We received our '62 unibody today, and though it is pretty rainy out, I got to look it over.

I noticed the driver's door has no exterior lock cylinder....and am not sure it can be locked. though the passenger's side door has a lock cylinder. Is this normal.....I am pretty sure this was a no frills configuration, but can't understand why this would be.

Also there seems to be only a single sunshade.

 

Welcome to FTE! The drivers door locks by pushing the inside door handle forward, then crawl out the passenger side and lock that door. Back then that was just how it was done............lol

 

That's funny....was there any logic to this configuration. I am sure someone will ask. Also, did all ford trucks from these years come this way?

 

From what I've heard over the years it was for safety. Keep you from getting hit trying to unlock the drivers door........They we're all that way untill the mid 60's.

 

i had to ask the same question about my '61. times have changed. Also most parking was parallel parking along the roads. thats why they did not want you coming out of the drivers side

 

The 63 f100 uni,63 f600,63 f100 wrong box,64 f100 wrong box,64 f700,64 600 that I have all have 2 door locks. The 61 f100 uni,62 f600 have pass side only.

 

Driver's-side door lock cylinders were optional until 1963 I think - that's when they made them standard. Like already stated, you weren't supposed to be getting in and out of your vehicle in the middle of the road, blocking up the narrow, two-lane roads of the day and endangering yourself. So automakers made you get out street-side. And it gave them something else to charge you extra for, anyway.

 

If safety were really the reason, you'd think passengers cars would be fitted similarly. Our '62 Falcon Squire has locks on both sides. I wonder if this is unique to pick up trucks....and why?

 

Passenger cars were fitted similarly - the driver's-side lock cylinder was optional, which could explain yours, but I think passenger cars started getting them standard equipment in the mid-'50s if I remember right, trucks always being last to get luxuries standardized. By the '60s I think it was probably less for the original safety reason and more because trucks were still bare-***-bones work vehicles (rear bumpers, side mirrors, any radio whatsoever, emergency flashers and heaters being completely optional is kind of hideously comical from our modern perspective).