Possibly , possibly. I'd have to test to see which orientation the magnets need to be in and which exact direction they can slide in from. I think a 10mm stroke would be enough to move them in and out of the right spot. This is not an elegant solution, but might not be too ghetto.
I purchased two solenoids from Amazon - one a 10mm stroke, another 15mm (a much bigger, beefier unit than the 10mm one), I also purchased some very small strong magnets.
I'll be driving south for the holiday, and time permitting, I may mess around with these and a 12 VDC supply.