Rear door now opens.

[Bill Leverett]

The rear door wouldn't open either when I got the car. I finally got it to open after having to take everything off the rear door...trim panel, access panel, handle attachment and medical cabinet. Lots of Liquid Wrench and attempts to move the latch with a screwdriver finally worked. The entire latch/lock mechanism was covered in a yellow waxy mess. Maybe this was from when the door interior panel was rustproofed? In any event, hard to tell if the latch had been repaired previously or if the modifications resulted in allof the brazing in the latch. One lower portion of the latch was had split causing the latch to overcenter. My local welding shop fixed that easy enough thankfully. Back together and working fine. Just need to recover the rear panel due to age. The cardboard & foam is falling apart.

 

[Richard Vyse]

Appears as if the top of the door is fine so the gasket must have done it's job properly. The inside of the door looks pretty solid as well.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

the icky yellow stuff is the cosmoline that they sprayed in there at the Ohio plant in 73. quite the stuff. you lucky if you could get the trim pad off with the door closed. I always found a lower screw or two I could not get off. and ended up reaching down and under from the top. the brass work is factory to. they uses a latch off something I'm thinking a pickup then added the places they need to get it to trip and lock. normally they just gather dirt and stick. after you get it cleaned up just put a little light oil on the pivot points of the works. it will last a ling time that way and not gather a lot of dirt.