Filed under: Concept Cars, Gadgets, Coupes, Lincoln
eBay Find of the Day: Look Ma, No Door!
From the outside, it looks like a normal 1993 Lincoln Mark VIII, but with shaved door handles. The reason the handles are gone becomes evident when the window rolls down and the door slides down and under the car, creating a large opening for easy entry and exit. According to the vehicle description at RonSusser.com, the car was created by Joalto Design, Inc. at the behest of FoMoCo execs concerned about the effect the Linc's wide doors had on parking the car in tighter urban environments. This claim, it should be noted, is completely unsubstantiated, so take it with a grain of salt.
While the backstory may be murky, the car is very real, as are the patents on the door mechanicals RonSusser.com links to in the item description. The Lincoln was actually used as a daily driver by a previous owner and shows 43K on the odometer. It's also worth noting that the magic door only works on the passenger side, so the new buyer's going to have to find someone with the know-how to get the driver's side operational again. As of this writing, the high bid on the car is $10,100, which is still short of the reserve. Follow the jump for a video of the door in action. Assuming the reserve's not outlandish, someone has a shot at driving a real conversation piece. Climbing in through the passenger side will probably get old in a hurry, though.
Thanks for the tip, Spec!
[Sources: RonSusser.com / eBay]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Viv 4:33PM (7/09/2007)
I don't know about the safety of that thing but it is pretty cool.
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Mike 5:11PM (7/09/2007)
I would hate to get t-boned in that thing.
Mr. Oak 4:35PM (7/09/2007)
My wife had better not ever gives me any lip in this thing, or it's out she goes.
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robz4 4:51PM (7/09/2007)
I was thinking the same thing. Just make sure you quietly cut the seatbelts first ;)
carlos 4:55PM (7/09/2007)
How do you get in it in the first place?
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Barney 5:04PM (7/09/2007)
I wonder how the door will look after being slid under a car during the wet and slushy season. The instructions in the trunk seemed a little intimidating and had to be followed closely or the doors and glass would be damaged. Not for the average user.
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Casey 5:10PM (7/09/2007)
I wonder why they were able to get the passenger side working, but not the driver. The mechanic gave up? or was it beyond repair?
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kballs 5:37PM (7/09/2007)
Why not just use sliding doors (rear doors slide back, front doors slide forward)? Oh, I forgot, people are so afraid of the minivan image they don't want a car with even the minimum of the minivan's most useful features.
You could always do scissor/wing doors like a Lambo too...
Sliding and/or scissor doors ARE nice, you don't need much space to get in and out (though the scissor doors require more overhead room in garages)... you can even park in spaces so tight that the cars around you with regular doors wouldn't be able to get out (though you'd be asking for door dings unless you had some substantial nurf bars or running boards). People also love being able to push a button on the remote to open power doors (sliding doors only for the most part).
These doors that go under the car seem like they'd take a lot of room next to the car for pivoting down and under, and also a lot of room under the car (so it either better be flat ground - no rocks or lumps, or you better make room for the doors around the exhaust and drivelines).
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Barney 6:43PM (7/09/2007)
"Why not just use sliding doors (rear doors slide back, front doors slide forward)?"
Few sliding doors work without tracks to slide on. Forward sliding doors that go beyond the windshield would need magic to stay upright or tracks suspended above the hood.
Johnny Rocket 5:48PM (7/09/2007)
First Britney's hair, then Paris's trash, and now this.
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KazO 6:06PM (7/09/2007)
BMW Z1 taken a might too far...
The door buttons and text do look totally factory, though.
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YouFaceTheTick 7:55PM (7/09/2007)
Always wondered why most cars front doors don't slide forward and back doors backward. Seems like this would end dings and make getting in and out FAR easier.
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dewfish 8:26PM (7/09/2007)
that is awesome.....
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Jason H 8:57PM (7/09/2007)
I worked for JoAlto design during this car's birth and construction, and can confirm that this car was built for the reasons noted in the article. Beware, as the trunk is loaded with hardware to operate the POS, as I recall. There were about 4-5 similar cars, and maybe some minivans (Chrysler) with some of the patents demonstrated in the reconfigured doors.
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C\\\'est Raoul 11:10PM (7/09/2007)
Interesting (the video is very nice). it's way less dumb than I first tought.
-: useless in a snowy climate.
-: huge intrusion in the trunk, it could be reduced I guess. But way overcomplicated in my view
-: rusty underneath... it shows how weak it is.
-: any ding or bump on the side / undercarriage and you are done... very fragile system, compare to "a hinge"...
-: did I say snowy climate: talk about a huge air intrusion in winter when the whole thing opens. Imagine both...
-: any fault on the complex system and you are done.. as illustrated by the driver door malfunctionning....
-: would it work with short wheel based cars that need doors to go almost past the wheel wells?
Trying hard to find some +....
+: pretty fast
+: single panel: could a + for side collision.
+: would totally change the design or cars
I can't believe such a huge car is not able to give proper passenger legfoot. That's a shame! Talk about dumb design...
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thesawzall 11:23PM (7/09/2007)
My neighbors need to get this. Maybe it'd stop my car from getting so many door-dings.
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Greg 11:38PM (7/09/2007)
I like it.
I like it alot.
Excellent idea... now if they would have not made those cars with those pathetic airbag suspensions.... oh well, that is another topic for another day.
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Roadkill 4:43AM (7/10/2007)
This exact same system was used on the BMW Z1, almost 20 years ago. I happen to have one and it works in exactly the same way. wonder how they can patent this ...
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Steve 6:43AM (7/10/2007)
It probably has something to do with the fact that the Z1 was never officially brought to the U.S. and thus BMW likely never filed for a patent on the door design or perhaps FoMoCo already owned it and BMW didn't want to cough up the royalties at the time.
Asystole 11:13AM (7/10/2007)
I can't believe no one is noting the excellent handicap capabilities this has, I mean how much easier could it be for them to get in?
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