Opinions on 4 doors???

I'm not a big fan of 4 doors. I have owned and driven a few. One of the best cars I ever owned was a 59 Belair 4 door. If you have to have one and have time to choose, I like the 4 door hardtops the best, or a station wagon. I always liked the Olds Vista Cruisers. A 64-65 would be my favorite but any year into the early 70s are still pretty cool.

 

My opinion of 4 doors is that they are cars with four doors.

 

Well, I now have both a two door and a four door. The reason i have a more door is price. I wanted a car so bad but couldnt find a two door in my price range. I really didnt like it at first but thought "what the heck, at least I have something to cruise in and the wife and three kids can tag along". But then it started to grow on me and I started fixing it up and I get a huge amount of compliments about the car, mostly because it is a four door. The next build sitting in the garage is a two door so I will have both. I say to each his own, for whatever reason, I dont understand why we need to debate if a four door is cool or not, it is what you make of it!

 

2 door / 4 door ??? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The real issue is that 2 doors are worth considerably more than 4 doors. That is the reality of the market. Simply just supply and demand. The cost to restore the body is the same or more for a 4 door (hinges, strikers, handles) and the finished probduct is worth less. It is also the same amount of work. Based on that I have always gone for the least amount of doors.

 

Thank god 4 doors are worth less thats the only reason I can afford an older car. The over priced investment car guys around here will let two doors rot if they dont get there $$ but they have no want for 4 doors. 4 doors are 1/4 the price and only the arrogant narcissistic jerks will give you a serious hard time. And they are easy to wright off as they are the type that are to perfect for losers like me to take seriously anyway. If you are only into the car hobby as an investor and $$$$ is your only driving factor stay away from 4 doors let us bottom feeders have them as we are a useless band of nardowells any way.

 

^^^^ Amen Brother!

 

Glen,

Thanks for actually answering the OP's question. . .and regardless of the "two-door" vs. "four-door" debate this has devolved into, it seems to me that is the issue the OP was raising.

While the "little fingers/back door" issue is a reality, trying to wrestle a car seat in and out of the back seat of a two-door is a real PIA.

While I don't have children, I have a number of friends who do (very young children), and while watching them try to get the "hefty little lumps" in and out of the back seat is mildy amusing, I've also had friends strain, twist and turn their backs just trying to get car seat/kid/child "acoutrements" in and out of a two door.

Sure, dynamat and a muffler change is great for making it more "newborn friendly," and will go a long way, until your little one is able to get in and out of a back seat on his own, a four-door might be more practical.

Oh, and by the way? I have one of each ('59 4 dr. Edsel Ranger, '60 2 dr. Edsel Sedan).

And I dig havin' a four-door. Easier to get the crew in and out of the car. . .especially because the four door is so low that with a whole crew in the back, there are times when we have to "Chinese Fire Drill" everyone out of the car, just to get her out of parking lots.

 

its a one door. EXIT!!!!

 

this is the only intelligent post on this whole thread....

 

I'm the O.P, and thanks for the advice everyone. I realize dynamat, different mufflers, and swapping my headers for manifolds will solve what i thought were going to be problems.

I'm 6'4" 275, so lifting a baby in and out will be no problem, although he's probably going to chunky.

 

I know this post was not a 2 vs 4 thing but thats how most posts asking about 4 doors turn out. If you are a 4 door guy check (The mordoors) Social group.

 

Best post in this whole thread. They're doors....that's about it.
Yeah an extra set throws off SOME body lines, but it helps to accent others. Gives certain cars a more luxurious look.
I especially like the paradox created by all the people talking about how a 2 door is the way to go because it'll sell quicker than a 4 door...yeah, to people that think that way.
There have been some classy 4 doors posted on here that look killer. I'd rather have a clean 4 door than a beat to shit 2 door anyways.
Also good for a laugh everytime the young guys start chiming in and telling everyone _______ isn't traditional. Lol

 

i wouldnt mind owning a mid fifties 4 door hardtop

i bought a 57 fairlane 500 sedan 4 door for parts from another hamber if it had a title i wouldnt of parted it out

if i found a 55-57 chevy 4 door within reason price/condition wise you better believe id own it in a heartbeat

4 doors can be cool it takes balls to drive /own cars everyone else thinks arent cool
i never cared what others think

let everyone else be different just like everyone else, ill be myself AND have fun doing it

 

Just finnished mine ...

 

Nothing wrong with a 4 door, I own one. I agree 2 doors do look better, but when you're rollin' down the road with your arm cocked out the window and a big grin on your face it's hard to tell the difference.

And that's where you should be, not sittin' around some car show or in this case, on the 'puter arguing about 2 or 4 doors.

Just my opinion.

 

I was trying to think of a cool 4 door and that's the exact car that first came to mind, even a hard roof version.
I did have one cool 4 door. I drove a 69 Ford crew cab as a daily driver for several years, sold it a couple years back, cool factor several times more than a standard cab of that vintage.
I also concur with porknbeaner. When I grew up, there was no way that you would ever consider a 4 door and there was nothing you could do to make one cool, plus any attempt to do so just made you more of a dork. We didn't dream about owning a 52 chevy 4 door, we dreamed about owning a 57 belair 2 door hardtop or an GTO. And it was also almost as uncool to have an automatic, real cars had 3 pedals and a floor shift.
That being said, the original post was more about a compromise in practicality than what's cool and what isn't. If I had to have a family car and had a choice it would be a 4 door hardtop. The 59-60 GM flatroofs have nice lines. It wouldn't be that hard to put some power locks on the back doors. But beware of those early power windows, they can decapitate a kid.

 

Who cares what others think. Get what you like. It's your loot! I've always rocked 4 doors. LOVE EM! Lets see... 5000 for a 2 door or 2500 for a 4 door and 2500 left to make it cooler.
No brainer. GO MORE DOORS!

 

Each to his own boys. That's why they make 32 flavors, they all taste good.

 

Kinda' like a pickup truck...
But really, I've always liked 4 doors cause it's easier for you and your buddies to pile in for a quicker getaway. 2 doors look better for sure but 4 still look good most of the time and are practical too(my two sisters and I grew up with a 56 Bel Air sedan as Mom's driver). And 4 door hardtops (Bel Air and 210 Sport Sedan) look neat with their huge back glass.

 

we dreamed about owning a 57 belair 2 door hardtop or an GTO.

I never dreamed of 57 Chevys or muscle cars of any type. My dreams were coupes roadsters and kustoms in that order. I never was one to follow the crowed.

 

Bought my 4 door Fairlane in 87 for exactly the reason the OP has. Easy to transport kids. My wife ain't real tall, getting the car seats in n out of the HT Galaxie was a pain in her ass. Still own that 4 door, can you say "sleeper" boys n girls?

 

Lincoln 4 door ragtop..... ;0)

 

We built this one when we had the baby. It was great for for getting the baby carrier in and out of. My wife is still pissed at me for selling it.

 

Only if its very fast.

I actually shot a 4 door '49 merc custom a few years back for a magazine I was working at. I belonged to a fella called Frenchy from up in North of here. He built some really beautiful rods and customs in his time but when he and the wife traveled that took the merc. It was comfortable, his wife called it the Old man car.

The car set well and had a nice chop but in my opinion the money shot was when the doors were all open. Wiht the rear suicide soors when you opened all the doors it looked like you could just drive a little coupe of roadster right through it.

I actually like the early to mid '60s 4 door lincolns also. Yea they are big old square boats but like the older merc of frenchy that had suicide rear doors. Just a classy car, but alas pricey as hell if you find one.

More doors can be cool and if you choose the right one they often have very interesting roof lines. Take the '56 chevy four door hard top for instance. I am not a big tri-five chevy fan but that particular model has a sweet roofline. If I could find one I might consider adding one of those to the stable. not because it is easier to get in and out of the back seat but because I like the lines.

 

All you guys saying 4 doors are easier to get your friends in and out of, how hard is it really to step out of the car for a second to let someone get in the backseat without pushing you into the wheel? Is it honestly so much work to lift 40 pounds of car seat into the backseat onto the base? You get in the car once before you leave, and get out once you get there. 1 minute of loading a 2dr with your stuff in back is seriously to long to stand next to the car?

This is a traditional hot rod and custom site, not consumer reports. If ease of entry for rear passengers and is your main concern, then this might not be the place to ask people to tell you your four door sedan is what we all wish for in a car.

 

You obviously dont have kids, and all your friends are the size of kids.

 

You need to be able to enter and exit rapidly when you do a drive by.

When traditional hot rods and customs were not yet traditional child safety seats were not yet part of the equation. The whole putting the kid in the back seat for safety thing stems from air bags killing them not because it is safer in the back.

The OP asked for opinions and then recanted and said he didn't want opinions. That's his prerogative its his thread.

If you want to talk traditional there were few if any more door customs that ever got any recognition because they were just not considered to be smooth. There was at least one more door Kaiser custom that was converted to a two door that was a show stopper in North Calif that I know of but it was no longer a 4 door when it was showing and cruising so I guess that is mute point.

A more door can be made to look nice enough but at the end of the day its still a grocery getter. Or as Frenchy's wife put it an Old Man car. If that is what you are after then by all means build yourself one.

I personally build cars the way I like to. I normally drop the ball on one point or another because I lack disipline. At the end of the day I am happy for the most part. I don't spend a lot of time trying to pass anything off for any more than what it is. if it looks trad enough for someone to call it trad then it gets called trad by someone but for me its just my ride. If I build it and I'm not happy with some part or another I keep changing it until I am. Every one here should build what makes them happy.

Bottom line is that it has to make me happy, it doesn't have to make my friends happy and my whole attyitude on it is if it has a back seat and someone is not happy climbing in and out of it, they just don't have to crawl back there any more.

My kids are grown and when they weren't they were pretty nimble. But I come from an entirely different era. New rules and different opinions I suppose.

I could go on for hours here but I won't waste the band width with my blather.

carry on.

 

Hahah actually I have 2 kids and some fat friends. I have done the car seats in the back more times than I can count, and I still don't see what the big deal is.

 

I'm not saying anybodys four doors are worthless and ugly. I can think of a few four doors that are gorgeous, and I have even recently considered buying one I ran across that I thought was neat. I just don't think carrying kids means you need four doors.

 

Yea but you guys are tough up in Sunny Ol' Minnisota.

I remember that the Ol' Man bought a little import 4 door sedan once when I was real little a DKW if memory serves. The whole deal was that with my braces it was going to be easier for me to get in the back with my sis. Sis cut her hand on a piece of trim. The Duck became a Plymouth Business coupe within a week, the old man took the shelf out and put a seat back there and my sis just helped me crawl over the seat when we made trips in it.

I still remember all of 4 of us traveling in the roadster, just because the Ol' Man liked the roadster better than the coupe (we all did). My sis and I would sit in the middle me on here lap. They would take my braces off and put them behind the seat so they wouldn't bruise her legs. Put them back on when we got where we were going.

Life was good as far as we were concerned.

Different times different rules.