This is true - in fact, there's no need to slash the soft top to get in,
because you can undo the poppers at the back and reach the handle
(except with my locks, which can't be unlocked from inside if they were
locked from outside!!) although I suspect this is known to Spitfire
owners who lock their keys in their car, rather than by the average car
stereo thief.
I would have thought that locking doors would be a good initial
deterent, though - especially against the kind of thief who wanders down
the street nonchalantly checking car doors, and when he finds one
unlocked, "borrows" the stereo. (No, I don't have a stereo worth
"borrowing", but I know from previous cars that this doesn't actually
make much difference!) Plus, locking the doors will help if you happen
to have a hard top fitted (just taken mine off for the summer - ok, so
it's not summer yet, but Tuesday was definitely warm enough for my first
bit of top-down driving. Wow! I can't wait till it's properly summer!)
Dean
>----------
>From: Bob Norway[SMTP:examiner@scci.net]
>Sent: 24 March 1999 23:58
>To: Dean Dashwood
>Cc: 'spitfire list'; 'Eric A. Yates'
>Subject: Re: Door handles/locks
>
>
>
>Dean Dashwood wrote:
>
>> Eric,
>>
>> I've just replaced the handle/locking mechanism on my drivers door, and
>> had all kinds of problems getting the remote locking thingy to work.
>> First of all, the eye in the slit pin on the new lock was smaller than
>> the bar it is supposed to fit over, so I had to rescue the slit pin from
>> my old lock and use that instead. I dropped the shake-free washer that
>> holds it in place (oops!) and had real problems finding another one of
>> suitable size. And once I got all the sorted, it didn't work at all -
>> if you operate the lock from the latch inside the car, the split pin
>> moves up and down in the lock mechanism without actually affecting the
>> mechanism at all.
>>
>> After a while of trying to fix this, I gave up and left it disconnected.
>> The net result is that you can lock the door from both the inside and
>> the outside, but if you lock it from inside you can only unlock it from
>> inside, and the same for the outside. It's not ideal, but it works, and
>> there are far more important things to be working on instead.
>>
>> Dean Dashwood
>> '77 Spit 1500
>> ----------------------------------
>>
>
>Of course, I've always wondered why someone would WANT to lock the doors on a
>Spitfire with a soft top? It's not like it could keep anyone from getting in,
>eh??????
>
>Cheers,
>
>
>--
>Bob Norway
>Rockledge, Florida
>Home Page http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/5953/mypage.html
>ICQ# 3752712
>***************************
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>Udorn RTAFB Nov'70 - Nov'71
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>***************************
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>***************************
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>***************************
>"Don't Take My Pint Mate,
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>
>
>
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