This is a list of cars with non-standard door designs, sorted by door type. These car models use passenger door designs other than the standard design, which is hinged at the front edge of the door, and swings away from the car horizontally and towards the front of the car.
List of non-standard door designs
The main types of non-standard door designs are:
Butterfly – butterfly doors move via hinges along the A-pillar, on an axis not aligned vertically or horizontally to the vehicle or ground. A special type of butterfly door is a single door at the front of the car with the steering wheel attached.
Canopy – roof, windshield, and sides are one unit that moves upward, forward, or sideways to provide access.
Gullwing – (also called "falcon-wing") hinged to the roof at the top horizontal edge of the door, and open upward on a horizontal axis. Gullwing doors with a second hinge between door and moving roof panel are called falcon wing doors.
Scissors – rotate vertically at a fixed hinge at the front of the door, and open by rotating on a horizontal axis, perpendicular to the vehicle's length. Scissor doors that also move outward while rotating are called dihedral synchro-helix actuation doors.
Sliding – mounted to or suspended from a track, and open by sliding horizontally alongside or into the vehicle sidewall, or open by sliding vertically into the vehicle sidewall or floor. Sliding doors that disappear into the floor horizontally are called rolling doors.
Suicide – hinged on the rear end of the door-frame, and open horizontally towards the rear.
Swan – opens outward like either a conventional door or a suicide door, but on an axis slightly tilted from vertical, or via articulation in the hinge to angle upward for better ground clearance
A common door design on Group C, IMSA GTP cars of the 1980s and early 1990s and on any sports prototypes since then, this list does not include cars categorized as such. This list only includes purpose built race cars.
Models of automobiles that featured suicide doors (i.e., doors hinged at the rear) include most full-sized extended-cab pickup trucks (rear doors only), and some vehicles categorised:
AC Petite (1953–1958) (front door on 2-door saloons)
Lincoln Continental/Lincoln Continental police car (1961–1969)/(1961–1967)/(2019–2021) (rear door on 4-door sedans, 4-door convertibles and police cars)
Swan doors open outward like either a conventional door or a suicide door, but hinge slightly upward as well for better ground clearance, includes some vehicles categorised:
Dihedral doors are a type of doors found on all Koenigsegg cars. They open by rotating 90° at the hinge.
Other door types
AMC Pacer passenger door is longer than driver's side and disguised by the broad B-pillar while the door's opening cut into the roof also hides the rain gutter.1973 Mohs SafariKar outward sliding door on four centrally mounted rods
AMC Pacer – Aircraft-style doors improve sealing and reduce wind noise, top of door wraps into the roof, hinges provide an outward arc for the top of the door for easier egress when open, rain gutters are hidden in the roof cut outs, the passenger door is four-inches (101 mm) longer than the driver's and the difference disguised by the broad B-pillar design.[4][5][6][7]
Ford GT (first generation), Ford GT40 and Ford GT90 – conventional front-hinged doors that have panels extended to the roof of the car (also called aircraft doors)
Hudson Italia – doors cut 14 inches (356 mm) into the roof (also called aircraft doors)[8][9]
Hyundai Veloster – Driver side of the car has one coupe-sized door, but the passenger side has two smaller, sedan-sized doors for front and rear occupants.[circular reference]
Mitsuoka MC-1 – Plastic doors that can be removed when opened.
Mohs SafariKar – doors slide outward from the body on four linear rods mounted behind the front row of seats providing egress from both the front and rear of the car when opened.[11]
Peel Manxcar – suicide rear-hinged doors that open until it touches the body of the car
Suzuki CV1 – one single door in the car's fiberglass body
Tata Magic Iris – All three doors are conventional doors, 2 doors on the passenger's side and 1 door on the driver's side.
TVR Tuscan Speed Six – Conventional front doors, but door handles are in button form under the side mirrors.
Zündapp Janus – front- and rear-mounted side-hinged doors
HiPhi X – Apart from the suicide doors, there is an extra pair of gullwing-like doors between the C and D pillars which the company marketed as the NT (New-type) doors.
Sliding doors
1954 Kaiser Darrin with its sliding pocket door opened
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