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I remember the Austin Maestro my stepfather bought new in 1985 had a "locking" fuel filler flap which could be opened with any key, or even anything vaguely key-shaped. Closer inspection showed that it was not even a proper lock barrel, just a latch with a keyhole shaped slot to open it, presumably to fool people into thinking it was a real lock.
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I've posted before about opening and starting someone else's MK1 Capri with my Capri key back in the early 80's - it was the same colour and one digit difference in reg number in the same car park.
As far as I recall the problem was in the design of the lock - a row of pins of differing lengths on springs that moved up as the key was inserted. The correct key would align them correctly allowing the barrel to turn but over time the pins/springs would get gummed up and not drop properly allowing a similar key to operate the lock.
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I locked my keys in both my 1984 'A' Metro and then later my 1986 'D' Metro and on both occasions my friends mother's key from her 1987 'E' Metro came to the rescue, so they weren't exactly secure!
Then again thieves probably weren't targetting yellow and then beige 1.0L Metro's!
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"Then again thieves probably weren't targeting yellow and then beige 1.0L Metros!"
They probably were. In the bad old days of rampant TWOCing, it was part of the MO to first steal something simple to cruise around in to nick something better. Vauxhall Belmonts were a particular favourite...
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Sim O,
It sounds like your door lock was fitted backwards, as all modern Ford keys of the same type close all but only the right one will open it.
Carse.
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I can remember a friend of mine telling me that his father and he had the same key number on their cars-two different makes and different ages-I asked what the number was and looked at the key on my car.it was the same tho' my car was well pre-war.I can still remember the number-FA543.
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I am so old I'm sure I can remember cars having the ignition key number stamped on the lock barrel in full view on the dashboard. All a potential villain (there were some...) had to do was sneak a look at the number, with a pocket monocular if necessary, then go and buy a key before driving away!
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"monocular if necessary, then go and buy a key before driving away"
or more likely ram a screwdriver in it and turn it.
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Sim O It sounds like your door lock was fitted backwards as all modern Ford keys of the same type close all but only the right one will open it.
Exactly!!
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Aim low, expect nothing & dont be disappointed
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When i had my Ka a friend of mine who ownes an M-reg Escort once accidently 'locked' my Ka with her Escort's key.
She tried to unlock it but she couldn't, but after i unlocked it she locked with her keys!
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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At school, three of us had 1970's Minis and we could open any car with any key. Steering locks were different though.
We didn't do the knickers joke, but we'd often let the handbrake off and push the car into the bushes as a joke. Mine was only where I left it about one time in ten!
Cheers
DP
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At school three of us had 1970's Minis
Oh what it must be like to be born in an era when schoolchildren can afford cars and (on top of that) schools provide parking spaces for them!
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L\'escargot.
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Oh what it must be like to be born in an era when schoolchildren can afford cars and (on top of that) schools provide parking spaces for them!
It was A-levels so college equivalent really.
And my Mini cost me the princely sum of 80 quid!
Cheers
DP
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
97 Ford Fiesta 1.4 16v Chicane (for sale)
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It was A-levels so college equivalent really.
It was grammar school when we did GCE A-level or scholarship-level.
A friend's 15 year-old daughter says she's a student but I say she's a pupil. When did schoolchildren's perception of their status/title get upgraded like this?
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L\'escargot.
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While most schools still run A-level courses, a lot of pupils do them at college.
At 18 I was old enough to do legally do everything I do now, and worked 2 jobs around my studies and the clearly more important priorities of the pub and girls (what a stupid time in a person's life to expect them to knuckle down and study). Just because I went to a school to study, I didn't consider myself a school pupil at that age.
I reckon someone in compulsory education is a pupil, and someone in further or higher education is a student.
Cheers
DP
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
97 Ford Fiesta 1.4 16v Chicane (for sale)
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Oh what it must be like to be born in an era when schoolchildren can afford cars and (on top of that) schools provide parking spaces for them!
Round here the schools that don't provide parking loose out on 6th form students and the capitation payemnt that follows them.
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When i had my Ka a friend of mine who ownes an M-reg Escort once accidently 'locked' my Ka with her Escort's key.
SWMBO did this once with a mk3 Mondeo her company had hired for her when she needed to do some driving about for work. She parked up outside the house, and locked it with her Fiesta key just as she realised the Mondeo's key was still in the ignition!
The AA guy got into it in about a minute though without putting a scratch on the car. Scary stuff.
Cheers
DP
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AsCarse said "It sounds like your door lock was fitted backwards as all modern Ford keys of
the same type close all but only the right one will open it."
I agree my mate locked my car ( with my keys in) with his key but it wouldn't open it , it took us an hour to get in we tried thick copper wire ,coat hanger , metal ruler to no avail , in the end we had to pop the rear side window to get in ....oh it was a ford
{post requote tidied up to make a post a bit more readable - PU}
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This must have been pretty common with Austin Rovers. I remember my dad locking the keys to his 1988 Montego inside the car in Caernarfon (100 miles from home) and calling the RAC. Ten minutes later, a British Gas Maestro van pulled into the street, we asked the driver and his keys opened the driver's door.
A good few years later I managed to lock the keys to my 1992 Metro in the car, and lo and behold, one of the spare BL keys we had in the household opened the driver's door (but not the passenger side which must have had less wear to the lock)..!
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most car keys and locks in the USA are still of the standard that UK/European cars were in the early 70's
for most of the volume makes there are only 999 or 9999 combinations, and wide overlaps where many keys will fit a lock
as became clear to me once when i locked my keys into a hire car in the zoo car park
same as they dont bother with removable stereos etc, cos stereo theft is largely unheard of
as a native US friend remarked "well if anyone tried to steal a car stereo or car around here they would just get shot" rather alters the balance of risks for the toe rag thief community
people really do intervene, and really do have no problem taking shots at criminals, none of this politically correct crap we have here
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same as they dont bother with removable stereos etc cos stereo theft is largely unheard of
Really?
Property crime in the US isn't hugely different to here according to this.
tinyurl.com/zmgcl
Don't get me wrong, the idea of shooting a criminal appeals immensely, but when its a desperate crackhead or heroin addict that's ripping off your car stereo or breaking into your van to steal tools, as it usually is, I suspect a gun isn't much of a deterrent.
Cheers
DP
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
97 Ford Fiesta 1.4 16v Chicane (for sale)
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I drove a Mark 4 Cortina in the early 80's and there was this rumour that the keys were shared so I walked up to another Mark 4 in a car park and unlocked it. I think the rumour started with the Mark 3.
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My drinking buddy had a Mk III Cortina, (1974 - ish?) and the key fitted just about any Ford of the era.
He used to go around pub car parks and start up and move any which had been left for 5 mins or so.
Just for fun.
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On several occasions in the 80's I had to say to my dad, "that's not our car", as he repeatedly walked up to the wrong Cortina and opened it, the keys didn't always fit, but it was surprising how often they did.
Most funny was the time he stood there trying to get his keys to work for almost 5 minutes, before realising that the brand new BMW was not his battered old cortina, it wasn't even the same colour!
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You needed a Ford key with plenty of "lumps" and these worked in most doors,probably because the locks were full of crud.The ignition was another matter.
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almost 5 minutes before realising that the brand new BMW was not his battered old cortina
I don't mean to imply anything Mookfish but are you absolutely sure he 'didn't realise'?
Sounds pretty creative to me. :o)
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"On several occasions in the 80's I had to say to my dad, "that's not our car", as he repeatedly walked up to the wrong Cortina and opened it, the keys didn't always fit, but it was surprising how often they did."
My Dad did something similar in Sainsburys car park, at the time he owned a beige Princess & one day he tried for a couple of minutes try & open a bootlid of a blue one!
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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Lucas ignition switches used to have numbers on them, my 1970 Triumph bike for example.
It used to be standard practice for everyone present to try their car kys if someone locked theselves out. It usually worked. I recall opening a '70s Ford like this, but don't recall the model. I also recall a Cavalier parked on a beach, and much frantic angling with bits of wire going on. I tried the key of my 1987 Nova and the door popped open.
Haven't times changed.
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