68bob

My teenage son lost the trunk key for my '68 Cutlass Convertible. So much for letting him take it to Prom this year!

I've got the back seat out and am trying to figure out if there is some way to release the trunk lock from the inside. I've got a local locksmith who says they can make me a key if I can open and remove the lock cylinder.

Would an owner of a '68 (or so) Cutlass please consider taking a close look at your trunk lock and giving me any pointers on how (or if!) this can be done? Pictures would be awsome!

Thanks in advance for any help those of you out there listening can offer.

joe_padavano

The glovebox key is the same. Can the locksmith use that lock?

gearheads78

From the back seat just use a real long extention or several end to end and take the two bolts for the catch out.

jensenracing77

you need enough extensions with a 1/2 inch socket to reach the latch on the trunk side.(not the lid side) it has two screws, one on top of the other. take these two screws out and it will open. like joe said, you can have a lock smith make a new one off the glove box lock.

jensenracing77

you beat me by a minute

gearheads78

67 Cutlass

Just shooting from the hip but are the door locks the same key too?
Joe's idea was great too!

joe_padavano

Not in 1968, unfortunately. The doors and ignition were the octagonal key and the trunk and glove box/console were the round key.

jaunty75

Three dumb questions:

1. Not really a question. You're a helluva dad for letting your teenage son drive your car at all! No way I would have let mine, and the collector car insurance wouldn't have allowed it, anyway.

2. Why would your son need the key to the trunk on prom night? Was he going to stuff some friends in there so they could all sneak into the drive-in afterwards?

3. Since most people keep their keys on one ring, it's hard to see how someone can lose one key without losing them all. In other words, how does he lose the trunk key but NOT the ignition key? Wouldn't they both be on the same ring? If it really did just fall off the ring somehow, it's most likely sitting someplace where the key ring would have been handled and/or out of his pocket. Have you looked on the floor of the car? In the parking lot where the car was parked? Every pocket of his tuxedo? Etc. I'm guessing the answer to all this is yes, but I would be having the kid scouring those locations and anywhere else he was that night with a magnifying glass before letting him off the hook.

HolidayCoupe

My 66 Olds 88 came with 3 keys, The Hex Ignition key opens the Doors on my car and the Round one opens my Glovebox, Center Console. But my Trunk on the other hand is not the same as the doors or the ignition, and now my trunk key is broken in half and i cannot find the tip!!!!

Aron Nance

On our '68 convertible (Big Red) I had to change to trunk lock several years ago; therefore, I have 3 keys on the key ring, one for the ignition, one for the door locks, and one for the trunk. Life gets so complicated, at times. As I recall, when you take the "back" of the back seat out, there is metal gridwork (sort of like a squashed X) that supports the seat back; thus, you cannot crawl into the trunk (unfortunately). Per Joe P's instructions, multiple long extensions on a ratchet, and patience.

Bluevista

The Fonz could lightly smack the trunk lid and it would pop right open.

Get more than one trunk key made when you go to the locksmith, you may want to have another ignition key made if you only have one of those too.

Snowdog

Toss her the socket no extensions needed

jaunty75

Undoubtedly you've had happen the same thing as Aron Nance. Your trunk lock cylinder was replaced at some point along the way. I wonder if you couldn't get it re-keyed so that it used the same key as the glovebox. Something to do if you are concerned enough about originality.

joe_padavano

Yes, re-keying is an option, though it is probably cheaper to just buy a lock set from one of the repro houses.

68bob

Joe - thanks for the tip. The locksmith says the tumblers may be different but I think its worth a try since taking the glovebox door off will take me 5 minutes and getting a key made will only set me back ~$25.

68bob

jaunty75 - yep, he had both keys on a ring but lost the ring AFTER he got home. I had a spare ignition key but not trunk. (YEP... BIG lesson in stupidity here... when you get a "new" toy make copies of the keys!!!) We've been searching the house since May hoping they would show up with no luck. My theory is that he left them in the rented tux pants but trying to chase that down 2 months after the fact didn't lead anywhere.

68bob

All - thanks for the tips and support. This was a great introduction to this site and its forums. I am going to have a key made off the glovebox and see if that works. I know the key I had worked on the glovebox 'cause I tried it once right after acquiring the car. The locksmith wasn't 100% sure it would work but we'll test it and find out. If that doesn't work I'll try the ratchet extensions. This will be a challenge since I'll be reaching through the back seat back support panel. So its 4+ foot reach.

By the way... I live in the Chicago area and have owned my 68 Cutlass Convertible for about 6 years. Its a driver and I drive it to work any day that there isn't any salt residue on the roads and no rain in the forecast. I LOVE IT! Its a nice "50-footer" overall and runs great up to about 60mph (thats' another story). Now I can't wait for retirement so I actually have time to do more with it.

jaunty75

So he DID lose a key ring and not just a single key, and after he got safely home with the car, too. Boy, this should make finding the keys a snap. Assuming making a key from the glove box lock doesn't work, where's the last place he remembers having them? Did he walk in the door with them? Did he take them to his bedroom? Did he drop them on the kitchen counter? Did he lose anything else at the same time like his wallet or pocketknife, especially something that he later found?

Good heavens, the list of possible places they can be is not very large. You say you've been looking for two months, but I've still got to believe these are findable. I would certainly try some serious detective work before I spent money on however many socket wrench extensions it will take to reach from your car's back seat to the trunk lock.

They've got to be within the confines of your house, obviously, and there can't have been that many different places he was between the time he drove into the garage and noticed the keys were missing. Entryway, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom. Aren't these, or something similar, the places, in order, a teenager might travel through on his way from the car to bed after he gets home from the prom at 4 a.m.?

Wasted

I bet he will find the keys a week or 2 after getting new keys or changing the trunk lock. It always seems to work out like this. I lost my keys for 3 months while the car was down getting worked on. Well I just bit the bullet and changed all my locks and ignition. About a week later I move my TV stand in my room to fix the outlet and there they are just laying there. Man was I mad.

jaunty75

Exactly my point. I'm sure 68bob's keys are within 10 feet of his front door. He just hasn't yet looked under or behind the right thing.

citcapp

Thats like finding the thing you put away in a place were you wouldn't forget it and sure enough you forget were the special place is until much later when your looking for something else.

joe_padavano

Just remember, that when you find a lost item, it's ALWAYS in the last place you look.

(Think about that for a second... )

delmontcrusier

Umm been there done that.Took me a week one to find a set of keys that I would figure I just about triped over several times.