We have all seen the Mercedes 300SL and how good it looks, especially when the doors are up. Gull wings doors were of course pioneered by Mercedes in 1952 on the 300sl which was then a race car. Later turned into a road legal version in 1954.
But are those car doors practical? Are there any real advantages to them?
Although they have never been a regular feature today of most modern cars there are a few other examples of models with gull wing doors. The French tried to make it their own thing by calling them seagull doors and featured them on some of their vehicles. Other than that the best too examples of gull wings are the Bricklin SV-1 from the 1970s and the DeLorean DMC-12 Incidentally the DeLorean was made world famous by its appearance in the movie Back to the Future.
Gull doors can be more than just an aesthetic affection, they can be immensely practical. By design they can be used in urban environments where parking is tight. If engineered and balanced correctly they take little effort to open. It is also a lot easier to get in and out of a vehicle with gull wing doors,
One safety concern however was that if the car rolled over then the occupants would not be able to get out. The DeLorean, featured a windscreen that could be kicked out if necessary.
So there are advantages to having gull wing doors other than good looks. However all vehicle body parts are important, especially when we need replacement vehicle body parts. Used car doors are popular since often using a used car part locator service a consumer can find the exact colour replacement car door for his vehicle. Nevertheless respraying processes are now much more advanced and low cost. Having a used car door resprayed is still many times cheaper than buying a new replacement car door direct from an authorised dealer or direct from the car manufacturer.