I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED THE SUICIDE DOORS ON THE OLD CARS, AND I NEVER SEE THEM MUCH WHEN I GO TO CAR SHOWS OR REBUILDS... JUST WONDERED WHY??
Not all old cars and models came with them. Most cars had standard opening doors, with maybe suicide doors on the back doors of a four door sedan. Some cars like 34 Fords and some Plymouths of that era had them though. Go to an S10 or lowrider show and you will see all you want to see. Don
It's probably the safety factor. Some guys will do it just to say they did it. But when the car is going down the road looks just as good with the door latch on either side. I think it's cool, just not sure if I'd go to the trouble of changing stuff around.
If your door gets opened on accident, you might as well kiss it goodbye at speed. My grandpa had a '33 ford that had little latches we'd lock every time we drove it down the freeway, just in case. Problem is, then you're trapped in the car if something bad happened.
I've got em on my 52 Chevy truck...for conversation, they are cool...Function, they***** and if it didn't come that way i'd never do it again.. Just made it harder to get in and out of and also seal against the elements. Of course, that's just my thoughts having a vehicle with em. And as was mentioned, IF it dosn't latch properly, and it opens...say goodbye to the door and surrounding tin..and maybe whoever is sitting there. Prob a good reason why it didn't last long Tony
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=SUIC...tbnw=216&start=36&ndsp=13&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:36 MY MOM DROVE ONE LIKE THIS SO THIS IS WHERE IT STARTED FOR ME WITH THE SUICIDE DOORS..
That happened to me once. Drove over a rough hiway-to-bridge deck transition at 65 mph. Body flexed, passenger door opened and immediately slammed all the way back around against the body'til it couldn't go any farther. After I cleaned myself up a little I drove home sitting in the center of the seat steering with one hand and holding the broken door closed (sorta) with the other. After I got it the door and the B pillar fixed I made some over-center sliders into the A pillar so it wouldn't happen again. Scared the***** out of me.
I've had them on the 48 since the early 80's and as much as I like them and and they are a big part of the truck they do have issues. The main one is that if they do come open when the vehicle is moving the wind catches them and back they go and something is going to get damage. It has happened on my truck twice and both times I started off with the door open and it didn't pop open. The chances of getting thrown out of a vehicle with suicide doors in and accident aren't any bigger than the chances of getting thrown out of one with regular doors. They were called suicide doors early on because in the early days of cars when the roads were dirt and cars were slow a lot of guys thought it more prudent to jump out of a car that was headed for an accident rather than ride it out. If you bailed out of a car with suicide doors you got nailed by the door. My wife actually fell out of the truck before it was chopped and had suicide doors because the stock door latches were worn out and popped open. I found myself hanging by my arm through the window with the door open after making a right hand turn at 10mph the second day I owned the truck. I managed to hang on and stop the truck and went straight to the dealer and bought new latches. That was in 1973 and my wife fell out in 1978 in part because the latches were worn out again and mostly because was leaning backwards against the door.
When I was a little kid about three or four my dad had a fourdoor car with suicide rear doors. Back in thoes days there were no seat belts and I was allowed to wonder around the back. One day while standing in the back seat, I pulled the drivers side door handle at around fifty miles per hour. Instantly I was dragged from the car and thrown into oncoming traffic. Lucky for me I bounced between two cars and landed in the ditch with very little damage. That was an experience I still remember today, but my latest build has suicide doors. I did have the sense to install a safety dead-bolt system though. Before doing so the doors would pop open under hard accelleration. I still think they are cool as hell.
My '33 sedan has suicide doors - I will be installing safety pins (deadbolts). I have bear claw latches - much safer - the originals were wedge types that sometimes came open as the body flexed. As has already been said - not a good thing!
So..what was the sales pitch on the showroom floor?? I am sure there was no reference to "suicide door". Regards, Twobit ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One neat thing about "suicide" doors...particularly on '32/'33/'34 Fords... It made possible, the beautifully angled and sweeping line at the front of the door.
Just FYI - when the front doors open normally, and the back doors are suicide style, it's referred to as "kissing doors".
I suicided my 49 Hudson, and my old 50 chevy kustom was suicided as well. I like the idea and is a cool custom application. Slide latches at bottom of door is great insurance for your doors if you go this route.
lmao they had to have called them " kissing doors" back then surely not "throw ur kids out doors" with a quick jerk of the wheel!~ lol
I put them on my '66 Bug, and they work, and look great IMO. I put Jetta III bear claw latches in first, and wouldn't do it without them. I still want to put a dead bolt in too. Just to add to the look, I also removed the drip rail that runs down the front quarter in front of the door, and rounded the front bottom corner. The finishing touch is '32 Ford outside handles up front. The important thing about them to me, is they have to fit the body style. They just look wrong on a squared off vehicle like an S-10, or late model truck.
My car has 4 suicide doors, but they also have electric deadbolts so you don't have to remind everyone that rides in it to lock them. On a '33 Ford the suicide doors make it easier to get in and out of.
My Rudebaker has 'em. Gonna concur, deadbolt at the front is a must. My doors weigh just slightly less than the Nimitz, and if they ever blew open at speed... they'd stove in the whole rear fender for sure.
I heard a different story... that if you were driving down the road and your suicide door started to open accidentally... and you tried to grab a door handle or window jamb in order to pull the door back closed, the wind would still rip the door back and toss you out on the road if you didn't let go of the door - getting suicided! Gary
I never understood why anyone would go through the trouble of suiciding doors on a car that didn't come with them. A complete waste of time and effort for no possible reason.
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