2 door Vs More doors??

OK, I don't want to start a shit fight with knifing and brass knuckles. I just want some reasonable views on a subject.
You cant avoid the dislike of more doors on this site and being an Aussy I don't really see a problem with them. I just want to know what the big deal is over in the States?

I will put in the reason there so accepted here in Oz.......
Back in the post WWII days Australia was a poor country, yup our soldiers, sailors and airmen/women didn't get paid much so we didn't see a post war boom like in the US.
As an upshot to that older cars were still sort after and, as such used, repaired and used again until they couldn't be fixed again. Australian society back then was ultra practical, one vehicle to fit ALL needs so a two door was unpractical. Hence we have a plethora of pickups and more doors and suffer in the two door stakes.
So prime two door steel is hard to get if you don't have bulging pockets or don't ming a glass car. Also most rodders here are family people so need the spare doors for the kiddies.

Just looking for opinions, thanks all,
Doc.

 

When I was a kid (i'm 66) it was-----
Convert
2 dr hardtop
2 dr sedan
4 dr sedan
Stationwagon
I been there and worked with you guys, can't believe the good work you do. Just because you don't have the options we do. Best time of my life! You Work with what you got!=Hotroddin!!............OLDBEET

 

Four doors have big, tall roofs and lots of clutter in the lines. Two doors (especially hardtops/converts) are much cleaner.

I do like four door hardtops.

 

well...here in America, practical took a back seat to: COOL.
4 door= family car.
2 door= youth, individualism, freedom, don't chain me down, man...you know that sorta thing.
4 door=practical.
hot rod= not real practical...just cool.
the lines, and balance of them overall is not as attractive. They are bulkier, versions of their slim, tight, 2 door counter parts, sort of haphazardly forced into accepting their mundane duty, an amalgamation, of sleek, and clumsy.
I don't hate them, I don't wish rabies on their owners, and, I have seen ones I like, ( those 4 door hardtops are usually the ones )
but...they are still four doors.
I would personally never hot rod one. but, then...who the hell am I.

 

Well, I'm 61. The 4 door '32 Fords were cool when I was a kid. Because they were old. Now the 4 door hardtops like the flat tops of the GM cars circa '55-'61 look pretty cool to me. I think that's, in part, because they are old cars now. It'll take several years before the 4 door post cars become acceptable. But it'll happen. Most guys starting out in this hobby can't afford a '55 Chevy 2 door HT, but even a 4 door '55 Buick is cooler than any ricer. Availability and cost are the deal. And like Old Beet says, a 4 door beat walking back in the early '60s.

One other factiod. Back in the '50s, woodies weren't considered cool. They were uncool station wagons. Surfers bought woodies becauuse they could be had for CHEAP, because most were dry rotted pieces of junk. Note the Jan & Dean lyric: "I got a '34 wagon and we call it a woodie. She's not very cherry, she's an oldie but a goodie. Ain't got a back seat or a rear window, but it still gets me where I want to go…" Back then the first thing to fall off of a rotted station wagon was the rear window. The surfers with money drove Corvettes or T-Birds. And 4 doors were family cars. Uncool.

That help?

 

Well this is what I think, there are some four door cars that are still cool. The Lincoln and Cadillac 4 door hard top. Other than that they just dont do nothin for me. Thats just me.

 

<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100&#37;" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on" width="100%"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">It's all about proportions. But some are really cool.
</TD></TR><TR UNSELECTABLE="on" hb_tag="1"><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 1pt" height=1 UNSELECTABLE="on">
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

Personally, I like alot fo four-door cars. I have seen some that look great, and I have seen some that look, well, let's just say not so hot. As far as the problem with being able to find two door, just make your four door a two door. There is a very interesting article in the latest issue of Rod and Kulture about converting a four door to a two door. I read it and it really doesn't seem that hard. You should check out that article, i'm sure it's on the internet somewhere. There's a guy here where I live that is an old school hot rodder that once told me that he has only owned 1 two door in his life, and he hated it.

 

reasons for 4 door:
- broke
- impatient
- can't find a 2 door


there are a few exceptions to the 4 doors, suicide continentials and well any suicide. there was a killer thread here on how to get the "more" outta your more-door. 4 doors can only be so good. i'm just disappointed in the few that claim to like 4doors because its different, they're lieing to themselves.

 

chili phil said it, i my self have a 4 door , i wanted a car that i could learn on, and the cheapest "coolest" car i found was my olds hardtop. id rather be learning on this than a sleek 2 door caddy . will i ever get a four door again? NO

 

I wonder how many guys state side realize how rare 2door anythings are down under?

 

Well, I did alot of not real practical individualistic things in my youth, got it out of my system young. I have always dug older steel but just never had the $ or settled down enough to get my hands on one. Now I have a family and then found my car. It's my first, I don't have a bunch of time to work on it right now but I know what I want to do with it. I'll never convert it to a two door but I will figure out how to make it into a hard top style without a center post. I never really liked two doors much when younger. I'm pretty tall and hate crawling in and out of the back. If I'm sitting in front I hate getting out or bending forward to let somebody in (pimps dig four doors.) I bought it to be a family rod if you want to call it that. I bought it to hold on to for a long while. I plan on having other maybe less practical down the road, but this is for my family and me to enjoy.

 

haha...your right! pimps DO dig four doors...thats a good one.
ahhhh...girls are just extra weight, anyway...

 

Ok, so it seems its based more on taste that anything else, questioned answered.
I have converted a couple of 4 doors to two door cars, nothing cool though and mainly for fun. One was a 100e Prefect, nothing can make that cool but it was free and something to do when I was young. I don't think I would convert anything 4 door if it was like a 28 to 40. I love the look of the Aussy bodies 34 4 doors, one of my fav cars (Cant find a good pic though) Apart from a coupe they have the nicest lines of the year model, the back of the Aussy cars is more aggressive (if thats the right word?) looking than the US versions, with a chop they are way cool.
Like Appleseed said, 2 door anything is RARE over here.
Thanks again guys,
Doc.

(Good to see no stabbings, gunfights or brass knuckles)

 

the 2 door thing has gone by the way side with the current generation, i see all kinds of import 4 doors that are quite modifyed.

 

I asked this same question when I was about 12. I thought the answer I got from the guy with the mullet driving the butt kickin 63 Nova was pretty good. "Families have 4 door cars. Girls like guys that have their own car. A guy driving a 4 door probably borrowed it from his mom."

I personally have no problem with 4 doors, but I'll take a 2 door any day if given the choice.

 

I was out with the family and saw a beat to crap Honda 4 door of the "that thing runs?" variety. This 17 (or so) year old kid pops open his gull wing door and gets out. Even my wife couldn't help but crack up.

 

True, I have always found it odd that Mitsubishi's so called "Performance" (Right!) flagship the Evo is a 4 door. I am more after the Hotrod side of the issue though.
I think 2 door Customs do look better than 4 doors but with everything there is the occasional exception to the rule.

 

four doors are cheap yeah...if you gotta get one leave it a fourdoor ..and stop with the im gonna convert it to a two door horseshit......fuck that

 

Kill this Thread......

 

Why? Its an honest question. Always has to be someone that has a problem.

 

Generally the 2 doors look much better than the 4 doors. I suppose that could be a matter of taste....if you don't have that appreciation for clean styling, then the difference won't bother you. Congrats, you've saved yourself a lot of coin.

 

Sorry Doc, that's not entirely true. Post-war, Australia became one of the richest countries in the world...on the back of massive immigration and commodities (i.e sheep!).

"The period after WWII was distinguished by a &#8220;long boom&#8221; of prosperity and full employment, rising living standards, large scale migration (mainly from Europe), continued dependence on agriculture but with a greatly expanded manufacturing industry, an explosion of domestic consumer expenditure and private motor vehicles, some major public works such as the enormous Commonwealth-funded Snowy Mountains hydroelectricity Scheme, urban growth and large-scale housing development. However, in this period of rapid growth, despite substantial public works programs, provision of services such as electricity generation, roads, public transport, sewerage, schools and health services inevitably lagged behind demand.

By the early 60&#8217;s the &#8220;long boom&#8221; was flattening out. Unemployment and inflation increased enough to cause disquiet. The &#8220;Lucky Country&#8221; was beginning to face more challenges than it had in the relatively easy boomtimes of the 1950s." Courtesy of the Parliament of NSW.

And it's more probable that legislation and economics had more to do with our 4-door fetish than anything else. After all, PM Billy Hughes BANNED the import of bodies in the 20s (how long that ban continued I cannot tell you) so it would have seemed most unlikely that the manufacturers would have tooled up for both 2-door and 4-door models when 4-doors were the most practical (and appealing) for families.

 

This is a car we did for a guy (joe) last year.
I actually would rather have one of these than a 2 door,
especially with kids and friends.
It would have to be chopped though.
tp

 

This subject comes up often enough!
I have a T roadster. I also have 2 kids, and last year was a bit of a squeeze going camping at the rod runs.
A coupe would be cool - and keep the summer rain off, but we still wouldn't fit.
Two door sedan would be nearly as cool and we'd all fit a treat with some proper space for all our "luxury" camping gear.

Single dad wallet stretched to this. It's no hot rod. Not cool, but practical and comfy on a long journey. Heavy, ponderous, and a smile a mile...

 

Ever since I was a kid I can remember people moaning about 2 doors, what a pain it is getting in and out of the back and all that practical shit. The average Australian car buyer has historically been practical. Personally, I've never been a taxi fan and most cars seem to be designed as a 2 door then the 4 door and other models get adapted from that. Even in the 70's whe GM brought out 4 door "Monaros" with stripes and crap they quickly outsold the coupes. That about says it all. It seems a lot of guys here just wanna be taxi drivers. And 2 doors have always been more expensive than 4 doors here as well, Ford, GM and Chrysler.

 

Times they are a changing. At least some are trying to change them. I still cant get over the 4 door Dodge Chargers.

 

If you are raised your entire life to drive on the left side of the road and all of a sudden somebody says I like driving on the right side of the road and don't understand why you blokes don't like it... It's the same deal.

From the time in our pre-teens, 4 drs were old folks cars. It was peer pressure. I used to park my mothers 4dr 51 Chevy around the corner and walk to the Mighty Mo just so I was not seen driving my mothers 4dr. She later got a 58 Del Ray 2dr and I was cool then even with the 6 cyl.. You can't teach an old dog new tricks if he doesn't want to learn.

You were obviously raised differently. That's cool. The only 4drs I've ever owned that I could tolerate were woodies because the surfers made them cool. I had a couple of 4 dr Willys because of the gassers at that time but I thought very seriously about welding the rear doors shut.

In high school my buddy had a 4dr step down Hudson. We were unmerciful in the ribbing that we gave him, but we were quick to jump in the back seat if he was driving.

 

it aint a charger its a monico..the dam germans need a "selling" name..they fucked that car up as far as calling it a charger..NOT!