1973 was the last year that GM stamped the compartment key code on the glove box lock cylinder. 1973 rules, I tell you. Two weeks without hood or trunk access was killing me and I just could not bring myself to bash out the trunk lock cylinder despite the fact that the the trunk skin and inner skeleton had completely separated across the entire width of the lid..
I think everyone at the locksmith shop knows me as the black hole of GM key blanks and I enjoy going there — it’s “old school” yo and a refreshing way to blow a lunch hour. They charged me $10 to cut a key for each cylinder and an extra buck or two for the extra key blanks…which are actual GM key blanks.
I was so excited to try out that trunk key…and after 15 minutes of wiggling and lots of powdered graphite, the cylinder reluctantly allowed me access into the trunk which contained……. a jack.
I’m not kidding. It really took me close to 15 minutes to get the lock cylinder free enough to open the trunk. Once the lid was up, I fed it more graphite & now it’s as free as a terd. It’s possible that some of the trunk contents escaped via the large rust holes & ended up on I-40 the day it came “home”.