Door Lock Tumblers

SJ13

SJ13

Junior Member
I was under the assumption that Ford/Merc door locks could be opened with the ignition or trunk key I recently bought a 60 Mercury Monterey the ignition and trunk tumblers seem to be the originals I didn't get the keys with the car so I took the ignition and trunk tumblers to locksmith assuming that after getting new keys made I could lock and unlock the doors but to my surprise the keys don't work on the doors , I have extra door locks but was trying to stay away from having 3 keys
 
Door locks usually work with the ignition key, the trunk and glove box usually are the same. it looks like the ignition switch/cylinder had been changed sometime in the past. Your locksmith should be able to rekey he ignition switch so it works with the doors.
 
Fords of the fifties had a square key that works with doors and ignition, and a round key that works with trunk lid and glove box door.
If you have a key that works with one of the locks, you can take that lock out, remove the little metal top retainer and get the tumblers out (being very carefull not to get tumblers out of order they way they came out). Now remove a lock that the key doesn't fit and remove those tumblers, but re-arrange them so that they match the lock you know works with the key. Sometimes you will find the length of tumblers don't match. You can either leave that tumbler in that position out, or you can get the right length tumbler from a different lock.
Reinstall the little top metal retainer and see if your key turns the lock.
 
I had a car once that I bought to repair and sell. The door locks didnt work with the ignition key, so I removed all the tumblers and springs in the door locks. If you dont ell anyone, nobody knows that any Ford key or a screw driver will unlock the doors. How many times have you seen someone checking for that?
 
That's right Don. And nowadays nobody else has a '55 - '59 Ford car key, so unless people are carrying micro-screwdrivers around with them, they still cant open your door.
 
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