I need to do a paint job and some rust repair. I have been thinking for a long time about making the rear doors suicidal and before paint would be the best way. Has anyboby done this ? any thougths - I took it to a fab guy and he gave me a quote of about 2 grand - which Im sure would be on the lower side- said might have to trim the drip rail on the side where a new custom hinge would be. What about shaving that rail across the whole roof ? seems to be a rust problem on alot of old cars ? thanks in advance-

 

Not my cup of tea, but it's your ball and your bat. Do as you please.

 

Don't put the suicide doors on it. Your car is an Olds not a Lincoln. I get tired of people telling me that I need to put suicide doors on my Olds. FWIW, I do believe Olds had suicide doors in the rear in the 30s.

Then again, it is your car. Do with it what you want.

BTW, I changed the title of your thread. I didn't mean to be hasty I just think you will get more coverage this way. With the old title my first thought was that a spammer or a nut job was posting on our site. Hope you don't mind.

 

OK no probs about the title- I understand the differences in opinions but my car is a custom - its not at all original and doesnt need to hold true to anything- I really like lincolns and like the IDEA of suicide doors - maybe not dollar for dollar but I think it would add to the value of a four door as well as alot of people have a negative opinion in the first place- now if any one has done it and had real design,cost,damage and other problems, that would influence me . Thats really what Im after , also any ideas about the drip rail/rust line or whatever its is. Thanks

 

Interesting concept. One of the problems that I have seen on this type of conversion is getting the geometry of the door swing correct so the door opens on a flat plane because the back of the existing door opening is not straight from top to bottom like the existing hinge side. This is tough to overcome.

 

For some reference you might go over to the HAMB and see what they have done there. The cars on that site are not Oldsmobiles specifically and they definitely aren't post 1964 so you won't find a direct application but you might find some interesting threads that discuss how it has been done on say......fifties sedans.

 

Les/442 garage is doing/did suicide doors on his Vista and just recently posted an update with pics.
He used one large hinge on the top rear, no hinge on the bottom.
The latching system would be a challenge?, otherwise looks like it works with that one hinge.
How about Lambo doors in the front and rear, what the heck, swing the trunk lid backwards too .
It would look like a big bug flying around with all the doors open, could take flight if you drove it fast enough that way.




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