<VV> Early Corvair Door Latches - photo comparison between 60-62 non-safety and 63-64 safety latches

[William Hubbell]

I went over to John Gilliland's house and took photos of his 1962 door
latches, then some comparison shots of my 1964.  I have revised the gallery
on the SCG web site and also added a photo album on the SCG Facebook site.
I think the photos do a good job of showing the differences in the latches
and striker plates.  Note that you can click on the thumbnails to enlarge
the photos to full resolution.

SCG gallery: http://stock.corvair.org/wpmu/?p=2449

SCG Facebook album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.214007838790118.1073741836.1679534
66728889&type=1


-----Original Message-----
From: William Hubbell [mailto:whubbell at verizon.net]

The main difference between the two latches is the addition of a flange at
the outer end of the door latch, and a plate at the outer end of the
striker, such that when the door is closed the flange slides in behind the
striker and that secures the door in the fore and aft direction.

You can easily swap out the striker plates between the '60-'62 and '63-'64
cars, but it takes some modification of the door to install the later
(safety) version of the latch - you'd need to make the hole in the door
bigger to allow the flange to get through.

Bill Hubbell

-----Original Message-----
From: VirtualVairs [mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of
Bryan Blackwell via 

Can you (or anyone) tell me the difference between the latches?  I'm
wondering if this is a bolt in change.

--Bryan

On Nov 4, 2014, at 11:48 AM, wrsssatty--- via VirtualVairs
<virtualvairs at corvair.org> wrote:

> By my estimate, the vast majority of passengers injured in early model
rollovers were unrestrained passengers ejected in whole or in part through
popped open doors of pre-'63 models that did not have safety door latches or
through the opening after windshields or backlights popped open.