Oval door locking problem

Hi,

I've just become a proud owner of an early RHD '56 Oval, which runs and looks great, but has some small issues with the doors which I want to sort out.

Basically, I can't seem to lock the passenger-side door, which doesn't have a key lock so I presume can only be locked by pushing the internal release handle forwards, but it just doesn't want to go in that direction.

However, the driver-side door (with a key lock), *can* be locked by pushing the internal release handle forwards, such that I can end up locking myself out of the car if I leave the handle in the wrong position, the door key has no effect. (Only because of the lack of a locking passenger door can I get back into the car again, had me worried the first time it happened :-).

I don't know what the correct behaviour is, but I'm guessing I should only be able to lock the driver-side door with a key, and only lock the passenger-side door using the internal release handle. Right?

Before I try and remove the door panels and take a peek, how easy is this to fix? Is it just a case of swapping some bits over between the two doors, or do I need to get some specific left or right-hand parts first?

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Matt

Reply to
Matt Dainty
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Matt,

I think I might know what has happened.

I have a '54 RHD beetle. The lock is on the passengers side, not the drivers side. It sounds as though somebody might have moved the locking handle from one side to the other.

Normally you shut the drivers door, go round to the passengers side, reach through and lock the drivers side door from the inside, then lock the passengers side.

So, I'd recommend swapping the door handles round.

Pete

Reply to
ningi

Hi Pete,

Thanks for the tip, I guess swapping the external door handles over would fix it, in that I end up with one lock on each door, but it sounds quite complicated for everyday use, having to hop between both sides of the car to lock/unlock one door! :-)

If your Oval was LHD originally, might that explain why the key lock is on the passenger side if the doors were never converted as well? Or is this an idiosyncrasy of all early RHD Beetles?

Thanks

Matt

Reply to
Matt Dainty

Matt,

My Oval is an original UK RHD. I think VW just took a while to convert all the LHD specific parts to RHD. You just have to put it down to a quirk of having an old car :)

Pete

Reply to
Ningi

I've just looked through some books documenting the year-by-year changes and yes, I see your point now, I can *just* about make out on the photos that there is a key-lock on the LHS on the RHD models including some of the early big-window Beetles. Quite odd that the same books don't seem to mention this quirk...

Oh well, one more VW factoid committed to memory, and some door handles to swap.

Cheers

Matt

Reply to
Matt Dainty

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