28-29 open car striker plates

[SwampLedge]

Not a rant, just posting this in hopes it’ll help someone.

My ‘28 open cab pickup came with a reproduction door latch (outside handle) and no striker plates nor wood. The cab was in sorry shape. Now that I’ve got the cab rehabilitated and solid, with interior wood installed, it was time for striker plates so the doors could latch shut. I purchased the proper striker plates from Snyder’s and found they would not work with the latches I had, as the face of the latch was too “thick” to fit between the striker plate’s tongue and mounting surface. So I figured it was time to bite the bullet and get the proper style latches and set these things up once. But Snyder’s price (BTW, they are my favored parts source because they’ve usually got what I need, ordering is easy, shipping reasonable, and the stuff arrives quickly) was a bit steep for my retiree’s budget. Battlefield Model A parts had both latches with handles, striker plates, dovetails, and hardware for the same money as one latch from Snyder’s. So I decided to try them, figuring that at least the latch and striker plate should work together.

The parts from Battlefield arrived this morning, and they look very nice and like they will work. When I compared the striker plates I was “struck” by the physical differences. The one on the right is from Snyder’s, it’s a nice looking die casting. The one on the right is from Battlefield, it looks like a heavily powder coated sand casting. Note, however, the difference in angle and contour of the latching “tongue” between the two parts. The Battlefiield striker plate will work with their latch, except the latch itself doesn’t retract quite far enough to clear the striker and allow the door to open. This problem is minimal and I’ll fix it by milling a few thou off the striker.

Like I said at the beginning, not a rant; I’m grateful for all the vendors who risk their finances to supply our habit. Apologies for the incorrect rotation of the photo.

[JOES31]

That Battlefield one looks wrong. Use the Snyders one. But, for 40 years I put up
with my drivers door latch closing poorly. I would have to push the door, and then move the handle forward to get it to "click" shut. So in talking to a fellow member of the Model A club that I belong to, he gave a tip that solved it.

I filed that end down a little where the tip of the hook is. Bam! she closes perfectly now.

[SwampLedge]

I can’t use the Snyder’s piece. There’s just not enough clearance between the tongue of the latch hook and the body of the striker plate to allow the back edge of the latch to slip between them. But I’ve got the Battlefield striker plate fitting pretty nicely after taking .020” off it on the mill, accomplishing essentially the same thing you did with a file. Gonna take off another .010-.020 just to make sure it’s flawless- there’s plenty of meat on that casting.

[JOES31]

If it works to use the battlefield type then that's fine. Nothing more
irritating is a door that won't close properly. And I mean irritating!

Don't take too much off. Don't want any excess slack because you will hear it
over rough terrain. Rattles suck as well.

[Karl Wescott]

IMHO, both the Snyder's (and I have discussed the issue with them) and the one from Battlefield are both incorrect. The back face of the latching tang (for lack of better description) should be approximately parallel. Snyder's pinches in and the Battlefield one appears to splay out.


There are (were) at least 5 repro striker versions out there. We made a sand cast version which was basically correct but the finish was somewhat rough (Discontinued in the 1990's). The common early Taiwan terror from the 1970's which lacked the drop down on the mounting face. Vintique has one but has issues (Battlefield's may be from Vintique). Snyders as noted. As this striker was continued to 1932 Bob Drake makes a very nice one in investment cast stainless... Its the one I now sell.

[SwampLedge]

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Thanks, Karl. Wish I had known, that’s why I posted this in hopes of helping others.

[SwampLedge]

As it turned out, I couldn’t see a good way to make the Battlefield striker plate work with their latch on my RPU. Although the latch and striker plate worked ok together off the car, when installed after aligning the door, the striker plate sat too far forward to work with the latch. So I called Karl at wescottsauto.com and ordered a pair of part no. A-37505-SS as he described above. They arrived today and, not only do they look beautiful, they fit perfectly and worked on the car! Thanks, Karl. Just to close the circle on this thread, I’m including an updated photo to show the three different striker plates. The good one that I got from Karl is in the middle.