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Austral Transmission Lock



Just received this lock in the mail today.  Many thanks to GringoLocksmith for selling/shipping this to me at a great price.



Is it just me, or does that keyway not look very straight?



It is intended as a hinderance to picking.  But how to get a key into the non-straight keyway?  Well, if you read GLS's post you know the answer.  Here is the key.





The key is made like a watch band, with jointed sections.  Yes, the key is flexible!



Oh, did I say 'flexible'?  I meant FLEXIBLE!!!



Yeah, that's more like it.  But with the key being that flexible, pushing it into the lock is, as someone once said, is like shooting pool with a rope.   So the key has the rigid frame to give it strength for insertion. 



 Place the key into the keyway like so:



Then slide the key bow towards the lock.  This pushes the segmented key into the lock.



Then, you guessed it... turn the key!



Now the shackle pops out.  (Yes, it does pop, as it is spring loaded.)



With the shackle removed, the plastic cover of the lock body can be removed.



These keys are supposed to be highly susceptible to breaking. The original Dixon Transmission lock in the post by GringoLocksmith showed how he opened one of these locks.  I did not ask for his permission to use the picture he used, so go look at his writeup to see how he opened it when the key was broken.  It is worth the look!  (GringoLocksmith, if you want to add the picture to this post, go right ahead.  I always welcome add-ons!)

This is a slightly updated version of the lock in his post.  They have added these metal rings to be installed on the shackle to prevent shimming.





It looks to be the same as the Dixon Transmission Lock.  It comes with a bracket (which I elected not to pay to have shipped, as it is large and heavy), and is used to lock a transmission, so the vehicle can not be stolen.

For those who may be concerned - the key is not blurred because this lock will never be used.  It is for my collection because of the uniqueness of the key.

Hope you like it!

Gordon

Excellent set of pics, thanks for sharing that.

Excellent post. Here's the old Dixon version shimmed:



Have you tried to pick it yet?

The mailman also brought me a present today.



I found it really surprising that they included a little metal tag that also had the proper biting cut onto it. It's clearly there to make life easier if you're making a copy of these keys... but that suggests that you can order these blanks! (I'd assumed that they'd be a mess to cut on anything other than a dedicated machine, so I figured the cutting would only be done at the factory?!)