As I near the end of my restoration, I was just refitting the rear trunk lid back on the car. The fit seemed to be good, and as I brought it down it latched. When I tried to open it nothing happened. I figured it was in the locked position, but after turning the lock to the opposite position, it still would not open. I must have reversed the plunger or opening pin when I had it apart to clean.
Any ideas on how to get it opened would be appreciated.
Before I get the Dremel or drill out to do surgery, I’m hoping someone has a less invasive solution.

Thanks in advance,
John

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Your going to have to go in the the engine compartment and remove the 4 trunk hing bolts.

I will look at this, hopefully it doesn’t involve the spring loaded part of this system.
Thanks,
John

Hi. I went out and looked. I can only see one way that no metal gets bent, that I would try. From the engine compartment, pop out the cup the front top latch goes into in the trunk. Get every ratchet extension you own and, one at a time send in a 10mm socket and as many extensions as it takes to un-bolt the tail light. I was able to put my arm through the tail light opening in the body and reach the two bolts that hold in the locking mechanism. Worth a try.

I feel for you....I did the exact same thing last year, after rebuilding the lock....I ended up drilling it out and buying a new one from a fellow forum member. When you get the new one remove the latch/assembly from the actual lid, then leave the lid up and reinstall and you can test it a few times to be confident, then reattach the lid portion. Good luck.

Well it's shot now. If you want I can come buy and haul it away for you.

Nice looking car.

Do a search here, the easiest way to do this is:

- Push both of the plastic cups that hold the targa top latches from the engine compartment side into the rear trunk
- Have a helper shine a flashlight through one of the holes and onto the back of the latch
- Get several long extensions for your ratchet wrench and put a 10mm nut on the end
- Slowly fiddle the extensions through the other hole until you can reach the back of the lock
- Remove the two to 10mm bolts
- Open trunk



PS: This might work better if you put a swivel at the end

Thank you all for your comments, remarks, compliments, I’ll be looking at all these options.
I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Cheers,
John

Last time I had a issue like that, my lid didn't sit down quite right anway, and so made an advantage to lift up the corner of the lid, and I used a 5/16" rod, I believe, and was able to reach over, and force the plunger down to release it.

@Morph914
Another member said go in thru the plastic cup holes and use a 2 iron to reach behind the latch and trip in catch.

Well, I can’t hit my 2 iron worth a darn, so maybe it will come in handy for this.

Thank you

Put some duct tape on the extension connections.

The more extensions you use the more difficut it becomes to aim the swivel socket
to the two bolts.
Get three long (12" ?) 1/4' extensions and tape them at the joints as rhodguy said....
you don't want to have to fish them out if they detach.
3/8" tools are too heavy.
The trunk is empty ( ) right ?