Butterfly doors, also called vertical doors or dihedral doors, are a type of door often seen on high-performance automobiles. They are similar to scissor doors, but while scissor doors merely tilt forward and up, butterfly doors also rotate as they move forward.
The McLaren F1, Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, Saleen S7, and the Mercedes-Benz SLR use butterfly doors. The Toyota Sera was a limited-release car designed exclusively for the Japanese market which used this design. Due to its unusual design, some enthusiasts in Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain have privately imported the Toyota Sera. It is only available in right-hand drive configuration.
Koenigsegg uses a "dihedral synchro-helix" system for their vehicles (known in the custom-car world as "raptor" doors) which seems to combine the advantages of all the designs though with considerably more mechanical complexity.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Lambo Doors
In addition to the traditional gull-wing doors, there are other unusual door mechanisms - particularly among exotic and expensive cars. Lamborghini uses a design which is a hybrid of the conventional and gull-wing design which is generally referred to as a "scissor", "jack-knife" in which the door is still hinged at the front but swings upward from the car while staying parallel with the edge.
The McLaren F1 roadcar and Mercedes-Benz SLR use a variant of this system called Butterfly doors. The doors are hinged at the front similar the scissor doors but the hinges are placed higher up on the A-pillar, allowing the door to pivot both up and out. This increases the ability of the door to move out of the way of the car's occupants but does not prevent a convertible version. The Toyota Sera was a limited-release car designed exclusively for the Japanese market which used this design. Due to its unusual design, some enthusiasts in Australia, New Zealand and England have privately imported the cars. It is available only in right-hand drive configuration.
Koenigsegg uses a "dihedral synchro-helix" system for their vehicles which seems to combine the advantages of all the designs, though with considerably more mechanical complexity.
The BMW Z1 used a novel design in which its doors were not hinged at all but rather retracted vertically into the chassis, leaving an empty (though unusually high) sill.
The kit car Nova/Sterling [2] [3] also known as Purvis Eureka [4] in Australia used a special type of door, actually a lifting canopy, on several of their models where the entire top section of the car was opened. The Saab Aero-X used a similar design.
The McLaren F1 roadcar and Mercedes-Benz SLR use a variant of this system called Butterfly doors. The doors are hinged at the front similar the scissor doors but the hinges are placed higher up on the A-pillar, allowing the door to pivot both up and out. This increases the ability of the door to move out of the way of the car's occupants but does not prevent a convertible version. The Toyota Sera was a limited-release car designed exclusively for the Japanese market which used this design. Due to its unusual design, some enthusiasts in Australia, New Zealand and England have privately imported the cars. It is available only in right-hand drive configuration.
Koenigsegg uses a "dihedral synchro-helix" system for their vehicles which seems to combine the advantages of all the designs, though with considerably more mechanical complexity.
The BMW Z1 used a novel design in which its doors were not hinged at all but rather retracted vertically into the chassis, leaving an empty (though unusually high) sill.
The kit car Nova/Sterling [2] [3] also known as Purvis Eureka [4] in Australia used a special type of door, actually a lifting canopy, on several of their models where the entire top section of the car was opened. The Saab Aero-X used a similar design.
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