Ford 1935 - 1940 Open Car Door Latch

[KJ714]

An eBay vendor mislabeled a part and sent me a open car door latch instead of a 1937 trunk latch. My bad for not paying more attention.

Any idea of the value to list it at? It seems to work fine and doesn't have much wear on it, the spring is tight, the action is good and smooth and the door handle hole is nice and square, not all wallowed out.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by KJ714

An eBay vendor mislabeled a part and sent me a open car door latch instead of a 1937 trunk latch. My bad for not paying more attention.

Any idea of the value to list it at? It seems to work fine and doesn't have much wear on it, the spring is tight, the action is good and smooth and the door handle hole is nice and square, not all wallowed out.

[Kube]

If you can get the $20 back, you will have done quite well.

[KJ714]

Unfortunately with the tax and shipping it was more.

Sounds like it's going to be a Pomona swap meet part.

[Kurt in NJ]

A unworn drivers latch would be worth more , took me a long time to find NOS, a good original should be worth as much as a poorly fitting repro.
One year at Hershey the Dennis Carpenter NOS tent had passenger latches for 35$, the next year I sold some worn out ones for 65$ each, paid 120$ for drivers side latch and thought I got it cheap
So many “restored” cars have drooping handles,it would be easy to have 5 hours labor in restoration of a used latch

[38convsedan]

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Are latches side specific? I could use a passenger front latch...

[Karl Wescott]

1. That appears to be a LH latch. The interchange is a little wonky, 1935-39 Convertible sedan (front and rear)... 1937-39 Convertible/Cabriolet... 1937 Roadster... 1937-38 Phaeton (front only)... 1940 Ford/Mercury Convertible/Convertible sedan are similar but different however my "tribal knowledge" is they are close enough to work. Note 1935-36 Cabriolets use a coupe type latch.
2. A roadster or phaeton (except 1937 front door) use an entirely different style of latch.


3. The trunk latch for 1935-36 coupe/roadster/cabriolet, 1937 coupe/roadster/cabriolet/sedans, 1938 coupe/roadster/cabriolet/1938-39 sedan share a evolutionary design with the 3 versions having the same "internals" only differing in mounting hole types. A fairly easy modification to go from one to another. Not currently reproduced.
4. I do have the trunk latch "on my radar" with cad engineering mostly done but no time frame when I will actually have some. Price will likely be in the 150.00 to 250.00 range.

[KJ714]

This is advertised as the repro 1937 Trunk Lid latch - All models on all the usual websites

[Karl Wescott]

If they actually have one... buy it. They have been sitting on someones shelf for at least 10 years.

[v8fordman]

That latch is a left, but I also believe it is the last version of that style of latch (ie most likely’40). I rebuild the earlier version of those latches because I’m a purest when it comes to parts like this and they are relatively hard to come by. Here is a picture of one that probably needed to be thrown away, but has been saved.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by v8fordman

That latch is a left, but I also believe it is the last version of that style of latch (ie most likely’40). I rebuild the earlier version of those latches because I’m a purest when it comes to parts like this and they are relatively hard to come by. Here is a picture of one that probably needed to be thrown away, but has been saved.

[325w]

Does a 37 latch look like a 39-40 sedan latch.

[v8fordman]

Closed car latches do not look like open car latches. Not even close.

[Karl Wescott]

Ok, lets be careful her. Now three interrelated issues.


1. 1939 Sedan TRUNK Latch is very similar to 1937 (differs in mounting hole detail). 1940 is very different in it is longer to accommodate the different handle shaft location.


2. The cabriolet/convertible series DOOR latches are way different than the coupe/sedan series latches. (as V8Fordman noted)


3. 1937-39 coupe/sedan DOOR latches and 1940 coupe/sedan DOOR latches are similar and can be interchanged.

[KJ714]

Well, if anybody wants it, let me know!