Stupid, STupid, Stupid!!!!!!

Ever have one of those days? Was at a car show the entire day, hot tired and not thinking right.... On the drive home, realized that the door on my '34 Ford Tudor was not fully closed.... so........
:eek:
(NO IDEA WHY I DID THIS, BUT......)
:eek:
I OPENED the door while driving 40mph! A SUICIDE DOOR mind you! You should have seen that sucker swing out and wide! Cars in the approaching lane swerved off the road, my wife grabbed the wheel as I LEANED OUT & grabbed the door handle! ALmost fell out of the car...
:mad:
Got it home, now the damage assessment... couple of small dents where the door HIT the panel behind it, and the top of the door, on the rear section, is pushed out about a 1/4 ". Doesn't look too bad, the body work, other than the pin stripping, won't be difficult... BUT anyone know how to adjust the door so the top will be closer to the frame again?

It's hot rodding ... these things happen ... even to the best of us.

Good luck with the repairs ... hopefully its something you can tackle.

Throw some pix up ... everyone loves to see stupid.(LOL)

Ratty 46

wow bt you are lucky that it did not pull you out of the car and into the traffic. good luck with the repairs

Been there, done that with a Fiat 600. :whacked::(:eek::confused::HMMM:

Any pics of car before or after!

Way back when, I was riding in a friend's 47/8 Dodge 4 dr when we hit a bump at about 75 mph. Rear door flew open and bent back completely. Destroyed the door and most of the rear quarter. You were lucky if that is all the damage it did. Those old door latches were not Bear Claws.

Hence the name, suicide doors. :eek: Sorry to hear that happened to you, but we've all done similar stuff without thinking. Hope you get it straightened out easily.

I forgot to put the four hood pins on the lift off hood of my 53 Studebaker years ago. I never realized those things would soar so high at about 60 mph. It flew over my car and I saw what I thought was a soft landing on the highway behind me, but a trailer truck ran over it and that was the end of THAT hood.

Don

Had a similar thing happen on my 48 vauxhall, had been away for a weekend rod run, 500 mile trip on some of the roughest roads in the country, returned home and just half a mile from my house the front drivers door decdided to popped open about an inch, just as i reached to grab it, it swung open smshing into my rear fender, i almost fell out trying to stop it. this has happend to me twice now, but i have since fitted bear claw latches and also a remote pin that locates in the door jam, i think that it may have bent the pillar and hinges as its never lined up properly since the first time it popped open.
check straps don't seem to be worth much on front doors, when they fly open the check strap just breaks and causes more damage.,
good luck with your repairs, hope you can get it all fixed soon.
cheers barnsey

Yup - Same thing happened to me a couple of years ago. After that I put in Suicide door locks that latch at 7 mph automatically. NEVER going to have that happen again.
Jerome

Too bad - I hope you can show us some pictures and it really isn't a hard fix:CRY:

While I don't have suicide doors, they were contemplated so I bought some $60 lock pins from Julianos, JIC:HMMM:. I still am using them as my bear claw latches ended up being single cams because of the very thin 'A' roadster doors and the fact that this model car is real flexible even on the boxed TCI chassis. These come with a switch (not used by me)to hook up to a buzzer or even the ignition if the latches aren't closed. I've also seen a solenoid operated version of these as well. They are a PITA to install, but they do work nicely. Normally with a suicide door, they would go in the door itself. In the photo, it's that little lever shown beside the driver's seat

Now - those @#$% check straps - the set of leathers on mine have stretched enough that they need to be replaced (almost got the fender a day or so ago) - and they are less then 6 mos old. The local discount junk store has real Chinese leather belts for ~$5 :LOL::3dSMILE:

rested my arm out the cockpit of a T6 Texan once.

ow.

OUCH!!! that made me Kringle just thinking bout it.

I know that feeling,my passenger side door opened last week while going around a corner........the outside handle stuck in not quite the locked postion,happy that mine aren't suicide doors,so only harm was to my pride.

Bear claws and dead bolts. Never leave home without them.

Btsave,I don't know your age,but at my age I think I need a check list before driving. I showed the coupe a couple of weeks ago and when I got home the pin lock was not locked on the driver side.I felt so stupid. I have the electric warning lights that came with the locks and plan to install them before I pay the price of stupidity. I also have driven with the parking brake on.:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

That can easily happen, sorry it happened to you. I don't know if you know of or ever heard of the Mooneyham and Sharp AA/FC but I used to drive it. It is a '34 ford coupe. to keep the doors from coming open during a run they were bolted shut (I know the same thoughts went threw my head every time I sat in there and watched them seal my coffin) Anyway we were running late once and they didn't bolt it shut, about the 1000 ft. mark the car starts to hook up and vibrate like crazy and the drivers door opened up. that was about 170 mph. Let me tell you what a noise, anyway I thought this story might make you feel better. Major damage :(
Ken

Reminds me of my best friend in 1968 borrowed his sisters 64 nova rag top to take his girlfriend to the local swimming hole. While there he had to move it to let someone out. He jumped in it left the door open and broke it off on a stump that was sticking up. Had to put it in the back seat to go home.:LOL:

Ken is the Mooneyham and Sharp coupe restored now on display in a California Museum as I think I saw photos of it just recently at an event and man, it is still a beautiful beast. Heck I would think you could tell some stories about that car.:cool:

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Originally Posted by Whiplash23T

Ken is the Mooneyham and Sharp coupe restored now on display in a California Museum as I think I saw photos of it just recently at an event and man, it is still a beautiful beast. Heck I would think you could tell some stories about that car.:cool:

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I restored it in the late '80's and drove it until '91. It went to Garlits' museum but has spent some tome in the NHRA museum. This was posted before, it is one of my favorite runs.
Ken

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz8MhmS8A20

Thanks for the clip Ken and yes I had seen it before but heck, well worth seeing it again and again. What did break on that run and in the first "run" you have that car gong sideways so nicely all the Rally car drivers would be impressed.
Sorry to hijack your thread BTSave and I hope the damage to your '34 isn't to bad.

I know how you feel. My lincoln with suicide doors, the front drivers door. I opened it, jumped in it to back up, left the door open when I did, I forgot I had a deep freezer sitting there. Wham! Boy did I feel stupid.

Btsave:
Don't feel bad. Sh%# happens. Listen to this. I was working on a flathead v8 on a four-wheel stand. I had shelf located about six inches under the fan. On the shelf was a plastic bag with parts in it. Two wateroutlets,etc. I started the motor and the fan sucked the bag up into it, and shot a water outlet out like a bullet. Probably 2,000 ft per second. Well, it felt that fast...... when it hit me in the mouth. It knocked five upper teeth out and loosened four on the bottom. I have more in dental work that I have in the truck. Just be thankful you're alive.

I had a volkswagon that I had suicide doors on man that sucker swung open mwhen I hit a chug hole doing about 55, damnbent the post and sprung the hinges. Fixed , and then put some rubber hood straps of another bug on for some safety stops :LOL: Now days I use A Julianos door safety switch, put some in my model a.:cool:
http://www.julianos.com/saftey_latch.html

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Originally Posted by techinspector1

Been there, done that with a Fiat 600. :whacked::(:eek::confused::HMMM:

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Richard, you and I seem share an appreciation for fine Italian automobiles. I bought Fiat 600 brand new in 1958. It served me well and gave me 40+ mpg, but I have to say that it was not exactly a prestigious vehicle to own and drive.

My love life suffered accordingly.


Jim

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Big Tracks

Richard, you and I seem share an appreciation for fine Italian automobiles. I bought Fiat 600 brand new in 1958. It served me well and gave me 40+ mpg, but I have to say that it was not exactly a prestigious vehicle to own and drive.

My love life suffered accordingly.


Jim

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FIAT = Fix It Again Tony

A guy I worked with had a little Fiat and I never heard of a car that had so many problems - tho it was several years old when he bought it as a DD

My mom had a couple Fiat's years ago when I was really young. I know she hit a deer with 1, and totaled it, and the other had an axle shaft come out going down the road. both were just cheap used cars


a kid I went to school with's mom, drove a Renault Appliance until 2002 or so, when she got a new Focus