>1) In Pelecanos' 'The Sweet Forever' he refers to 'a
Lincoln with suicide
>doors.' What are 'suicide doors'?
Suicide doors are front seat doors with the position of the
catch and hinge reversed from what has come to be the norm,
i.e. with the trailing edge of the door hinged, so that the
door opens "backwards." The design showed up on a few cars in
the '30s, but proved unpopular. Lincoln used the design only
for a year or two, on the Mark I or II, I think. I've no idea
of the origin of the term, which I first heard from my hot
rodder brother in the 50s. PB
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