Hey guys, I was thinking of making a trunk pull for the shoebox with a shaved deck and came up with an idea. Putting it out there to see what you guys think. My Idea was to use the license plate currently mounted on the decklid to open the trunk. Was thinking I could put a hinge on the upper portion of the bracket and use copper tubing/fuel line to route a cable to the latch mechanism. pull up on the plate to pop the latch! what do you think? any ideas or input? thanks, Jimmy I will post pic up when we start to build it. Just getting the gears turning in my brain and thinking of doing it next week or so.
When you are going down the road the plate may rattle and pop the trunk. Unless you put alot of pull in the cable. How about making the cable go through the bottom underneath the car?
I see what you are saying. I guess I will have to make a sort of return spring to keep tension on the cable to prevent this. This is why I posted it. gets me outside of my head so I can address issues before they happen. Thanks!
I was thinking of attaching it to the plate. pull up on the plate and the cable is pulled to open the trunk
A lot of 70s and 80s cars had a hinged/spring loaded license bracket in the rear for access to the gas cap which may work for you.
yup! post some pics I need some ideas for my chevy. I was thinking of just getting another set of lincoln buttons from cool hand on here and using a solenoid that I can turn off from inside the car. My plate is on the bumper, but seeing different ideas always gives me more ideas ya know? I like yours.
I've actually given a lot of thought to this very subject. I was going to do it on my 40 Chevy but I was going to set it up so that you turn the top or bottom screw to pop the trunk. Just double nut the bolt so that it spins in the plate then attach a lever to the inside. I was going to use an allen wrench (3/16th I believe). Have it all worked out in my head.
Thanks big Jim. That's what I was originally thinking, but I think I want to go a little different route and have the plate itself be the opening mechanism.
Hmmm. How's this: hinge the top, and weld a bolt on near the bottom, so the shank sticks through a hole in the decklid behind the plate. The hole is oversize to allow for a rubber grommet around the bolt to keep the weather out. The threaded end is inside the trunk and holds a small plate between nuts (I'd use some sort of locking mechanism on them). The plate pulls against some sort of bell crank, perhaps with a forked end, which activates the latch. What direction things point in will depend on how the latch works. I've seen too many cars standing only because the battery is flat and the hood release cable either is broken or has slipped out of its ends.
It sounds like a good idea jimmygrrr. At least it makes sense as I visualize it in my head. I'd just make sure that the hinge is thick enough, or that you lower the license plate on the hinge, so that when you (or some unknowing friend) lifts the plate/latch, the plate doesn't dig into your paint or trunk lid.
For a mechanical release I would use a bicycle cable up to the original latch and keep the key hole for backup. On my newer cars with electric releases (like those that use a fob), I use a switch mounted on the trunk lip right where you would normally lift the trunk. In one easy motion you grab the trunk, your finger hits the button and you lift the lid. For a shaved lid like you want, you could use the button as the backup, and use the license plate thingie to impress your more traditional friends. It would be quite simple to replace the key part of these latches with a lever for your cable. (I like the license plate idea!)
Use a spring loaded flip-down license plate bracket from a 60's car. Then bolt a simple bracket to the back of the license plate using the bottom holes and have a simple cable or rod going through the decklid to operate the latch assembly. Since the 60's license plate brackets have a tension spring, there's no worrying about the license plate moving around enough to trip the latch. Our '53 Chevy has a hood release handle & cable assembly routed through the fuel filler neck housing but I'm planning to move the handle under the bumper since the license plate is mounted between the bumperettes and not on the decklid.
Get a liscense plate mount like the one out of the bumper on an old pontiac or olds. The ones that had the center gas fill under the liecense plate. They are made to be pulled on and had a pretty stout spring on them.
Go find a rear license plate holder from a GM car that had the gas tank fill behind it and is in between the bumper and trunk lid. You can use the bracket, which has a full "frame" that can be pulled on instead of just the plate - which I assume will get bent up if you just pull on only a plate. I believe it's sping loaded too which will keep it from rattling around. I know my mother-in-law's '93 Caprice has one.
I hope I can explain this as it is floting around in my head...your trunk latch is shaved or going to be, why not leave the inside part of the mechanism attached as normal and have just enough of the bar stock from it sticking through the sheet metal. Then attach/weld a thin plate the size of the your plate to it.....then all need to do is rotate your plate the same direction that the handle used to go to open and close it.viola!! hidden latch with a "twist"! EDIT, maybe spring loaded so that the plate pops bck to its intended position when the trunk is open???
looks like I'm making a trip to ecology and seeing if I can find a spring loaded plate holder. hopefully it rains next weekend so its half off! I will post pic when we get around to building it. thanks for all the good tips/info!
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