No its not, I was thinking about this real hard while doing stop and go across town in my Willys. My left leg is killing me thank you for asking. Now alone the back doors probably were not called suicide doors as a marketing strategy, I haven't seen any old brocures but I'll just about bet they were called something along the lines of reverse opening rear doors, for easy egress. Never the less that is not what I came up with, if you were take the whole vehicle into consideration, what with the two doors per side latching in the middle they are called barn doors. OK then, I feel better now, well except for my clutch leg.
This is some funny shit.one person says I have suicide doors,and another says who cares they are doors call them what ya want ,and yet another says Gang doors must be a ghetto term,AND WHY ARE WE EVEN HAVING THIS CONVERSATION ON THE HAMB....people that read and or write on the HAMB must be better then all that - but look at ya bunch a -A Holes,this has gone to two pages -HAHAHAHAHA
I'm with Beano. It happened to somebody down our way back in the late '30s or very early '40s. Gang doors? Gang doors my butt. Just sounds like a modern fad name. Who cares? The HAMB is a trad site. Somebody wants to make up a new name for an early car feature, it won't stick on the HAMB. They should take that somewhere else.
We're A-holes for using "suicide doors" in the trad sense of the term? I didn't call anybody names, but somebody sure isn't much into traditional. With a word, Ryan or Kevin could stop the silliness of this "debate"?
Actually, the roadsters and coupes with only two doors rear-hinged were called 'suicide doors'. The younger set has exclaimed of Lincoln Phaetons and Landau T-Birds to have "Suicide Doors! Wow!" Crap. Two-gang boxes are 110 volt.
Better term to mull over than suicide doors is "butter and egg man." Haven't heard that in a while !!
Another old fart that has always called rear hinged doors suicide doors. No the manufacturers never called them that. They didn't want people to think about falling out when a door popped open on a hard turn and you fell out on your head. Some think this is a stupid post. I think anything that involves old cars is interesting and debating it helps us learn or remember things. Now for something else stupid. I've heard some people say fenderskirts are actually called fenderpants. Who's right? Another debate comin up! Also for the WHEEL guy. Do you know why those things mounted on wheels are called tires ? Most don't know.
AND YOU'RE POSTER NUMBER 32! WELCOME TO THE A-HOLE CLUB! I actually think the debate is kind of interesting. Any rear hinged door was always a suicide door to me but some of you claim that it's only for 2-doors? Why is that? Okay, I'll take the bait. Why are tires called "tires"? And what about this butter and egg man thing? I don't recall ever having heard that term. Fender pants?? LOL, now you're pulling my leg!
Too late you already did. Honestly, I've heard a lot of old guys swear that fenderskirts were really called fenderpants. Hell, maybe it's a Gay thing? I don't know. The tire/wheel thing I am not going to answer yet. Some of you must know. Don't know anything about butter or ham and eggs except at the Waffle House. . have heard of green eggs n ham!
Bingo! Hardly used on the big scene like "Suicide Doors" but a term used all the same and one with traditional significance like it or not. The brains in the backseat left with the dough once the patsy behind the wheel takes a slug. Satchmo made it timeless. Dang straight!
Actually I heard the term fender panties. It was a kind of a high school joke thing or at least it was when I heard it. It isn't always tires as well, I have or visited quite a few places where it is tars. And engines have ol in 'em not oil.
I had a 61 Lincoln for awhile and I called em suicide doors (always will, it sounds cool, not gangsta). The 1961 Lincoln brochure just called em center opening doors, Im guessing calling em suicide doors in the brochure wouldnt have been a good selling point.
A friend of mine had an old Chrysler wirh suicide doors but after one of the guys opened one to bump a chasing dog they were called Dogcatcher doors.
Since I started posting on the HAMB forum it's almost suicide to do it! As for why those things on wheels are called TIRES. Way back when our family went west in the first Studebaker type conostoga wagons my forefathers and five mothers took a back road. Forefather hit a large boulder and busted the big wooden spoked wheel. We called ahead and found a Studebaker dealership with a blacksmithy. As he was building a new wooden spoked wheel he told me to hand him that thar tyre. He pointed at the steel hoop thingies stacked in a corner. A tyre was that metal rim that tied the spokes together. Therefore the word tyre became tire and guys like Goodyear and Firestone just kept using it. Even though that large rubber looking thing no longer ties the wheel together it has been known to be a tire. And that's the rest of the story!
So theyre not "barn doors" like other door pairs that close together (suburbans and vans come to mind)? Alright, alright! Just checking.
So forefathers and 5 mothers almost sounds like the farthest west your family got was Utah. Did they have those emergency phones along the oregon trail like they do on some freeways or did they have to call ahead by using smoke signals. Sorry I just couldn't let it go. I was just makin' that chit up man. I didn't know it was something real.
Now that's funny. When I read this I pictured a pissed off German Shepherd being scooped into the car.
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