1950s trunk pull downs

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Bruce,
That one looks to be a close resemblance of the old screen/storm door closers which are spring loaded.   

I would guess there is an electrical motor somewhere to pull down on the cable during closing (soft closing) and releases during opening (pulled by the spring load inside) while the trunk raises (soft open).    

Very interesting design..!   

It definitely a soft closing, but when hitting the open button in the Glove Box, it rises like a rocket ship on steroids.

As for being like a screen door closer, it is definitely hydraulic inside as the screen doors are pneumatic, as they have an adjusting knob at the end to dictate the amount of pressure required.   At least mine does.

The only problem I have encountered with the cable/ram ones is when rust gets in, the cable starts to seize up.   I found a couple of broken strands in mine, and after hours of spraying with CRC and PB Blaster, got it to slowly move, and was able to extract the broken strands.

Bruce.