The automotive world is constantly evolving, with manufacturers continually seeking innovative ways to enhance both the aesthetics and practicality of their vehicles. One design element that has seen a resurgence in recent years, capturing the attention of car enthusiasts and the general public alike, is the Suicide Doors Car. This distinctive door configuration, also known as rear-hinged doors, offers a unique blend of classic charm and modern functionality. The recent unveiling of the Ferrari Purosangue SUV, featuring these ingeniously designed rear doors, has reignited interest in this once-common, now relatively rare feature.
Historically, suicide doors were a prevalent feature in the early days of automotive design, particularly in the pre-war era. They were commonly found on luxury vehicles and offered a more convenient way for passengers, especially in chauffeur-driven cars, to enter and exit the rear compartment. However, as automotive safety standards evolved and manufacturing techniques advanced, front-hinged doors became the industry standard. Despite this shift, the allure of suicide doors never completely faded, and they’ve been cleverly reintroduced by some manufacturers as a distinctive selling point, most notably by Rolls-Royce starting with their Phantom model in 2003. Rolls-Royce’s adoption of ‘clap hands’ doors became a signature element across their model range, from the Ghost and Cullinan to the Wraith and Dawn, solidifying the feature’s association with luxury and exclusivity.
But Rolls-Royce isn’t the only brand to embrace this design. The Ferrari Purosangue’s inclusion of suicide doors on its first-ever SUV highlights a broader trend of automakers looking to the past for inspiration to create unique and appealing features in contemporary vehicles. Beyond these ultra-luxury and high-performance examples, a diverse range of cars throughout history have sported suicide doors, each with their own story and design philosophy. Let’s delve into some notable examples of post-war cars that have featured these distinctive rear-hinged doors, showcasing the enduring appeal and diverse applications of the suicide doors car concept.
Spyker D12 Peking-to-Paris (2006-10): A Pioneering Luxury SUV
Long before the Ferrari Purosangue, the Spyker D12 Peking-to-Paris, produced from 2006 to 2010, conceptually mirrored the Ferrari’s approach by integrating suicide doors into a luxury SUV. This short-lived but groundbreaking vehicle debuted at the 2006 Geneva Salon and is considered by many to be the original prestige SUV, predating competitors like the Lamborghini Urus and Bentley Bentayga. The Peking-to-Paris boasted all-wheel drive, a powerful 12-cylinder engine, an elevated ride height, and practical five-door coachwork complete with rear suicide doors – a feature it shared with the Purosangue, albeit introduced 16 years earlier.
The Spyker D12 Peking-to-Paris was conceived as a homage to Spyker’s historic victory in the grueling 1907 Peking to Paris endurance race. This pioneering spirit extended to the vehicle’s design and engineering, featuring four-wheel drive as a relatively novel concept in motorsport-inspired production cars at the time. The 2006 D12 Peking-to-Paris served as a powerful reminder of Spyker’s prestigious heritage as a leading Dutch car manufacturer in the early 20th century, before its initial bankruptcy in the mid-1920s. The Spyker name was revived in 1999 by Dutch entrepreneurs, leading to the creation of stylish supercars manufactured in Coventry, UK, utilizing Audi engines. Despite its ambition and innovative designs, the revived Spyker faced financial difficulties and ultimately went bankrupt again in 2014, even after attempting to rescue Saab from General Motors. Unfortunately, Spyker’s financial constraints hindered the Peking-to-Paris SUV from achieving its full potential in the burgeoning luxury SUV market, despite its forward-thinking design and features like suicide rear doors and an exposed gear linkage, a signature Spyker design element. It was powered by a Volkswagen-derived W12 bi-turbo engine targeting around 500PS (368kW) and, despite weighing over 1,850kg, claimed a 0-60mph acceleration time of 5.0 seconds. At its Geneva debut, Spyker reportedly received over 100 orders for this luxurious SUV, but production proved challenging. While replacing the complex W12 engine with a more conventional Audi V8 was considered, Peking-to-Paris production ceased by 2010. Spyker experienced further financial troubles, re-emerging in 2016 before another collapse in 2021.
Lancia Appia (1953-63): Italian Elegance with Practical Rear Access
The Lancia Appia, introduced in 1953 as the successor to the innovative Aprilia of 1937, continued Lancia’s tradition of forward-thinking automotive design, incorporating suicide doors. Sharing the robust pillarless construction of its predecessor, the Appia featured aluminum body panels, a compact 1,100cc V4 engine, and advanced independent suspension on all four wheels. Crucially, it inherited the rear-hinged ‘clap hand’ door design from both the Aprilia and its larger sibling, the Aurelia B10 Berlina of 1950.
The Appia underwent several updates throughout its production run. In 1955, the Series 2 Appia Berlina was launched, retaining the contemporary three-box silhouette of the original Series 1 but incorporating further refinements. For the Series 3 Appia Berlinas, produced from 1959 to 1963, Lancia implemented significant styling changes, including a wider front grille and a more conventional three-box profile to enhance luggage capacity and align the model’s aesthetics with its Italian rivals from Fiat and Alfa Romeo. Despite these updates, the Appia’s signature rear suicide door opening mechanism remained a consistent feature, highlighting Lancia’s commitment to both style and passenger accessibility.
Lincoln Continental IV (1960-69): American Style Reimagines Suicide Doors
The fourth-generation Lincoln Continental, launched in 1960, marked a significant departure in design for the American luxury brand, and notably reintroduced suicide doors to the Lincoln lineup for the first time since 1951. Offered exclusively as a four-door in sedan and convertible body styles, the Continental’s clean and understated styling (by Detroit standards of the era) was complemented by the functional and visually distinctive rear-hinged doors. Lincoln even thoughtfully included a “door ajar” warning light on the dashboard, a feature that would become commonplace in many cars years later, to alert drivers if the suicide doors were not properly closed.
The Lincoln Continental’s rear doors latched securely to the B-pillar and incorporated a vacuum-operated central locking system. Convertible models utilized a shortened B-pillar, while sedans featured a pillarless hardtop design, where a slim B-pillar supported the roof structure and all four doors used frameless glass, mimicking the style of a hardtop or convertible. Interestingly, the less successful four-door 1967-70 Ford Thunderbird derivative also adopted suicide doors, along with faux Landau roof ornamentation, echoing the Continental’s design cues. A unique feature of the four-door Continental convertibles was an automatic window lowering system designed to address the overlap of front and rear door window weather stripping. To open the suicide rear doors when the front door was closed, the rear door window would automatically lower slightly using sensors and relay-controlled logic – a system predating similar features later claimed as innovations by BMW. When the exterior door latch button or interior handle was activated, the power window would lower a few inches and then automatically raise when the door was closed. However, after an exceptionally long production run for the Mark IV Continental, the redesigned 1970 Lincoln Continental reverted to conventional front-hinged rear doors, ending the brand’s brief but memorable revival of suicide doors.
Mazda RX-8 (2002-12) & MX-30: Modern Sport Coupes with a Twist
The Mazda RX-8, the last rotary-engined production car globally, offered a unique blend of four-seater coupe styling and dynamic performance within a sporty four-door body that cleverly disguised its four-door configuration, resembling a two-door coupe. The RX-8 incorporated ‘hidden’ rear suicide doors, or ‘freestyle doors’ as Mazda termed them, that were rear-hinged to facilitate access to the surprisingly spacious rear seats. While known for its distinctive rotary engine and engaging driving dynamics, the RX-8 also gained notoriety for its high fuel and oil consumption. However, unlike the exclusive Ferrari Purosangue, used RX-8s are now widely accessible and surprisingly affordable. Mazda has recently drawn inspiration from the RX-8’s innovative door design for its all-electric MX-30 crossover. The MX-30 also utilizes RX-8-style counter-hinged freestyle rear suicide doors, demonstrating the continued relevance and appeal of this design concept in modern vehicles, even extending to electric crossovers.
Sunbeam-Talbot 90 (1948-57): Sporting Saloons with a Stylish Door Design
Launched in 1948, the Sunbeam-Talbot 90 and its less powerful sibling, the 80, were stylish updates to the pre-war 1939/40 Sunbeam-Talbot Ten and 2-litre four-door sports saloon models. The Sunbeam-Talbot 90 reintroduced the brand’s signature frameless rear windows within rear-hinged back doors. These elegant sporting saloons, later renamed simply Sunbeam MK IIIs from 1955, achieved considerable success in motorsport, particularly in international rallying. Their sleek design and robust engineering proved well-suited to rally competition, and the marque also produced the equally successful Alpine two-seater roadster. Notable drivers like Stirling Moss secured multiple podium finishes in prestigious events like the Rallye de Monte Carlo driving Sunbeam-Talbots.
BMW i3 (2013-21): Electric Innovation Embraces Suicide Doors
Considering BMW’s current prominence, it’s easy to forget the company’s precarious post-war situation, where it was nearly bankrupted and rescued only by the unconventional Isetta bubble car in the mid-1950s. BMW’s first post-war production car was the bulbous 501, an ungainly design based on the pre-war 326. BMW quickly addressed the 501’s performance shortcomings by fitting a V8 OHV engine into its baroque four-door saloon body, which notably featured suicide doors to enhance rear passenger access. Despite its polarizing styling and less-than-stellar driving dynamics, the 501 remained in production until 1963. Half a century after BMW last incorporated rear-hinged doors, the company revived the concept in 2013 for its groundbreaking electric i3 city car. The i3, representing a stark contrast to the traditional and somewhat lackluster 501, showcased a funky interior and contemporary urban styling perfectly suited to the emerging electric vehicle era. The BMW i3 played a significant role in making EVs more mainstream and practical, offering a usable battery range and the option of a range extender. Its adoption of suicide doors, or ‘coach doors’ as BMW termed them, added to its unique and forward-thinking design, solidifying its place as a potential future classic.
Facel Vega Excellence (1958-64): French Luxury with a Hint of Controversy
Following the post-war decline of French Grande Routier car manufacturers due to heavy taxation on large-engine vehicles, Jean Daninos boldly established a new French luxury car brand, Facel Vega, in 1954. Facel Vega cars were known for combining powerful American V8 engines with elegant, European-styled coachbuilt coupe bodies, exemplified by models like the Facel Vega FVS and the iconic HK500. In 1958, Daninos took an even more ambitious step, extending the Facel FVS chassis to create the Excellence, a new 5.8-litre luxury saloon/limousine. The Excellence, a strikingly low and elongated four-door saloon, featured Facel’s signature quad stacked headlamps and Lancia-style pillarless suicide doors. However, unlike the Lancia’s robust unitary construction, rumors circulated at the time suggesting that opening all four Excellence doors simultaneously could compromise the body’s rigidity, potentially causing it to flex and sag, making it difficult to close the rear-hinged doors properly. Later versions of the Excellence saw the removal of the American-inspired tail fins and the introduction of a more powerful 6.3-litre V8 engine.
Saturn Ion Quad Coupe (2005-08): American Innovation with a Compact Suicide Door
Faced with increasing competition from Japanese automakers in the North American market, General Motors (GM) launched the Saturn brand as a domestic competitor focused on customer care, quality, and value. Saturn initially offered the S-Series, composite-bodied sedans and wagons, joined by a coupe version featuring a small, rear-hinged third door for passenger access. In 2000, the S-Series was replaced by the larger L-Series, based on the GM Epsilon platform. The L-Series included the Ion Quad Coupe from 2004, a coupe variant equipped with a pair of small rear-hinged rear doors. The Ion was powered by a 2.2-litre EcoTech 140PS (103kW) four-cylinder engine sourced from Opel-Vauxhall, paired with a standard five-speed manual gearbox and an optional continuously variable transmission (CVT) automatic. Saturn also introduced a sportier Ion Quad Red Line coupe, featuring a supercharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine producing 205PS (151kW), available exclusively with a manual transmission – unusual for an American performance car at the time.
Rover P4 (1950-64): British Classic Embraces Traditional Suicide Doors
The Rover P4, affectionately nicknamed the ‘Auntie’ Rover, was the last mass-production British car to feature suicide doors as standard, remaining in production until 1964. This quintessential British ‘bank manager’s car’ retained the rear-hinged door layout of the preceding Rover P3 series, which the P4 replaced in 1950. This upright, boxy four-door saloon, providing the engine for the original Land Rover, proved immensely popular with the British upper-middle class, with over 125,000 examples built. Its dignified styling, ‘gentleman’s club’ interior with wood and leather trim, and dependable engineering contributed to its long-lasting appeal.
1950s British Limousines: Suicide Doors for Dignitaries and Royalty
Historically, Britain excelled in producing large, stately, and formal limousines. Iconic black Rolls-Royce and Daimler limousines were used by the British royalty and for official mayoral duties for decades. While some of these limousines, like the Daimler DS420 Limousine (1968-92), featured conventional front-hinged rear doors, others, such as the long-wheelbase Austin A135 Princess (later Vanden Plas 4-Litre), prominently featured suicide rear doors. The Princess, capable of seating nine passengers and famously featured in the opening credits of The Prisoner, made its suicide doors a styling highlight, incorporating an elegant elongated chrome door handle spanning both front and rear doors, visually accentuating the limousine’s substantial length. The Rootes Group’s prestige Humber marque, another favorite among British royalty and dignitaries, also utilized rear-hinged back doors on its large post-war Pullman and more luxurious Imperial limousines (1948-52), based on the Super Snipe saloon. Daimler, another prestigious British marque, produced the coachbuilt DK400 Regina, the last Daimler to use the traditional long-stroke straight-six engine that had been a hallmark of their smaller cars since 1910. Two DK400 Reginas with striking Hooper coachwork and royal livery were supplied as Royal Stock in the mid-1950s. One of these suicide door limousines, a landaulette, was used by the Queen Mother. Another four-door all-weather tourer by Hooper was custom-built for the Shah of Afghanistan. Tragically, by the mid-1990s, during political turmoil in Afghanistan, that Hooper Daimler, part of the Afghan national museum collection, was used for target practice by soldiers and fell into disrepair before being scrapped.
In conclusion, the suicide doors car, while not the dominant design choice today, represents a fascinating chapter in automotive history and design. From their practical origins in horse-drawn carriages to their modern resurgence in luxury vehicles like the Rolls-Royce Phantom and Ferrari Purosangue, suicide doors continue to offer a unique blend of style, functionality, and historical charm. Whether implemented for ease of access, distinctive styling, or a nod to automotive heritage, suicide doors remain a compelling and occasionally controversial design element that sets certain vehicles apart.
