Jammed Driver Side Door

["G Ryerson" <TRyerson@xxxx>]

I've got a serious problem and am hoping that someone out there can offer a
suggestion or two.

Two weeks ago my son decided to show our '83 to a young lady, and both sat
inside for a few minutes. After leaving the car they of course closed the
doors.

The following Saturday morning I thought it would be nice to take the car
our for a spin as I do almost every Saturday morning. At this point I
discovered that the driver door could not be opened. Close inspection
revealed that the front door latch was not engaged properly and the front of
the door was bowed out about a half inch. The rear latch was indeed latched.

After fiddling with the key in the door lock and ensuring that the door was
indeed unlocked, I tried to open the door with the outside release handle:
wouldn't open. I then reached in through the open ( fortunately ) driver
side window and tried the inside release handle: again no success. It seemed
as if the release mechanism was not connected to either release handle.

I then removed the lower trim pad ( Manual 8/7/1, index # 7 ) to get at some
of the inner working. After fooling with things, disconnecting several
linkage rods, and spending a lot of time trying to view the rear latch with
mirrors and small flashlights, I still am absolutely stumped on how the get
the door open. The release rod going to the rear latch moves completely
freely, but is indeed connected to the release lever on the latch. The
"lock" rod, on the other hand, seems to be binding even when disconnected
from the actuating solenoid.

I'd sure appreciate all suggestions about this problem !

George Ryerson