Suicide doors on a kustom?

[Canada Jeff]

Howza, brothers.

Are suicide doors on full customs more of a modern era show car thing, or was it done in the golden age too?

I like them on some cars, but I don't know if I've ever seen a vintage example. Is this just because I'm a 70s child?

(Let's ignore factory suicide doors here and focus on the modification of conventional doors)

[53suburban]

I think I remember seeing a couple of customs with them in the 60s. (Southern California-San Bernardino area) One of them was a 53 or 54 Mercury 2dr hardtop.

[krassandbernie]

I believe that it was either '33 or '34 Fords that had suicide doors.....the 3 window coupes that is. As long as you don't go making Lambo doors I think all is well! LOL!

[zenrat]

Plenty of precedence for Gull Wings on the other hand...

[robtrat]

I think creatively hinged doors have been a part of 'Kustoms' since there have been 'Kustoms', therefore I think they are traditional by definition, if they're done in a traditional way.

[froghawk]

I have a feeling that the conversion of front hinged doors to "suicide" rear hinged doors really became popular with low-riders in the late '60s or early '70s, perhaps influenced by the '61 and later Continentals. I can't think of a single custom from the '50s or early '60s that had that feature (though there may have been some). Plenty of hinged bubble tops and a few gull-wing style conversions, however and maybe one or two with sliding doors ala Kaiser-Darrin. On street driven customs I think the emphasis was more on shaving the doors for a clean look than being creative with hinge placement.

[Duane]

the '32 Ford 3 window Coupes...all '33 and '34 Fords
had rear hinged doors !!!!

[cycolacfan]

Suicide doors on street rods isn't in contention but on a kustom...?

I don't recall a pre 1965 built custom based on a post 1948 car that had them. If someone can post a pic of, say, a leadsled Mercury built in the 1950s with rear hinged front doors fair enough, otherwise I'd say non TRaKable.

The exception being four-door cars such as ' 49-'51 Mercs that had suicide rear doors just like the '61 Continental.

[Bernard Kron]

I think the issue here might be to find instances where there was a purposeful conversion to suicide doors as a re-styling element. Certainly 4-door cars like the '49-'51 Mercury, Lincoln Continentals starting with certain models in '59, late-60's T-Birds, and the '57-'58 Cadillac Eldorados had them and Kustomizers "sold" the feature in their re-designs.  Some were even pillarless, which is extra-special kool! Kustomizers certainly would  not pass up the opportunity to create the wide-open, sort of space-age, effect that a "clam-shell" 4-door creates. It's very much in the Kustomizing tradition, from a styling perspective. The Barris Modern Grecian with it's button friezed individual swivel seats, is a perfect example. The base car, a '47 Studebaker, and thus pre-'48 by a year, was a pillared suicide rear door model, so it still isn't an example of a conversion. But it certainly is proof that the suicide 4-door effect was sought after and emphasized in the classic Golden Age full-kustom style.

I still haven't found photographic evidence of an actual conversion, though. At a minimum it comes under the heading of "could have been done", almost certainly "should have been done" (and thus TRaKable IMHO). The GM '59-'60 "Vista" wrap-around rear window 4-door hardtops are just crying out for it! But as to "was actually done", I am drawing a blank. With respect to a 2-door use, the main advantage would be improved access in the case of a severely chopped car, something the hot-rod crowd had appreciated for many years.

The Modern Grecian




Larry Watson's '58 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham

[spex84]

If we leave the realm of 1:1 cars and get into models,judging by the pages of Model Car Science magazine there were lots of builders interested in unconventional door and roof mods in the early 60s.
Here's the Crusader (top); it's a show rod rather than a kustom, but I'm sure lots of builders put in suicide doors to show off their interiors:

[dodgefever]

^ Probably influenced by the Li'l Coffin?

[cycolacfan]

I think it works well on the models mentioned above - the '40 Ford and Lil Coffin, and it would indeed work well on the rear doors of many four door pillarless cars.

Seeing it on a two door post 1949 car would make it look like a modern touch IMHO, unless someone can disprove that...?

[Canada Jeff]

This car is a new-build, but definitely done in a traditional style. I think the suicide doors frankly detract from an otherwise outstanding car and seem very anachronistic.



I say we go with the mob opinion here and call non-factory suicide doors Non-TRaKable unless we can turn up a documented example from the pre-1965-ish era.

Good discussion, guys. Thanks for your inputs!

- J