Gull-wing Doors

Car Styling - Doors
Gull-wing Doors are doors that hinge from the roof as opposed to the conventional way of being hinged at the A or B post of the cars body. The name derives from the image obtained when the doors are in the up position and having the similarity to a seagulls wings in flight and were first used by Mercedes Benz in the early fifties on the 300SL race car.

Gull-wing Doors have advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that in tight parking spaces they require much less room to open than a conventional door and allow much better access for entering and exiting the vehicle. The downside is that in the event of an accident and the vehicle should end up on it's roof then the doors become impossible to open and escape only viable through the windscreen.

Many manufacturers over the years have used the Gull-wing design and are also very popular in the Kit Car and Custom scene.

Suicide Doors

Suicide Doors are doors that are hinged on the opposite side to the present-day type doors and swing open from the front as opposed to the rear. Horse-drawn coaches of the time featured doors similar to the French Doors found in homes and this car styling design was incorporated in some of the very early automobiles.

The name 'Suicide Doors' comes from the increased danger of the door coming open if it becomes unlatched while the car is moving. On a conventional car, if the door becomes unlatched, moving air around the car will force the door closed. With suicide doors, the moving air pushes the door open. Major automobile manufacturers avoid the term 'Suicide Doors' due to it's negative connotations and use the terms "rear-hinged doors", "coach doors", and "freestyle doors" instead. The original term is still but used mainly in the Custom and Mini Truck scene.

Channeling

Channeling (also know these days as a 'body drop') is a fairly radical but very effective way of car styling to get your vehicle lower to the ground and 'in the weeds' as it were, without performing suspension modifications. The process in theory is pretty simple but in practice is much more difficult to carry out. Older cars like a Model A are much easier to perform this on as opposed to a later, full-fendered car.

Basically it involves cutting the body loose from the floor, dropping the body by the desired amount, then re-welding the body back to the floor. depending on the chosen amount to be dropped, this can also have a dramatic effect on the the interior space as whatever amount is lowered over the floor is obviously lost in the interior height. If choosing to roof chop the vehicle then this space is reduced even more.

Dagmars

Dagmars is the slang term for chromed, artillery shell shaped features mounted onto the bumpers of many makes of cars from the fifties and were named after a certain voluptuous film actress.

It was an idea originally conceived by the GM Vice President of Design, Harley Earl and were placed on the front bumper of Cadillacs as more of a styling element than anything else but they also served as bumper guards at the same time.

As the years progressed, the bumper guards became larger and larger and in 1957, they were adorned with black rubber tips known as "pasties".

Cars of the 1960's were minimalist and austere in comparison to the cars from the '50's and and turned away from such styling excess

Interiors

Interiors are another aspect of car styling that are best left to professionals if you want to achieve show winning results. However, it's not as difficult as you may think and as long as approached with logic, initiative and above all, patience, there's no reason you shouldn't achieve satisfactory results.

The styling you decide on for your interior should reflect the overall theme of the vehicle. For a genuine 'Resto-Rod' it will be more a case of reviving or re-newing the existing interior rather than radical changes to the design or look. If however, you want to lose that moulded plastic panel look used in later vehicles, you might want to re-design the whole thing into something more sumptuous.

Some of the most popular materials used when upholstering interiors are:

• Leather
• Leathercloth
  
• Suede
• Vinyl
• Naugahyde

and to a lesser extent these days with exception of Lowriders and the like:

• Velvet
• Dralon
  

Whichever you decide, take careful thought. It's what you'll see most of.

Pinstriping

Along with flames, pinstriping is one of the oldest car-styling paint arts and is mostly used to enhance the natural, flowing lines of a vehicle. It is also used widely with great effect to finish off the edge of a 'flame job' or lettering.

Originally, very unique and creative designs were hand-striped using very fine camel hair brushes and although this technique is still very popular, there are a number of adhesive transfers that can be used very effectively. The advantages of the latter are that they can be removed much more easily if the mood changes and a different design can be applied. Whichever method is chosen, it's a good idea to draw some sketches on a sheet of paper to get some ideas of what you want.

If hand-striping, the best paint to use is synthetic enamel as used by sign writers as it covers in one coat and dries slowly allowing any mistakes to be rectified easily. The right brushes also need to be used. Flat handled 'dagger' brushes are best used for straight lines whereas round handle 'sword' brushes are best for curves. If done correctly pinstriping can have a subtle yet stunning effect on any vehicle.