Hood Latch?

[73pony]

Quick question. Is or was there an option for a hood latch that locks the hood from inside the car like newer vehicles? Looks like mine had one at some point in time. 73 Grande.

 

[Pastel Blue]

I have never seen this from Ford for Mustangs. They may have had it on the more luxury oriented models back in the day and possibly some have converted their cars to have this option. However, I have never seen a '71-73 Mustang with this option.

 

[72HCODE]

you might be mistaking a hood latch for a manual choke handle.

our cars had no provisions for a interior hood latch, someone could of made something from a later model car and retrofitted it onto a 73 but that would be quite a lot of work.

on the other hand at some point the factory carb could of been changed for an aftermarket that had a manual choke. many of the old handles for those chokes looked a little like a modern hood release lever. later somebody could of disabled the choke or installed an automatic choke which rendered the manual choke handle and cable useless, then they just left it under the dash.

 

[73pony]

My guess is that someone retro fitted one at some point. The cable is there from under the left side of steering column with a bracket (handle missing), cable runs up to the front of the hood with the pull pin assembly there but nothing on the hood to catch to.

 

[mach1000]

I'll see if I can dig up an article on converting our latch to a pull cable latch from inside the cabin. I think the late 70s early 80s ford vehicles were used. I like the idea. Keep unwanted hands out of the engine compartment!

 

[73pony]

This is what led me to asking the question. I kind of wondered about it being there but I was at the grocery store a few weeks back and came out and the car would not start. (I park at the very end of the lot). I open the hood and someone had disconnected the coil wire. I don't take the car to the grocery store anymore.

 

[timachone]

This is what led me to asking the question. I kind of wondered about it being there but I was at the grocery store a few weeks back and came out and the car would not start. (I park at the very end of the lot). I open the hood and someone had disconnected the coil wire. I don't take the car to the grocery store anymore.

That must have been a special wisecracker...

I like the idea - in Germany every year some Mustangs are stolen from car shows or underground parking garages! Our cars are easy to drive off without a key. So I have to provide for...

 

[Manu Mach1]

This is what led me to asking the question. I kind of wondered about it being there but I was at the grocery store a few weeks back and came out and the car would not start. (I park at the very end of the lot). I open the hood and someone had disconnected the coil wire. I don't take the car to the grocery store anymore.

Your neighbour doesn't like you :whistling:

 

[73pony]

This is what led me to asking the question. I kind of wondered about it being there but I was at the grocery store a few weeks back and came out and the car would not start. (I park at the very end of the lot). I open the hood and someone had disconnected the coil wire. I don't take the car to the grocery store anymore.

Your neighbour doesn't like you :whistling:

My guess is punk kids. Grocery store is in a little bit of a rough neighborhood.

 

[72HCODE]

usually it is somebody hoping you will abandon the car to search for help. while you leave to call a tow truck they know what you look like and have a spotter watching out for you as the other person GTAs the car from the lot.

stealing our cars is very easy you don't even need the key the start the engine.

a kill switch is a good idea.

back in the 1980s people used to chain the hoods down and use a lock.

one issue is if you have an engine fire you will not be able to open the hood fast enough to put it out and usually the car burns to the ground.

i've been to car shows where people have had their air cleaners stolen in full view of everyone and nobody said anything.

 

[timachone]

stealing our cars is very easy you don't even need the key the start the engine.

a kill switch is a good idea.

i've been to car shows where people have had their air cleaners stolen in full view of everyone and nobody said anything.

That's the problem - you could easy do something electrical so the car does not start immediately and that will cost worthy minutes. But on car shows it seems to be normal that people with older cars are working on them. So nobody will take more attention - and even if, when the theft is eloquent, nobody will pay further attention though. Except people there know your car and know YOU but that is a challenge on big car events.

And even if you have a hood latch which could be only opened from inside - the frameless attached window-glasses could easily been pushed down by hand to reach the door pins...

It's a mess - if you are proud of your car and folksy it is some kind of risky to show your best piece (the car!)...

Otherwise: my car have a locked ignition lock originally. You have to turn the lock with the original key to unlock the steering wheel and so it is the same with the transmission: it is locked in the reverse gear, too. So you could only drive backwards and straight without the right key I think this is a special feature of the T5's built for the german market. Our registration office requires that also for new cars back in the days...

Don't know how to conquer that in a quick way but that seems to be too much detail for a open forum like this perhaps read by the false people... So beware of too much information on security gimmicks here!

I think it is better to don't let you car to much out of your eyes. Better put your bad-tempered wife or girlfriend in front of your car - she will kill everybody who starts to put his fingers on anything or start to talk to her