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Does anyone know if a door latch from any other body style will work on a convertible? My parts book lists a different part number for convertibles, but i was wondering if maybe the convertibles had chrome plated latches and the closed cars didn't. My driver side latch is pretty beat up. I have an early production door on the left side with the outside handle that's only held on by one screw. Someone snapped the handle off some time in the past, and i found out why when I installed a new handle. The door doesn't want to open when you pull the handle from the outside. I'd like to replace the latch, but if it's convertible only, I'm sure it will be tough to find and expensive if I do find one.

I was also wondering if it is common to have problems with these latches, as the passenger side doesn't seem to work all that well either. The door opens great using the inside handle, but the latch seems to drag when using the outside handle. The latch on the passenger side is in much better shape than the driver side, and I lubed it up real good to see if that would fix the problem, but it didn't.


Thanks, Jeff

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The latch from a sedan could be used by transferring over some of the parts from a convertible latch. The inside lock is different on the convertible as well as 2 pieces that are used for the outside handle due to the greater thickness of the convertible door.

The attached photos show a side by side comparison of sedan and convertible latches.

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Thanks for the quick comparison photos. There are some significant differences in the latches, more than I was hoping for. It might be easier to swap the round piece with the teeth than change all the other pieces. My best bet might be to find a rear latch from a 4 door car with minimum wear and swap the toothed wheel.

Jeff

I think I have one last pair of NOS convertible latches....I will look and advise on Monday. At Hershey now....

"The door opens great using the inside handle, but the latch seems to drag when using the outside handle."

Jeff perhaps this is a dumb comment and I'm speaking from a memory 50 years ago, but on dad's 23rd series when it became my car in high school I found that the outside handle wore and didn't correctly engage the latch.

What had started as a square place on the inner part of the handle had worn rounded. A fellow braised some metal rod on the inner workings of the handle and shaped it back to the proper shape and the doors opened much better.

Anyone else have some comments on that idea?

Jim

Hi Flackmaster,

Unfortunately, NOS latches probably aren't in the budget, but let me know and I will ask the owner of the car.

Thanks, Jeff

Hi Jim,

The door does the same thing if I stick something in the opening where the handle goes to fully depress the release lever. After studying the latch, I see a lever in the latch that might be a little worn down and causing the problem. It may be possible to slightly bend the part that the lever presses against to get a bit more travel out of the mechanism.

Jeff

jeff; with your skills the least expensive fix is to replace the pot metal wheel i have done it on my cars. if u can't find a good wheel i have some repair ones. the lock has to come apart to fix. dell

Hi Dell, That's what I was thinking. I could replace the chrome rivet in the center of the wheel with a polished stainless button head bolt.

Jeff