Body / Glass: NON suicide rear doors

[thom]

I plan to make sure our "new" '52 Commander four door sedan is safe and dependable and let my son and daughter-in-law drive it some, with their three boys in the back seat. Seat belts will be installed first. I would like to put some sort of safety locks, besides the factory door locks on it to make sure one of the boys never opens a door while going down the road. I don't want to modify the car any more than necessary to do so. Any ever done this? Got any good ideas? Thanks.

[62champ]

IIRC, Studebaker had a safety lock that would not allow the rear doors to open unless the door in front was opened. Someone else will help with more details. Good luck.

[RadioRoy]

It was in the accessory catalogs for 47-52. A spring loaded pin that pinned the rear doors solidly shut unless the front door was opened. Probably not a lot of them left, but probably not very expensive if you found one.

In the interim, you could just remove the inside door handles until finding the official accessory.

[(S)]

SI used to have them. Pg 91 in the old catalog. If they don't, it is not hard to figure it out.

[dpson]

The door lock kit is AC-1822. I installed one on my 1951 Commander 4dr when the kids were young. There are two pins, one for each side, that go thru the door post (drilling required) and when the front door is closed it prevents the rear door from being opened. There is also a metal plate that can be swung up or down to activate/deactivate the pin(s). The photo below shows a partial kit that is missing one of the plates and the instructions, but gives a general idea of what it looks like.

[thom]

Yeah, I probably will just remove the inside rear handles for now. I don't want to do any modifications (that a
re not easily undone) unless they are what would have been done to install the accessory locks. If anyone has an extra set, I'm your guy. Thanks.

[gjamesk]

They're in SI's online catalog: https://www.parts123.com/parts123/dy...03a&uKeY=AAOOX

[rockne10]

Also available from Stephen Allen for $22.

http://mystudebaker.com/body/studeba...y-accessories/

[52-fan]

For whatever it's worth....Back when these cars were newer you rarely heard of anyone falling out of a car. Now, with seat belts, it should be impossible.

[thom]

Yeah but think of the damage to the car that can be done if the wind catches a rear door and jerks it open at 55+ MPH. Not to mention startling the driver so much he or she might lose control. It happened once when I was riding in a friends '39 Chevrolet 4-door sedan. I was riding on the passenger side in the front and there were two other guys riding in the back. Evidently the passenger in the right rear failed to properly close and latch his door because almost as soon as we got up to cruising speed on the inerstate it flew open. We all practically needed clean shorts. The hinges were "sprung" on the door and it was difficult to close after that. Imagine if that happened in something with "suicide" front doors that are usually wider than rears, like say a '33 or '34 Ford two-door sedan! Yikes! Clean shorts time sure enough!