Thread: Rumble Lid Latch Woes

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So my glass body from LoneStar came with doors and trunk lid, all with inner panels already glued in.

Well I want to ride the Grandkids and so I am putting in a rumble seat. But there was no rumble lid latch installed in the lid before they glued it up. My plan was to cut out a hole and install the latch and then make an attractive SS plate to cover it back up and support it. Well I don't like what I got.

Question. Did the old cars always have a rumble lid latch? That one Bob showed below (original Steel Ebay item) did not have a latch at all. If you have a latch in a glass lid are you not supposed to modify the lid before gluing the inner panel in? Duh?!

Thanks, Kitz

Old coupes could be purchased new with either a rumble seat or with a trunk. You have to specify what you want when you order the body. If you purchased a glass coupe with a hinged rumble seat, you should be asking the body manufacturer about a latch---seems kinda strange that they would sell a glass coupe with rumble seat, and no means of latching it.

Originally Posted by kitz

So my glass body from LoneStar came with doors and trunk lid, all with inner panels already glued in.

Question. Did the old cars always have a rumble lid latch? That one Bob showed below (original Steel Ebay item) did not have a latch at all. If you have a latch in a glass lid are you not supposed to modify the lid before gluing the inner panel in? Duh?!

Thanks, Kitz

Even my Brookville POS body had a set up for an OEM latch - whether you got the rumble or trunk. It did not come with the latch though as they "assume" that you will use something better. Originally I set mine up with a small, single rotor bear claw but have since converted it to a Downs electric opener. Take a look at a Wescott catalog - they have a large selection of different types - though you will have to install some type of support structure if Lone Star didn't.

Why don't you consider using an electric solenoid latch without an outside handle - by putting the bear claw latch on the body and the strike on the lid. A 12# solenoid will operate any of the bear claws thru pulleys and cables or a Lokar style throttle cable or even a cheapy lawnmower throttle cable hidden on one side.

Not to rob this thread, but on a similar note... I have a bearclaw cable latch on my decklid (not rumbleseat) that operates by pulling a knob under the car. It works great but there doesn't seem to be any way to get to the latch in the event the cable ever broke. Has anyone ever thought of this, or even had one break? I have no external handle, and can just see pulling the knob one day and yanking the whole cable out from under the car...just wondered if there'd be any way to get the decklid open in the event of a cable failure, short of wacking a hole in the lid?

My Wescott 32 rumble came with a stock style latch.
It's been working ok since 1985 and still works ok with very little wear showing.
Cable operated with an emergency cable also attached and hidden away.

The pics show the small Bearclaw in my 31 on 32 rails roadster.
It works well, cable operated as you can see.
Later on I'll find a good junkyard candidate and install an electric popper and the cable will be the emergency device.
The cable and latch arm also gets covered by a formed sheet metal piece to keep stuff in the trunk from hanging things up.

For Joey . . . you can access this latch setup from underneath the car and pop the lever with a screwdriver.
Plans are to set up a bolt-in cover plate to prevent that.
I'll have the time to remove the plate, but it will slow the bad guys down.

Since the trunk model 32's are closed off in this area - from underneath the car anyway - you'll have to do something different.
I would suggest a light duty flexible cable pull setup with the pull knob hidden away pretty well.

Another one you could do would be to drill a 1/4" or so hole in the trunk floor so you could get a long screwdriver or rod up in there so you can lever the lever over and release the lid.

You could gain a little security by installing a longer cable pull and placing the knob in the cockpit.
It's not too noticeable when you pop the lid when you pull up and park.
Getting out of the car, reaching underneath and popping the lid is pretty obvious to most.
Diesel shops/parts houses have a wide variety of cable pulls.
Some of them have a lock in the knob.

If your pull knob under the car is in a fairly not-too-visible place, why not install a solenoid setup an keep the original pull cable as the emergency release device.

Operating the solenoid with a key switch or a push button fed from an ignition source will forestall problems from the curious and the crooked....