Hi all,
Anyone made their doors into suicide doors? That is, doors that hinge at the back and open at the front? Is it simply a case of changing the hinges to the back and re-rigging the striker plate and inside mechanism so that it grabs at the front? There must be more to it than this.....

Would love ideas and comments from anyone...just had a thought that this would be cool on my '60 bug....

SURE IS!

find a good panel beater or Hot Rod fabricater

LOTS OF WORK

You can get a kit from the US that has the hinges pre-aligned. These hide the hinges inside the body for a better look.

Don't forge you will need good burst proof bear-claw latches for the front. Don't expect any engineer to ok them without the bear-claws.

Ryan (I think he goes under the name Buzzz) did it himself. He's a panel beater
Raf

would love to do them on the bus.... one day

Not Only do You have to move the hinges to the other end of the door... the door mechanisn Has to work too...
Back to front that is..... the last one I read in a Magazine had a Rover inside door handle -upside down- He said that was the only way He could get it to work.. the rover handle was very similar to a Late Beetle inside door handle... but maybe the latching was different...

First take off 6 Beetle doors then mix them up and bolt them back onto a different beetle.. if You can get all the doors aligned properly... easily.. then maybe You might be able to make suicide doors...
The reason they are called SUICIDE DOORS --
When travelling over 60KPH and You notice the interior light is still on, Oh, the door isn't shut properly... and You just open the door slightly to slam it shut... but with a 60KPH breeze catching the door, the Door would pull the person out of the seat... and out of the car....
and they were put down as SUICIDES....
Now... You have a seat belt holding YOU INTO the car, and You open the door at 61KPH...
What Happens?????
Its too blood thirsty to even think about the consequences...
I do believe that You would only do it ONCE.. ONCE ONLY...
with that arm.... maybe once with the other arm....

YUK...

Lee - and I'm leaving My Doors the NON-SUICIDE way...

They are perfectly safe if you use the bear claws. Burst proof locks actually pull the door closed better than you will ever get with piss-ant conventional latches and holds them shut!

I forgot to ask Matt, what IS a bearclaw lock look like?
I know what a bears claw looks like....

Lee

Leigh go and see if the traffic lights have changed in the main street of Scone again

The striker is a cylinder like a bolt, the latch is like a hook that wraps over the bolt when closed. Like wrapping a finger around the finger on your other hand - or your hand around your...

You know this is sounding like way too much work.....I think I'll be doing well to get it on the road as it is without mucking around with this stuff.....maybe I'll leave it as a future dream....sigh....

Thanks to all for the reply, at least I know whats involved basically.....!

Wayne Penrose (or was it Rod??) had a peach color car some years ago with this done, maybe you need to phone him ??

Wayne Penrose is located at Unanderra, which is just south of Wollongong.

that peach beetle i have in an old magazine. had a 12a rotary in it i believe and a matching trailer. it was quite the nice beetle. and also if you watch pimp my ride they did a green baja bug on there and they made the doors suicide. they had to bang the doors a bit with a hammer to get them to close properly.

Anthony

Why not put scissor doors on instead of suicides
much more unique

What are scissor doors? Pics?