[DeTomaso] Pushbutton doorlock and mechanism

Espen Graffer espeng at getmail.no
Sun Sep 20 15:59:20 EDT 2015


Thanks a lot. Now we're getting somewhere - maybe. Mike, you are an
incredible source of information!

My Pantera does not have a trunk lock (just rubber bands), so I have not
thought of that.

Charlie, since you have had trouble finding a new lock for your trunk, they
are of course equally hard to find. I did a quick search for trunk lock now,
and found a billet aluminum replacement at Precision Pro Formance. Maybe
they gave up finding the real thing?

I will keep on looking.

 

espen

 

From: MikeLDrew at aol.com [mailto:MikeLDrew at aol.com] 
Sent: 19. september 2015 19:50
To: espeng at getmail.no; detomaso at poca.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Pushbutton doorlock and mechanism

 


In a message dated 9/16/15 0 36 55,  <mailto:espeng at getmail.no>
espeng at getmail.no writes:





Thanks to all who have responded, so far.
Still, noone can tell where the pushbutton come from. If the source is a
Fiat, that sounds reasonable. More than if DeTomaso had it made just for
DeTomasos. Could it be the same lock is used on Vallelunga, Mangusta and the
first Panteras?


>>>The pushbutton itself, with the lock inside, is common not only to the
Mangusta and pushbuton Pantera, but is also exactly the same as the trunk
lock.  The housings are different for the trunk applications.

I don't know if they are common to other cars, but since the door/trunk key
is a Fiat part, it would stand to reason that the locks were sourced from
Fiat's suppliers too?  You would have to spend a lot of time looking very
closely at a lot of Fiats to know for sure.

As for the mechanisms, they are different between the pushbutton vs. the
later cars.  Oddly, in the pushbuttons, the door locking mechanism is
completely detached from the pushbutton locking mechanism.  That is, when
you lock the door from the inside, you can't unlock it from the outside.
Furthermore, if the door is only locked from the outside, the only thing
you've done is prevent the pushbutton from going in and opening the door.
All you have to do is hit it hard, and it will break the (very fragile)
housing and the door will open right up.

I suspect, but don't know for sure, that the entire pushbutton Pantera door
locking mechanism and etc. and so forth is lifted straight from the
Mangusta.




>The window frame is mentioned. I must have complete late doors on my
Pantera. The frames are not made in one piece. But my Deauville has doors
like that. And it's the last one, so all of them was probably made that way.
Julian mention the first cars are handbuilt, and have crisper body panel
lines. I'm not sure I understand what that means. Have someone tried to mix
doors between early and late cars. Do they fit?


>>>Yes, the doors are nominally the same, although of course a bit of
hand-fitting is likely to be necessary. Lori's '71 #1765 has early
windshield frame (two-piece) but later doors, likely a result of the
transition from one style to the other.

Julian is not correct about the 'crisper' body panel lines on the early
cars; that results from repainting where the body shop uses bondo to
'sculpt' the lines to make them a bit sharper.  The panels were all stamped,
from the first cars to the last ones, and thus are all the same (with the
caveat that there were two varieties of front fender used, with
different-sized headlight openings).  Too, some panels got cutouts for
rectangular side lights while others didn't, but I don't know if that was
done during the stamping process, or afterwards.

Mike



-------------- next part --------------
   Thanks a lot. Now we're getting somewhere - maybe. Mike, you are an
   incredible source of information!

   My Pantera does not have a trunk lock (just rubber bands), so I have
   not thought of that.

   Charlie, since you have had trouble finding a new lock for your trunk,
   they are of course equally hard to find. I did a quick search for trunk
   lock now, and found a billet aluminum replacement at Precision Pro
   Formance. Maybe they gave up finding the real thing?

   I will keep on looking.


   espen


   From: MikeLDrew at aol.com [mailto:MikeLDrew at aol.com]
   Sent: 19. september 2015 19:50
   To: espeng at getmail.no; detomaso at poca.com
   Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Pushbutton doorlock and mechanism


   In a message dated 9/16/15 0 36 55, [1]espeng at getmail.no writes:

   Thanks to all who have responded, so far.
   Still, noone can tell where the pushbutton come from. If the source is
   a
   Fiat, that sounds reasonable. More than if DeTomaso had it made just
   for
   DeTomasos. Could it be the same lock is used on Vallelunga, Mangusta
   and the
   first Panteras?

   >>>The pushbutton itself, with the lock inside, is common not only to
   the Mangusta and pushbuton Pantera, but is also exactly the same as the
   trunk lock.  The housings are different for the trunk applications.
   I don't know if they are common to other cars, but since the door/trunk
   key is a Fiat part, it would stand to reason that the locks were
   sourced from Fiat's suppliers too?  You would have to spend a lot of
   time looking very closely at a lot of Fiats to know for sure.
   As for the mechanisms, they are different between the pushbutton vs.
   the later cars.  Oddly, in the pushbuttons, the door locking mechanism
   is completely detached from the pushbutton locking mechanism.  That is,
   when you lock the door from the inside, you can't unlock it from the
   outside.  Furthermore, if the door is only locked from the outside, the
   only thing you've done is prevent the pushbutton from going in and
   opening the door.  All you have to do is hit it hard, and it will break
   the (very fragile) housing and the door will open right up.
   I suspect, but don't know for sure, that the entire pushbutton Pantera
   door locking mechanism and etc. and so forth is lifted straight from
   the Mangusta.

   >The window frame is mentioned. I must have complete late doors on my
   Pantera. The frames are not made in one piece. But my Deauville has
   doors
   like that. And it's the last one, so all of them was probably made that
   way.
   Julian mention the first cars are handbuilt, and have crisper body
   panel
   lines. I'm not sure I understand what that means. Have someone tried to
   mix
   doors between early and late cars. Do they fit?

   >>>Yes, the doors are nominally the same, although of course a bit of
   hand-fitting is likely to be necessary. Lori's '71 #1765 has early
   windshield frame (two-piece) but later doors, likely a result of the
   transition from one style to the other.
   Julian is not correct about the 'crisper' body panel lines on the early
   cars; that results from repainting where the body shop uses bondo to
   'sculpt' the lines to make them a bit sharper.  The panels were all
   stamped, from the first cars to the last ones, and thus are all the
   same (with the caveat that there were two varieties of front fender
   used, with different-sized headlight openings).  Too, some panels got
   cutouts for rectangular side lights while others didn't, but I don't
   know if that was done during the stamping process, or afterwards.
   Mike

References

   1. mailto:espeng at getmail.no


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