My 53 does not have any way to lock my doors when leaving the vehicle.

I know that from stock some models did not have a lock on the drivers door but had one on the passenger door (so you had to exit on the pavement side to lock up).

Neither of my doors have any external locks, I can lock both doors from inside the cab but thats no good when leaving the vehicle.

Has anyone come across this and if so what did you do to resolve.

 

That is strange. I have re-pop doors on both sides of my '54 and both were made with the hole for the keyed lock. Wonder if a previous owner could have welded the hole shut? Would be interesting to know what is still there inside the door. Do you have access to see that? Good luck, Steve

 

My 49 didn't have an external lock - passenger side, of course. C&G Ford offered a door lock cylinder that fit nicely into the factory provided space (the lock hole was in the door). They have a version for the 53s.

 

My '54 had the door lock shaved when I got it. I thought about adding remote locks, but ended up just adding a stock lock to the driver's side. MidFifty has a template - Instructions - Mid Fifty F-100 Parts

 

I admit I had seen the Mid-Fifty template but wasn't too impressed with it, wasn't sure it would give me accurate location for the lock, last thing I wanted was a hole in my door in the wrong place!

So you added a stock lock to the drivers door using this template and all worked out Ok ?

 

Yeah, I was a bit nervous as my truck was already painted. I had more issues with the lock lever being too short than cutting the hole. I ended up buying a longer lock lever for a t-bird and cutting it down. (Only one other person on here said they had a similar issue.) I also installed the lock retainer from inside the door instead of the slit in the door. But as far as template goes, it lined up.



One thing I would caution on when cutting the hole - watch the middle where the rounded lock cylinder comes down and meets the flat part. I was using a die grinder and just rounded all the corners. At that point, I didn't realize that the external lock bezel does not cover very much. I used a molded rubber lock pad that covered where I ground a touch too large.



Overall, I would have liked to kept the shaved door locks for appearance. From a practical standpoint I can now lock the truck. I only installed it on the drivers door so I didn't have to worry about drilling out the welded hole on the passenger side. (Plus, it is pretty easy to reach across and unlock that door if necessary.) The mechanical door lock was certainly the cheaper way to go. I'm not sure if there are any electric remote door lock kits that work with the stock door lock mechanism.

 

There is a service bulletin from 1953 that has a template with instructions. The service replacement door for the driver side came without the lock hole sowhen replacing a custom cab door one had to refer to the service bulletin. I have the bulletin in my mess here