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Posted By: maahey Car word - 11/14/03 04:05 PM
I read this sentence last night in a book that I am currently reading and it provoked no imagery at all. Of course, it also does not help that I know next to nothing about cars. Can someone tell me what this means, especially 'suicide doors' and post a link maybe to just such a car.
Thanks!!

"Ancient Plymouths with suicide doors that operated away from the center post like hard covers from a book's spine."

Posted By: wwh Re: Car word - 11/14/03 04:11 PM
Dear maahey: In late twenties, the wife of a Pontiac dealer sitteng beside her husband who was driving, noticed that the door was not properly latched. She attempted to correct this. The door opend on its leading edge. Even though the car was going only about 30mph, the slipstream caught the door so suddenly and powerfully that it swung open suddenly with such power that she was thrown out of the car, and badly hurt.
That's a "suicide door".

Posted By: maahey Re: Car word - 11/14/03 04:17 PM
Oh! I see! They open like gates!! But, Bill [nudge - ], can they really do that; can the slipstream actually suck out people. Were there many such reported cases and did such a design go out as a result?

Posted By: Owlbow Re: Car word - 11/14/03 04:23 PM
A book would have to be opened, face out and on the same plane as the side of the car, to work like the type of door in question.
A suicide door opens with the hinge behind the occupant, in such a way, that if an other car coming along side, hit into the opened door, it would crush the person getting in or out.
It would be easier to draw a little diagram.
ok... like a K or mirrored K (?)
Does that help?


Posted By: Owlbow Re: Car word - 11/14/03 04:24 PM
I've seem some new cars with these doors - I forget what type.

Posted By: shanks Suicide doors - 11/14/03 04:40 PM
The new (BMW) Rolls Royce and the new Mazda (Wankel Rotary-engined) RX-8 have suicide doors in the rear. I believe that though, in general, these doors contravene safety regulations, they were allowed in these cases because in both cases the rear doors cannot be opened without the front doors opening first (like the overlapping doors on a wardrobe).

cheer

the sunshine warrior

Posted By: Owlbow Re: Suicide doors - 11/14/03 04:59 PM
'No wonder I forgot, I drive an old green Honda and a ten speed bicycle if the weather's nice.
Very impressive car facts though shanks.

Posted By: shanks Car facts - 11/14/03 05:33 PM
Owlbow

I read car mags instead of 'girlie' mags or 'lads mags'. I wonder what that says about my sex life? (Particularly given that I don't drive, my bicycle was stolen, and it's now a bit too cold to walk far - so it's buses all the way for me.)

cheer

the sunshine warrior

Posted By: Buffalo Shrdlu Re: Car facts - 11/14/03 05:42 PM
here's a previous discussion:
http://wordsmith.org/board/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=109735
includes a link to a pic, too.

Posted By: Owlbow Re: Car facts - 11/14/03 05:57 PM
Cars have always been sex objects in US "culture", especially their back seats.
Sorry to hear that you're another victim of those bi-thieves.
I was a buser (and worked as a bus boy for a few months too) for several years before I bought a nice bike, which was stolen from a barroom service entryway soon thereafter. I found a 3-speed in a dumpster that I fixed up and rode for years. I was healthier and more "socially" popular than at any time of my life. So much for my USA being a Carnation.
PS: My older brother and I went to the 1962-3&4 car shows at the "Coliseum" in NYC in our teens. He was a street drag racer/greaser. My fist car, in stark contrast, was a very used red 1965 VW bug.
Shine on


Posted By: shanks Re: Car facts - 11/14/03 06:33 PM
It's possible your used red Beetle, was the one I had too - sometime in the early '90s.

It used to belong to a young Sri Lankan who, when he was first wooing my sister (they went out for about 2 years, eventually), took her shopping in Neasden in it. Except the bloomin' thing broke down and he, frustrated that his machinery (equipment?) had thus shown him up in front of the girl he wanted to impress, abandoned it there, and took taxis for the rest of the day! He then went out and bought himself a reliable Japanese car. A few months later, when the two of them were at lunch at our place, he overheard my girlfriend saying she was thinking of getting a car and offered us the Beetle, still parked somewhere in Neasden. We took him up on the offer, and for the next year or so were the proud possessors of a love-bug. There was no heating, there was barely any trim, and we took off the bumbers in despair (legally, either you had bumpers in good condition, or none at all!), but it worked, in a way.

It was, of course, a delightfully basic vehicle and I had great fun pottering around it with a few simple tools and tuning the engine, tightening the doors, refitting the connection between the stepney and the windscreen washer bottle and so on. When one door came off, my friend (down from Bombay, and as much of a geek as me) and I took great pleasure in taking a single screw each off the other doors and using them to fix the last one back on.

They don't make cars like that any more. Today, you open the bonnet on one of them and reel back, aghast: it looks as much like a mechanism as a picture of a supermodel looks like the woman herself - bleary-eyed, first thing in the morning. Modern car innards are a definite look-but-don't-touch item, and in making them so, manufacturers have removed some of their heart. Tim was I could change a tyre, unassisted, with the entire family sat in the car (okay, granny would always ake the opportunity to run to the side of the road for a quick pee - damn embarrassing it was, too, because her eyesight was so bad she couldn't see us and therefore thought she herself was out of view, and hence was usually to be found squatting a mere metre or two from the car while we all averted our eyes) in a mere five minutes. Often less. These days I can't even get the nuts off the wheel without one of those pneumatic thingies. Talk about temps perdu eh?

We eventually gave the car to the girlfriend's younger brother. He eventually sold it, the soulless *&^^$""%^*. And that was the end of my motoring days. It was bicycles, bicycles all the way, with tin tacks strewn in my path like mad...

cheer

the sunshine warrior

Posted By: Buffalo Shrdlu Re: Car facts - 11/14/03 06:46 PM
ours was red, too. well the first one, that is. it was a '72, and the heater worked wonderfully(especially nice in northern South Dakota!). I remember, fondly?, the trip to my first real job interview: August, 95°, vapor lock. I stopped several times, removed the gas line, stuck it in the cooler for a couple of minutes, replaced it, and was on my way again. the next time, I had a spare length of hose at the ready... showed up to my interview slightly greasy, asked if I should change in to my suit...

I got the job.

Posted By: maahey Re: Car facts - 11/15/03 12:43 AM
Gosh eta! That thread was in the recent past. I had completely missed reading it. Thanks!!
I suspected that this thread would provoke some car stories! All of them were good fun to read. The only car I have ever lusted after was a light green beetle with orange polka dots. I loved that car and would stare at it with hungry eyes every day (was owned by a rather mean neighbour). I think I like chubby cars.
Modern car innards are a definite look-but-don't-touch item, and in making them so, manufacturers have removed some of their heart.
I can empathise with this statement shanks, even if my knowledge about cars is rather limited.

Thanks everyone!

Posted By: Zed Re: Car facts - 11/15/03 01:07 AM
I've gotten to like the pontiac cruisers but I still think they look like an old style volkswagon had an affair with a hearse and pupped.
I've never owned a car and generally go by bike, bus or shank's pony. (thanks for lending it to me) It beats working out at a gym. Then I save up all my errands and rent a car for a weekend every month or so. B

Posted By: dellfarmer Re: Car word - 11/15/03 09:00 AM
Wait a minute.

In reply to:

"Ancient Plymouths with suicide doors that operated away from the center post like hard covers from a book's spine."


Is this a typo? This is no sentence, surely.








Ron.

Posted By: maahey Re: Car word - 11/15/03 11:56 AM
I don't understand, delfarmer. Will you please explain? Maybe I should give you some context. The author was talking of how cars in Cuba have their own story to tell about the history of the nation and the after effects of the American embargo on trade.

Posted By: Buffalo Shrdlu Re: Car word - 11/15/03 03:21 PM
it does need something at the beginning, such as "There are ancient Plymouths with suicide doors that..."
but reading the "sentence" more closely makes me question the description. I've only seen suicide doors used for the rear doors. am I incorrect in seeing that their image is of the front doors being hinged to the same post as the rear doors? actually, I'm having trouble making sense of their use of a book. when the book is shut, that would be when the doors were open, and vice-versa?
oh well, time for another cup of coffee...

Posted By: dellfarmer Re: Car word - 11/16/03 02:53 PM
In reply to:

I don't understand, delfarmer. Will you please explain? Maybe I should give you some context. The author was talking of how cars in Cuba have their own story to tell about the history of the nation and the after effects of the American embargo on trade.


Maybe so, but I don't really need the context. It can't be a sentence, I think because it lacks a main verb, no? Suggested alterations:

"The streets are littered withAncient Plymouths with suicide doors that operated away from the center post like hard covers from a book's spine."

-or-

Ancient Plymouths were designed with suicide doors that operated away from the center post like hard covers from a book's spine."



Ron.

Posted By: Faldage Re: Car word - 11/16/03 02:56 PM
OTOH, one might wonder whether the citation's status as a sentence has any bearing on the question of the meaning of suicide doors.

Posted By: maahey Re: Car word - 11/16/03 03:13 PM
I think this is an example of ellipsis, delf. I, like wwh, am a great fan of ellipsis.

Posted By: shanks Ellipsis - 11/16/03 04:17 PM

I think this is an example of ellipsis, delf. I, like wwh, am a great fan of ellipsis.[i/]

You say it best, when you say nothing at all?

the sunshine "call me Ronan Keating" warrior


Posted By: dellfarmer Re: Ellipsis - 11/17/03 01:07 PM
Ellipsis, schmellipsis.........

I wasn't trying to stir up a hornets' nest here. maahey's (original, thread-starting) post referred to it as a sentence.


Suicide Doors

Some doors we open, we open
backward, step forward into the past.


Ron.
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