I have a 66 chevelle that seems to be a bit odd according to the parts places. The rear trunk lock hole is identical to a 67 chevelle which is supposed to be different, and a 66 trunk lock does fit my car. My car was built the third week of February 1966 at Kansas City plant. If you go to my profile you can see a picture of my trunk lock hole. I believe what has happened is at the end of the production run they started punching out the 67 style hole. What I am looking for is anyone that has a picture of the early 66 style trunk lock hole and when your car was built. Also would like to know who else out their has the same style trunk lock hole as mine and if it was produced before mine. I have so far have not found the early style hole, two other 66's I looked at has the same hole as mine, and according to the big parts places that is not possible. Any help would be great as I know other people have run into this before.

Mine looks like yours, it was built "1A" (I think that is the first week of January 1966). Mine is a 66 Chevelle Malibu, not SS car.

Thanks, at least I know they were made like this January too!! What plant did yours come from??

Third week of Feburary is not the end of the production year.

Oh yes I know it is not the end of the production year. That's why I am bringing all this up. According to National Parts Depot my car is a odd duck, so they won't change the way they list their lock sets, as their are not very many out their with the 67 style lock they say. I don't know when the cut off was on the 66's but I am sure it was probally around July or so. That would be seven months of cars that should have the 67 style lock. That in my opinion would be a lot of cars. I am just trying to get them to do something about it so people don't go through the same thing I have, two set of trunk locks for a 66 that don't fit, before I finally figure out what was going on. COME ON GUYS HELP ME WITH THIS IF YOU CAN!!! LET ME KNOW WHERE AND WHEN YOUR CAR WAS PRODUCED AND IF IT HAS THE SAME STYLE LOCK HOLE AS MINE. I'd kinda like to figure out around about when they switched the lock hole.

Elcamino man here but there are a lot of similarities in the two models I've seen a 66 with a 67 front end and they even put quarters on the 66 so it appeared to be a 67! I am not sure but are the trunk lids the same? perhaps someone trashed the lid and put a 67 on it. It's been 42 years since 66!

I like those old 1966 odd ducks.

The lock is in the rear panel on a 66 and 67, not the trunk lid. Someone mentioned to me that maybe someone put a 67 rear panel in my car. That also would not be possible as the rear panel is also different between 66 and 67 as they had different rear taillights and the panel was made different.

Mine was built in Fremont, CA.

For what it's worth,I've had 66 and 67 velles all my life, several of em',and have never seen trunk locks in different locations, they are all the same. The trunk lids will interchange, although the inner bracing is different between 66-67, the bodies are identical except tail light openings, so every part WILL interchange, doors,fenders,bumpers,front clip and so on. In my opinion, some one fed you bad info., they didn't know what they were talking about.

I think your parts place is feeding you line of stinky poo! My car was built the 3rd week of December 65, it's a Kansas City car, lock hole look like yours.

And in the for what its worth department, I have a stack of parts catalogs and it shows 66-67's being the same.


Rocky

Mine was built one week after Rocky Hills :) in the same plant, and my opening is the same as yours too.;)

For what it's worth,I've had 66 and 67 velles all my life, several of em',and have never seen trunk locks in different locations, they are all the same. The trunk lids will interchange, although the inner bracing is different between 66-67, the bodies are identical except tail light openings, so every part WILL interchange, doors,fenders,bumpers,front clip and so on. In my opinion, some one fed you bad info., they didn't know what they were talking about.


Yes the parts will interchange, you could weld a 67 panel in a 66 chevelle but then you would have to use the 67 tail light extensions. I NEVER said the trunk lock hole was in a different place. ALL I refering to is the way it is stamped in the back, the position of the notches is what they say is different.

Maby not related but alot of those aftermarket replacement locks were made wrong.The only way they would go in was with a quarter turn and then the slide lock wouldnt work.I discussed this with a few parts houses and they wouldnt comit to fixing the problem.I had to modify.

I DON'T KNOW THAT THEY MADE TWO LOCK HOLE STYLES IN 66 THAT IS WHAT I AM TRYING TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF. They sent me a trunk lock that was supposed to fit 64-66, it WILL fit a 64 but it is not the same as my 66. According to National Parts depot, Original Parts Group, and the paddock their trunk locks are the same for 64-66 then 67 has a lock by it's self and then it goes back to 68 up. Check these places and you will see what I am talking about. If the lock they sent me that I tried in a 64 (and it worked), then it should also work in a 66. I went and looked at a 67 chevelle and it has the same lock hole as my car. Therefore either they made two lock holes in 66 or this lock hole was used on 66 and 67 only and these 3 company's are selling trunk locks that are not correct as they list 67 by it's self and that would not me correct. I have called them on this and argued to them that I have not seen any other lock hole on a 66 other than what the 67 hole looks like, which seems to be what every one else has, but it has done no good. They say that if my lock hole looks like a 67 lock hole it would have to be a late production change for the 66 chevelle. Well, if so far we have went back to dec of 65 on when this lock hole was used then, that in my opinion wouldn't be a late production change. BASICALLY THE HAVE IT MESSED UP IN ALL THEIR CATALOGS. BUT I HAVE YET TO FIND A COMPANY THAT LIST 66 AND 67 TO HAVE THE SAME TRUNK LOCK.

Maby not related but alot of those aftermarket replacement locks were made wrong.The only way they would go in was with a quarter turn and then the slide lock wouldnt work.I discussed this with a few parts houses and they wouldnt comit to fixing the problem.I had to modify.


No it IS related I believe!!!! That is what was wrong with mine, it would go in the hole but it was a quarter turn off. I have pretty much narrowed this problem down to the fact that the 64-66 kit they sell will only work on 64-65. If you buy what they list as a 67 trunk lock for a 66 in will work perfectly as the notches are in different positions, thuse the lock fits correctly.

WOW!,
Calm down, it will work itself out in the end. I still have local Chevrolet dealers look up stuff for me. you might want to try that. Or buy an original used GM trunk lock from a salvage yard or ebay. Put a wanted ad right here on Team Chevelle. I am sure somebody has a parts car. Original GM parts are the way to go.

BUT I HAVE YET TO FIND A COMPANY THAT LIST 66 AND 67 TO HAVE THE SAME TRUNK LOCK.


I guess you haven't looked very hard, I will give you Two, actually the first two catalogs I grabbed, Year One, and Original Parts Group (OPG)! It's no wonder the 67 works in the 66, because it's the same.

Year One shows 1964-65 and 1966-67 and 1968-72 and you can get them with either the early style key or late style.

Rocky

Are you yelling at us :confused:

Nope I am not yelling. My 2008 OPG catalog , page 633 show a 64-66 trunk lock and a 67 trunk lock seperate. kk26022 or the 64-66 orginal style key, and part kk26024 on the 67 chevelle orginal style key. Don't understand what Original parts Group catalog you are look at. I even have a 2007 catalog from them that show the same thing page 611 in the 2007 catalog. I don't have a year one catalog anymore so I don't know about them.

I'm gettin dizzy!! :wacko: :D

I'm gettin dizzy!! :wacko: :D
Please don't get car sick on us then!!!:D

I had a similar problem with a key/lock set bought from one of those stores on ebay. Can't remember which one. My '66 has had a bit of drama over the last 30 years that I've had it, over which time, I've had to acquire four different cars to keep one complete. In its current state, it is titled as a late '66 built in California, as was the one prior to it (stolen and destroyed). I rebuilt the latest from the ground up three years ago, using a good deal of parts from it's predecessor, which, had taken a good deal from it's predecessor (wrecked in 2002). That car was a very early Kansas City car VIN K110044).

Anyway, during the latest build, I replaced the tail panel. The thieves had slide hammered the lock and whallowed out the trunk lock hole on the stolen car, so I used a repop. The new lock would not fit, just like you experienced. But the lock for the wrecked Kansas City car worked fine. In the end, that's what I used, along with the matching glove box lock.

SO, YES, there definitely is a problem amongst these distributors. I can't imagine that there are too many (likely only one) places that actually produce these items, therefore, they probably all get them from the same place. Sooner or later they'll all have to catch on, but some people learn their lessons slower than others.

I am just trying to get to the bottom of it myself. If they did have two different locks in 66, oK, but they need to list it in their books. Otherwise they need to list the 66 and 67 as having the same trunk lock. They say they have sold a lot of the locks this way and never had a problem. I have a herd time with that after hearing what everyone else has for a lock. Just don't want everyone else to go through what I have, two lock sets that they say are correct but don't fit.

I would think that if there was indeed 2 different locks available. It most certainly would have been brought up here before and already been well written about.

Writing in all caps is considered impolite and yelling. Please don't.

The parts suppliers don't make the parts or the descriptions of them. The Chinese makers of the parts do. Calm down.

I ran into the same problem on my 66, and I had ordered the complete lock sets for my car a couple of years earlier, and while assembling the car, the trunk lock was 1/4 turn off, so I wrote it off as a manufacturer defect & ordered another one, thinking that maybe they got the problem resolved, well same problem, so I just took a small file and notched out my trunk lock hole, problem solved.

Writing in all caps is considered impolite and yelling. Please don't.

The parts suppliers don't make the parts or the descriptions of them. The Chinese makers of the parts do. Calm down.

New to the computer thing I guess, learn something new every day. I did know that writing in caps was considered impolite and yelling. Sorry to all!!! I guess what I told the parts place where I got the lock set would be considered very impolite!:D

The Heartland is a pretty big spot in the road, where abouts is your Heartland located.


Rocky

The Heartland is a pretty big spot in the road, where abouts is your Heartland located.


Rocky
Northeast Missouri.:thumbsup:

I am just trying to get to the bottom of it myself. If they did have two different locks in 66, oK, but they need to list it in their books. Otherwise they need to list the 66 and 67 as having the same trunk lock. They say they have sold a lot of the locks this way and never had a problem. I have a herd time with that after hearing what everyone else has for a lock. Just don't want everyone else to go through what I have, two lock sets that they say are correct but don't fit.

Welcome to the world of repop parts. It's always trial and error. Had the same issue with my 66 on the middle crome piece on the valence. First 3 had the water releifs cut in the top....In China it's correct... HA HA. Finally after 3 different companys James Hinshaw came through. Hang in there it won't be your last issue I'm sure.

It may not be the manufacturers. GM changed the notches on the trunk locks mid year of 67 on the Camaros. Most of the reputable suppliers ask the customer to verify which pattern they have to match the lock to it. Virtually all the replacement tail panels from GM from 68 on had the later style pattern and ALL the repro panels out there do to, since there were no early 67 panels to copy the pattern from. It would only make sense that this change occurred across all lines as GM ran out of the old style locks for each model. Did the change occur between 66 and 67 on the Chevelle line ?? Doesn't sound like anyone knows for sure. If you go to some of the Camaro dealer sites, you will see the 2 different patterns and can decide which one you have....early or late. I'll see if I can get a link to one.

OK, here ya go. Picture of the different patterns.
http://1967-81camarocarparts.com/catalogPDFs/F1%2014%20lock.pdf

I refuse to go back and read all this

Thanks second chance! I know what you showed was for camaro, but the lock hole they show as the late style is the one I have and what they show as the early style, the lock that the company sent me would work perfectly in. We are starting to get somewhere now maybe.:hurray:

Shawn,
I would give Jim Hinshaw a call.He really knows Chevelles,1-336-586-0802.He's a good guy,and a major parts supplier in the restoration of my 1966 SS 396....Bob

Thanks's Bob I may just give him a try.

Truth is I posted about this prob. about two years ago. I see they still ship the wrong locks.It is very frustrating to try to get these sales people,well most of them,to understand the problem .I assume most of them own Hondas,Toyotas,ect. and really have little interest in chevelles.Chevelle? Uh I think that was a car or was it a rock band?I dont know,put in another video game.

Actually it James Hinshaw, but if you want the straight info on 66 parts he is the one to talk to. Also I wouldn't try to compare Camaro parts with Chevelles. What was listed as a late 67 is the style mine is, and my car was built 3rd week of December 1965!

A bit of advice. Just about EVERY restoration part you buy will need some tweaking somehow, someway. As mentioned in an earlier post, five minutes with a file and your part would have worked.

Sometimes it's just better to make the part work or it will just drive you crazy.


Rocky

Shawn,I spoke to Jim Hinshaw today.He knew exactly what you going thur,and how to fix it!...Bob

I would have just filed it out, but they say they are going to get it straightened out, and I would rather have the correct lock anyway. If they don't I will give Hinshaw a call. I was hoping to make enough fuss with them that they fix it so no one else runs in to this problem.