There were the kaiser darrin sports car in the 50’s that had the doors slide into the front fenders, not a big door opening though.
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Don’t forget this style:
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My Kia’s front doors have a halfway detent but it is so weak and the doors are so heavy it will only hold on a perfectly level surface.
That looks like a good design for a diy’er friendly car.
Actually, that looks like a kit car I’ve seen.
I like it. I like things people build themselves.
It’s easy to complain about today’s society, but one thing positive I see is this Maker’s movement. The kids seem to be very interested in it especially making robots. I was going to the movies the other day and walked right past a place where kids can go and work on their robots. And the local elementary school has assigned a room for kids to make electronic stuff and robots and the like, equipped with soldering irons and pliers and computer controllers, servo motors and the like. It was so well organized from the photo I wished whoever did it would help me organize my workspace too … lol .
A lot of the schools now teach robotics and have teams with competition to the state level just like basketball.
All those alternate doors look swell, but the ones that slide into a fender mean the storage space in the fender has to be as long as the door, and that’s a lot. The doors that go down create a wide step-over to get in. The doors that swing up are far more complex than the old fashioned swing out door. Actually, the swing out door works fine, but no manufacturer will voluntarily put bumpers on the edge because it costs money and benefits someone other than the buyer. And we’ve been convinced that bumper strips on the sides of our cars are ugly, so we get door dings instead.
Sliding van doors are really good, but not a real solution for front doors in four door cars.
Maybe those kids in their robotic labs will come up with a better solution. I think we’ll see autonomous cars that come to your house and pick you up and take you to the store first.
I think downtown taxis will be good candidates for early adoption. My daughter lives in downtown Baltimore and Ubers everywhere after work. She uses street parking, and it is very difficult to find in the evening. Once she gets home from work and parks, she doesn’t want to move the car.
Low speeds, mostly gridded streets, and a steady clientele would make self driving taxis a good bet. I also think that Google Maps is a good bet for an early adopter. All they do is drive down the street taking pictures for the street level view. Not having to pay drivers would be a big cost savings for taxis or services like Google Maps.
Here is a good solution.
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I haven’t
I happen to like side mouldings
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As do I. However, I also dislike those weird headlight assemblies, low profile tires, rising roof lines, and complicated infowhatever systems. I’m clearly not in the majority.
Add to that elaborate and expensive bumper covers. It should not cost thousands of dollars to repair a 2 MPH collusion.
edit, should be “rising belt line” (which gets you low visibility)
Talk about collusion, I paid $14.35 for 4 led 100 watt bulbs, no cfl, no standard bulbs, and remembering the Honda posted here that was $200 for a headlight bulb replacement, or did you mean collision, like with my cash?
Perhaps not to the extent you think… I, for one, agree with you. Especially the tires and the infowhatever systems. Tires below a 45 aspect ratio are IMHO too rubber-bandy. 45 is even low. And systems that are so complicated that they have to be operated by menus within menus are downright distracting to the point of being dangerous.
This door idea looks interesting, but could you as a driver get your legs into the car? I know I couldn’t.
Looks like an early Smart Fourfour altough i suspect that one is a custom job or photo shop because I’m reasonably sure the doors are hinged from the factory, closely related to the euro market Mitsubishi Colt.
That looks like the toy car I had when I was a kid. Pull the t-strip and it would race across the floor until it hit something. Then all the major parts would fly off and you’d collect them and put it back together. Repeat, Indefinitely. Or until the parents told you to stop ramming it into the trim work…
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Now if only someone would apply that design to a car that DIYers are likely to own. 