unlock the mystery

[balthazar]

I am a random American vehicle, one of many makes. My notable feature for today is: my driver's door features only an interior lock, while my passenger door features only an exterior lock. Why would this be so?

[Camino LS6]

Mail Jeep.

[ocnblu]

That's our Camino, a mind like a steel trap.

[Camino LS6]

A rusty one, maybe...

[balthazar]

Incorrect, Mr Trap.

In fact, Chevys had this feature, also.

[loki]

ooooooo FAIL! hahahahahah

[Camino LS6]

At least I took a guess.

[Robert Hall]

minibuses? airport shuttles? taxi cabs? Fed EX or UPS trucks? No idea. A lot of vehicles today have the exterior lock only the driver's door, quite common in this is era of fob ubiquity. But this is something else, something very strange.

Edited January 2, 2010 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Camino LS6]

Cop cars? Doesn't exactly fit, but I am puzzled otherwise.

[Robert Hall]

Grumman mail truck? Those were on Chevy S10 platforms, I think. They do have doors on both sides, couldn't tell if the lhs one has a outside lock (just saw one about an hour ago).

Edited January 2, 2010 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Camino LS6]

Has to be a special service vehicle of some sort, but running down the list, nothing quite fits. Plenty of stuff with only a passenger door, but...

[Camino LS6]

The driver's side part is what has me baffled.

Otherwise, a hearse would make sense (sort of).

[balthazar]

Ooo, this one is a harder nut than I thought it would be.

I found this info out for the first time yesterday, so it's not like it's neccesarily easy.

BTW- NO to all of the mentions above.

And 'special service vehicle of some sort' is going down the wrong path.

If anything, Cubitar has ssoorrtt of brushed up against a pointer, in a way, when he said this :

>>"A lot of vehicles today have the exterior lock only the driver's door, quite common in this is era of fob ubiquity."<<

Edited January 2, 2010 by balthazar

[Camino LS6]

How many doors in total?

[Camino LS6]

Anti-theft for delivery trucks?

Might be good for curbside.

[Camino LS6]

I can come-up with plausible reasons for taxis, cop cars, limos,emergency vehicles, and delivery trucks - but I'd call all of those special service.

[Drew Dowdell]

Gremlin or Pacer?

[balthazar]

The vehicle I know for sure that has this is a 2-door, and it's not in any way obscure.

Camino- agreed- your list in post #16 I too would call 'special service' vehicles, and while this vehicle could be used as one of those, the feature is OEM.

You're getting warmer in post #15.

Olds- I like your train of thought, but no.

Will give answer tomm evening.

[Camino LS6]

I figured it had to do with security somehow, still stumped though.

[ocnblu]

Maybe it has to do with there being only one person in the front row of seats a large majority of the time, the driver. I have no idear.

[Robert Hall]

Maybe it has to do with there being only one person in the front row of seats a large majority of the time, the driver. I have no idear.

That's why I was thinking of a bus of some sort...but they usually have more than 2 doors, and some don't have a LHS driver's door.

[Robert Hall]

One detail Balthy didn't devulge is when. This might be something from 50 years ago, not necessarily obscure, but not necessarily current. I could see in olden days maybe having the only outside lock on the passenger's side, when cars had bench seats and people parked at the curb (get in from the sidewalk side, safer than in the street). Maybe a '50s 2dr car or truck?

I've actually seen in movies people getting into a car parked at a curb from the passenger's side and sliding across to the driver's side. Would be hard to do today w/ buckets and center consoles in most cars..

Edited January 3, 2010 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[balthazar]

>>"I could see in olden days maybe having the only outside lock on the passenger's side, when cars had bench seats and people parked at the curb (get in from the sidewalk side, safer than in the street). Maybe a '50s 2dr car or truck?"<<

Nice work there, Cubitar !!

Saw a letter written in to Old Cars Weekly, where the writer was happy to have read in a previous issue exactly as above ('sliding across bench & exiting curbside'), which explained why his '46 Chevy pick-up was equipped this way. He too then mentioned 'the light going on' when watching movies from the '30s & '40s where people did exactly that.

Perhaps you see why I said you 'brushed up against it' to a degree- it's something particular to an era.

My '40 Ford Cab Over has locks on both sides, but that's a 2-pass 'bucket' seat truck with a doghouse; not condusive to exiting out the opposite side. Hell- you can barely fit a pair of work boots (on the end of one's own legs) in the respective 'floor pans'.

My '57 F-250 had 'em on both sides (a relatively advanced truck).

Don't kno when this lock scenario was dropped, but like I said, I was not aware of the practice until I read that the other day.

Edited January 3, 2010 by balthazar

[Camino LS6]

I thought about vintage, but dismissed it.

Nice work, Cubitar.

[ocnblu]

Cuticle's got knowledge (and static cling, from sliding his butt across that mohair seat).

[Robert Hall]

Nice work there, Cubitar !!

Saw a letter written in to Old Cars Weekly, where the writer was happy to have read in a previous issue exactly as above ('sliding across bench & exiting curbside'), which explained why his '46 Chevy pick-up was equipped this way. He too then mentioned 'the light going on' when watching movies from the '30s & '40s where people did exactly that.

Perhaps you see why I said you 'brushed up against it' to a degree- it's something particular to an era.

I thought about that comment then went back and read through and realized nothing was said about it being necessarily present day vehicles. I started thinking about the usage scenarios and it suddenly made sense. Now for some reason, I think I sort of knew this factoid, maybe I read it in Collectible Automobile or Hemmings Classic Cars in the context of a particular model...

[Robert Hall]

Cuticle's got knowledge (and static cling, from sliding his butt across that mohair seat).

Heh-heh..I had to get into my Mustang from the passenger's side once, some asstard had parked too close on the driver's side. Not easy clambering across heavily bolstered buckets, a center console w/ parking brake and manual shifter...

A couple times, I've had to enter SUVs from the rear hatch and clamber forward into the driver's seat when sloppy parkers blocked me in on each side. Not easy when you are 6'0", 220+...