Packard Forum Index » General

My wife just showed me this, this has to be the coolest automotive accessory I've ever seen:http://www.disappearing-car-door.com/

If it wasn't a technical nightmare, this might be neat to see on a Packard!

Thats pretty trippy. I had to rewind and watch is closely so I could see it in action.

The other thing I noticed is that it only appears to be applicable to cars that do not have window framed doors.

So this would be convertibles and harttops only I would imagine on the Packard cars.

Convertibles, Hardtops and a low beltline. I think there's a limit to how much sheet metal you can tuck under the car. Very cool!

It's neat, I like it, but what happens if the electricals get fried, is there a manual over-ride. I think this is basically the same concept as the rear tail gates on the GM station wagons of the 70's. I had a 76 Buick estate wagon and even in N.Y.(the rust belt) the unit worked. But I heard of horror stories from owners who swore they would never own another one.

My first thought of the problems with this system is, what happens when you get into your car when it's raining? The interior will be soaked! Good idea, but somewhat impractical in a lot of cases. With regular doors, you can open the up just enough to squeeze into the car when it's raining, which is what I always do to try and keep the interior as dry as possible. If you could always park in the garage, or only used this car as a "fair weather car", I wouldn't see any problems.

Yeah... probably as practical in the rain as the wood veneer window garnish on my 180!

I have received that link in one of those "forwarded a million times" emails from no less than six people this week. I send back two sobering responses:

1) collision repair on something this complicated could be more than the car is worth.

2) If the monkies at the Sears auto department don't put the car on the hoist correctly the whole thing could be kaput