, but I remember seeing a lever that sat between the window and the metal of the door (kind of like locking buttons on doors but on the outside of the car). Was a really slick job and fit in with the rest of the car with a nice polished lever with enough to get your finger under to pull up. At least it is mechanical and would keep vicroads happy. Whoops, just read post #22.

 

Thanks Zep. I have not done it yet, so other option are still on the table. I would like to see this tech thread you speak of......sounds interesting. The law makes sense to me about having an opening device on the outside of the car, but it kind of defeats the intent if I hide too well hahaha.

 

i dare say he just did the ol' reach through the window trick