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Hello, again:
The doors referred to as
suicide doors were NOT designed so as to blow open in the wind, as some one
thought. Rather, as the design of (primarily) closed cars became more
involved some 70 years ago, by having the front door hinged at the rear [as well
as the rear doors] allowed for easier passenger entry and exit. [Try
getting into the front of say a 1930 Chrysler 66,70,77, or even an Imperial
sedan; you need to be a contortionist! The tight fit between the "A"
pillar door frame and the seat cushion don't leave too much room.] The
vehicles were built with steel frames (chasis). However, until the
mid-1930s, nearly ALL cars used WOOD bodies for the coachwork; these were
covered with the metal skin. When these cars were involved in accidents,
the results were disasterous, to say the least! From some vehicle safety
crashes (by the manufacturers themselves) which are periodically on PBS, when a
car ran into a concrete form, esp. head-on, the slow motion pictures were
terrifying. Although the steel frame was not uterly destroyed - although
severely bent - the woodwork of the body would shatter. In the impact, the
doors would come open when the latches pulled from the wooden frame, although
the hinges usually held the rear part of the door within the wooden frame of the
body. [But, severe enough and that "B" pillar would break out
too.] The steering wheel would puncture the drivers chest as he was
impaled upon it, (then he may have been also) but the passengers were thrown out
of the open doors! Therefore, the term of "suicide doors."
Crash into any thing hard enough and the doors would break open, allowing the
passengers to be ejected!
Much of this changed with the
development of the steel body on a steel frame, and with the re-design of the
front doors to be hinged at the front [as they were prior to early 1930s]-- and
as they are today. Check me please, but I think Chrysler used the front
suicide doors only in 1932-34 (except the Airflow). The 31 CG dual cowl
LeBaron (as did the 32 CL & 33 LeBaron) used doors that all hinged at the
center "B" pillar: suicide front but front hinged rear doors!
But, so did quite a few sedans.
However, Chrysler Corporation
continued the use of the REAR doors in the "suicide" fashion of design
from 1925 through the first part of the 1949 series. As of 2nd series 1949,
nearly all Chrysler cars were built with doors that hinged at the front; except,
of course for a few long bodies and limousines here and there from late
1949-54...see Imperial.
Again, the Standard catalog
of Chrysler, 1914-2000, by Lenzke. Either that, or you've seen enough at
the car shows - of the older models. Problem solved! Good
night, ne
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