Hey fellas, I pulled a bonehead move today and accidently locked the doors on my 33 ford with the windows up, anybody been through this or have any ideas on how to get in without breakin a window, any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated, Thanks
A decent locksmith can handle it. If not, you might be able to gently pry up the cowl vent and reach in and catch the handle. You are gonna need someone with some skinny ass arms, or maybe a stick. Call the locksmith. Nice little car, by the way. -Abone.
If the battery is in the stock location, you should be able to remove the battery from the bottom , push open the access panel and use a dowel rod to move either the window crank or the door opener handle.
Need the keys to use the key lock in the door, so he probably had the inner handles in the lock position and closed the doors. Locksmith won't help in that case. Did that once on my old '33 out at the drag strip; after everybody studied the situation we decided the only in was to knock the hinge pins out and pull the door out and back a little. Got one pin out and found that the inside handle had dropped unlocking the door. Guess I lucked out with a weak detent spring and the right kind of latch assy. I remember there are two types of latch assy's; one you pull up to lock and one you push down to lock.
Oh crap .... had the same thing happen( 32 3 window) ..... I had replaced the broken spring with a new one and every once in a while when I would close the door it would lock itself . I was lucky , never happened when the windows were up or the passenger door was locked. If you can’t reach it through ways that have been suggested , maybe using some welding rod to hook the handle , your down to a hammer ...... damn
I had something similar happen on my Deuce sedan, I took the drivers side door off and it turned out the square shaft had broke and was wedged & stuck, I was able to knock it out and using screwdriver, HRP
Haven’t experienced this on the 32 yet , but my Ole Buddy’s 34 will lock you out at the worst of places . Called me from the Chicken Ranch , said “ I’m in a jam and I any lookin to buy the Rooster !”
Give this guy a call J.McClure 919-559-5774.He is a locksmith that knows these Ford locks.He might have a suggestion. Slim Jim and attempt at picking won't work.
I had an OT vehicle that was a bastard to break into. The locksmith used one of these to pry the door open enough to get a rod in. "Air Wedge" Harbor Freight sells one now. Only $17. https://www.harborfreight.com/300-lb-air-wedge-and-leveling-tool-56899.html Good luck. Be sure to let us know what worked, Mike
This happened to me on the 34 sedan I had in high school in 1956. At the time I had the heater out to fix a leak. This left a large firewall hole. A coat hanger thru that big hole enabled me to hook the door handle which was, of course,, at the front of the door. For those of you unfamiliar with these cars, there was only one key lock and it was on the passenger door. it worked as a deadbolt. After closing the door you could use the key to lock the door. All door handles could be used to lock the doors mechanically - I think by lifting them up. I had locked the other three doors and threw the door shut using the inside handle. But it was in the locked position. So this problem had nothing to do with the key lock. For that reason I doubt a locksmith could help.
The lock housing is brass and the set screw is steel. Screwing a slide hammer into the lock, it may be possible to pull it past the set screw and out of the door. I did this once years ago on a '36 Coupe and it didn't hurt anything...other than the lock itself. Might be worth a try if it comes to that point. Good luck!
Update, I found a latch mechanism out of my 34 project that is the same as the 33, I was able to study it and see how it works and hold it up against the door to see where everything is located, so i ordered a slim jim and hopefully will be able to get in as soon as it gets here, I'll let you guys know how it works as soon as i get it, Thank You for all the help so far
I’d have been a terrible car thief. One time a lady had locked her keys in the car at he grocery store. Another lady was parked next to her and said “my husband has a slim jim in here”. I was loading the groceries in my truck and she asked if I could use it to open her car. This was maybe 10/12 years ago, hope the car isn’t still there
Its Been 10 days & still locked Out!!! Just let you know you can use a pallet Black Band strap as a Slim Jim,, If the 33-34 like a 32, I do not think you can do with S-J, let us know, & first thing when You unlock, crack the window a 1/4 inch & pick up a extra set of Keys, If all fell's look around for a big master key, Rock ,Hammer ext!!
Once you get in, make sure you get an extra key cut & hide it in one of those magnetic key cases out of site, just in case this ever happens again.
All the keys in the world won't help in his situation, the doors are locked mechanically; not key locked. Something you can accidently do with early Ford latches.
I have used the hard blue strip/wrapping that parcels are bound up with in these situations, get a long length and fold (tightly) in half, you should be able to poke the folded end through a gap between the door and body (top of the door), or glass and door frame (same again, force the window down making a small gap to get the plastic strip in).. Then all you gotta do is move it over to the handle area and loop it over the handle and pull.. Hope this helps you out.
If I remember correct, on 32 the inside door handle its self locks & prevents the out side handle to move , different then using the key to lock door.
This is one of my latent fears, so I've made it a habit to cycle the outside handle to ensure it's unlocked prior to closing it. All the other doors are handle locked so if be in your same situation if my drivers handle locked... Any chance you have it converted to electric windows? If so you might be able to shimmy the glass down. If it's still properly manually handled that won't work. Has anyone tried pulling a loop of safety wire around the door jam latch?
If you can't find a way to lift the inner door handle the only thing to do is pull the hinge pins and remove the door.....
And some people think Slim Jims are just for eating....at least it wasn't the blonde locked out of her convertible with the top down.....
Years ago a young office girl at work came into the shop and asked for a saw, as she had locked herself out of the car. A saw ! we all said, what ya gonna do cut a hole ? No, her dad said a saw would work, she would do it. OK, we gave a carpenters saw and followed her out to the car, where she slipped it down alongside the window and began sawing like to cut off a 2x4 ! By that time we figured out what dad must have meant, and gently played around with the teeth near the latch and we got it open !!, 90's vintage car.
I'm the opposite being an ex car dealer [locking keys in cars was an occupational hazzard] Back in 1989 I was working on a large used car dealership and the new "yard boy" locked the keys in 200 cars.[above the sunvisors] I said I would recover them for $4k [which was good $$$ for me back then] I got them all out in 6-1/2 hours ,at an average 2 minutes per car. A locksmith wanted $60 per car and said it would take 3 days. I still have the slim-Jim Some cars like 80's Mitsubishi's can be opened with a plastic ruler down the channel Why don't you make one. All you need is a 2' ruler that is approx 1" wide and you file hooks in one end and a concave in the other. Mine is made from stainless steel, but brass etc would be better [you need to sometimes bend them and stay in that bent shape] If interested , PM me and I'll send you some photos
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