my '59 has a troubling problem; the freaking driver's door latch has a mind of it's own. it doesn't open while moving, not THAT bad yet, but it seems to take 4-5 cycles to get it to latch shut when i get in the car. sometimes does it when i get out, but not as bad. i've developed the habit of holding the inside door handle forward as i shut the door, it seems to help a little but not always. just don't want this to become a "hey the door flew open at 80mph" issue!
those are pretty obvious and already done.... so what's next? at least i'm not asking how much the ****ing thing's worth. i've replaced this door latch once with one off the same year car, since i'm not sure how far up they'll interchange. if there's a more recent car i can use for this latch i'd like to know about it. i'm not up for engineering bearclaw latches into it; don't think it should be necessary with a Ford.
You might try a search, I remember a thread on that same problem months back. It caught my eye because one of my project cars is a 59 with the same problem. My .02
just had this same problem with my 59.Took locks out,cleaned buildup of dirt from mechanism and lubed all parts.Refitted and adjusted inside inside handle/release and now works like new.Hope this helps