
In the automotive industry, a gull-wing door, also known as a falcon-wing door, McLaren anhedral door, or an up-door, is a
car door
Exterior side of car door on a 1986 Ford Taurus
A car door is a type of door opening, typically hinged on its front edge, but sometimes attached by other mechanisms such as tracks, for entering and exiting a vehicle. Doors most often integr ...
that is hinged at the roof rather than the side, as pioneered by
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (chassis code W 198) is a two-seat sports car that was produced by Mercedes-Benz from 1954 to 1957 as a gullwinged coupé and from 1957 to 1963 as a roadster. The 300 SL traces its origins to the company's 1952 racin ...
, first as a race car in 1952 (
W194), and then as a production
sports car
A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto racing, racing capability. Sports cars originated in ...
in 1954.
Opening upwards, the doors evoke the image of a
seagull
Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...
's
wing
A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...
s. In French, they are called (butterfly doors). The papillon door was designed by Jean Bugatti for the
1939 Type 64, 14 years before Mercedes-Benz produced its similar, famous 300 SL gullwing door. The papillon door is a precursor to the gullwing door, and is slightly different in its architecture, but is often overlooked when discussing gull-wing design. Conventional car doors are typically hinged at the front-facing edge of the door, with the door swinging outward horizontally.
Apart from the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL of the mid-1950s, the Mercedes-Benz SLS concept, and the experimental
Mercedes-Benz C111
The Mercedes-Benz C111 was a series of experimental automobiles produced by Daimler-Benz in the 1960s and 1970s. The company was experimenting with new engine technologies, including Wankel engines, diesel engines, and turbochargers, and used ...
of the early 1970s, the best-known examples of road-cars with gull-wing doors are the
Bricklin SV-1
The Bricklin SV-1 is a two-seat sports car produced by American businessman Malcolm Bricklin and his manufacturing company from 1974 until late 1975. The car was noteworthy for its gull-wing doors and composite bodywork of color-impregnated acryli ...
from the 1970s, the
DMC DeLorean
The DMC DeLorean is a rear-engine, two–seat sports car manufactured and marketed by John DeLorean's DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) for the American market from 1981 until 1983—ultimately the only car brought to market by the fledgling compa ...
from the 1980s, and the
Tesla Model X
The Tesla Model X is a battery electric mid-size luxury crossover SUV built by Tesla, Inc. since 2015. Developed from the full-sized sedan platform of the Tesla Model S, the vehicle notably uses falcon wing doors for rear passenger access. ...
of the 2010s. Gull-wing doors have also been used in aircraft designs, such as the four-seat single-engine
Socata TB
The Socata TB is a series of light single-engine piston aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Daher-Socata, SOCATA. The letters TB within the designation stand for Tarbes, the French city where the aircraft series is manu ...
series built in France.
Practical considerations
The design is a very practical one in a tight urban parking space. When properly designed and counterbalanced, they require little side-clearance to open (about 27.5 cm or 11" in the DeLorean) and allow much better entrance/egress than conventional doors. The most obvious downside to having gull-wing doors is that, were the car to roll over and come to rest on its roof, exit by the doors would be impossible, requiring a large windscreen opening to escape. The Mercedes SLS solved this problem by fitting
explosive bolts in the hinges, which would blow up if the car rolled over, causing the door to fall off altogether.
The
Volvo YCC, a concept car designed by and for women, had gull-wing doors as part of its design. Gull-wing doors make it easier to lift a bag to store it behind the driver's seat, increase visibility over the driver's shoulder, and make it easier to get in and out of the car.
The Tesla Model X, introduced in 2015, has double-hinged gull-wing doors, called falcon-wing doors by Tesla. The Model X has several design considerations to make the doors more practical. Being double-hinged allows them to open with less clearance (horizontal and vertical) than would otherwise be required. The vehicle also has sensors to determine ceiling height and the presence of potential obstacles and to determine how the hinges will operate to open the doors and avoid obstacles, if possible.
Design challenges
Gull-wing doors have a somewhat questionable reputation because of early examples like the Mercedes and the Bricklin. The 300 SL needed the door design, as its tubular frame race car chassis design had a very high door sill, which in combination with a low roof would make a standard door opening very low and small. The Mercedes engineers solved the problem by also opening a part of the roof. The Bricklin was a more conventionally sized door but the actuation system was problematic in day-to-day use and led to unreliable operation until an aftermarket air-door upgrade was installed in all Bricklins.
In addition, there was some concern that in making the doors as light as possible they wouldn't provide adequate protection in side-impact accidents. There was, however, no indication that this concern was justified.
The DeLorean solved these problems by using a patented cryogenically set stainless steel
torsion bar
A torsion bar suspension, also known as a torsion spring suspension, is any vehicle suspension that uses a torsion bar as its main weight-bearing spring. One end of a long metal bar is attached firmly to the vehicle chassis; the opposite end ...
spring (manufactured by
Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation
The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 19 ...
) to partially counterbalance a full-sized door, and then added a gas-pressurized (pneumatic) strut similar to those found in
hatchback
A hatchback is a car body style, car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to the main interior of the car as a cargo area rather than just to a separated trunk. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second-row sea ...
cars. The combination of the torsion spring and strut provided the correct torque variation necessary to offset the variable torque of the door, as it opened through a rotational angle of about 80 degrees. The torsion bar is most important in the first foot of movement from the bottom, where the geometry of the strut is pointed at the hinge and therefore at a mechanical disadvantage. As the spring relaxes through the door's rotation open, the strut gains a better moment arm and gradually takes over the effort. A correctly balanced door opens fully on its own by simply activating the door latch from the interior, exterior, or from an aftermarket wireless release.
Other disadvantages of the system were not so easy to address. For example, the gull-wing design makes creating a
convertible
A convertible or cabriolet () is a Car, passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary across eras and manufacturers.
A convertible car's design allows an open-air drivin ...
version of the car harder, as the hinges would be removed with the roof, and standard doors would be needed for the convertible. Mercedes did so when replacing the gullwing coupe altogether with the 300SL roadster in 1958. It was never a concern for DeLorean, since no convertible version was ever planned.
It also makes sealing the car against water leaks and snow intrusion more difficult because of the shape and movement path of the door itself.
List of automobiles
The following is a (partial) list of production and kit automobiles with gull-wing doors:
Production cars
*
Apollo Intensa Emozione
The Apollo Intensa Emozione, also known as Apollo IE, is a mid-engine sports car manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Apollo Automobil GmbH, in partnership with Manifattura Automobili Torino, designed by their chief designer Jowyn Won ...
*
Aston Martin Valkyrie
The Aston Martin Valkyrie (also known by its code-names as AM-RB 001 and Nebula) is a limited production hybrid sports car collaboratively built by British automobile manufacturers Aston Martin, Red Bull Racing Advanced Technologies and sever ...
*
Autozam AZ-1
The Autozam AZ-1, known by the framecode PG6SA, is a MR layout, mid-engined kei car, kei-class sports car, designed and manufactured by Mazda under its Autozam brand. Suzuki provided the engine as well as the inspiration for the design.
Manufa ...
(Suzuki Cara)
*
Bricklin SV-1
The Bricklin SV-1 is a two-seat sports car produced by American businessman Malcolm Bricklin and his manufacturing company from 1974 until late 1975. The car was noteworthy for its gull-wing doors and composite bodywork of color-impregnated acryli ...
*
Bristol Fighter
*
DMC DeLorean
The DMC DeLorean is a rear-engine, two–seat sports car manufactured and marketed by John DeLorean's DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) for the American market from 1981 until 1983—ultimately the only car brought to market by the fledgling compa ...
*
De Tomaso Mangusta
The De Tomaso Mangusta is a sports car produced by Italian automobile manufacturer De Tomaso between 1967 and 1971. It was succeeded by the De Tomaso Pantera.
History
The Mangusta replaced the Vallelunga model, on which its chassis was based ...
(engine compartment)
*
Gumpert Apollo
The Gumpert Apollo is a sports car produced by German automotive manufacturer Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur GmbH in Altenburg. Gumpert filed for bankruptcy in August 2013, thereby ending the production of the Apollo.
History
In 2000, Roland ...
*
Hofstetter Turbo
The Hofstetter Turbo is a Brazilian sports car created in the 1980s by Mario Richard Hofstetter. In 1980, Hofstetter started to draw a prototype of the car. The idea was to produce a domestically built sports car, since the Brazilian government ha ...
*
Isdera Commendatore 112i
The Isdera Commendatore 112i is a concept car conceived and developed by the German low-volume automobile manufacturer Isdera. Introduced at the Frankfurt Motor Show#1993, 1993 Frankfurt Motor Show, the 112i featured a compact and sleek aerodynami ...
*
Melkus RS 1000
Melkus RS 1000 is a sports car produced by Melkus. It is powered by a tuned, mid-mounted 3-cylinder 2-stroke 992 cm3 engine, similar to the one in the Wartburg 353, and features gull-wing doors. 101 cars were made between 1969 and 1979 ...
*
Melkus RS 2000
Melkus (formerly Heinz Melkus KG and Melkus Sportwagen GmbH) was an East German marque of single seat racing cars and sport cars founded by the race driver Heinz Melkus in Dresden in East Germany.
History
The company existed from 1959 to 1 ...
*
Mercedes-Benz 300SL
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (chassis code W 198) is a two-seat sports car that was produced by Mercedes-Benz from 1954 to 1957 as a gullwinged coupé and from 1957 to 1963 as a roadster. The 300 SL traces its origins to the company's 1952 racin ...
*
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG (C197 / R197) is a FMR layout, front mid-engine, 2-seater, limited production sports car developed by the Mercedes-AMG division of German automotive manufacturer Mercedes-Benz, with the assistance of David Coulthard. Th ...
*
Pagani Huayra
The Pagani Huayra () is a mid-engine sports car
A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto ...
*
Porsche 906
The Porsche 906 or Carrera 6 is a street-legal racing car from Porsche. It was announced in January 1966 and 50 examples were subsequently produced, thus meeting the homologation requirements of the FIA's new Group 4 Sports Car category to th ...
*
(NSU) Thurner RS
*
Tesla Model X
The Tesla Model X is a battery electric mid-size luxury crossover SUV built by Tesla, Inc. since 2015. Developed from the full-sized sedan platform of the Tesla Model S, the vehicle notably uses falcon wing doors for rear passenger access. ...
(rear passenger doors only)
*
HiPhi X
The HiPhi X is a battery electric full-sized luxury SUV produced by Human Horizons under the HiPhi brand. It is available in either four or six-seater configurations.
Overview
The HiPhi X is the company's first production car, produced from ...
(part of the rear passenger doors only)
*
Quant E
nanoFlowcell Holdings plc is a Swiss Flow battery, flow cell battery research and development company.
nanoFlowcell claims to have developed the first flow battery small enough to be used in electric cars. Its battery, also branded nanoFlowcell ...
*
Quant F
nanoFlowcell Holdings plc is a Swiss flow cell battery research and development company.
nanoFlowcell claims to have developed the first flow battery small enough to be used in electric cars. Its battery, also branded nanoFlowcell, was first p ...
*
Bugatti Atlantic Type 64
Image:Gumpert Apollo Dubai.jpg, Gumpert Apollo
The Gumpert Apollo is a sports car produced by German automotive manufacturer Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur GmbH in Altenburg. Gumpert filed for bankruptcy in August 2013, thereby ending the production of the Apollo.
History
In 2000, Roland ...
Image:Melkus RS1000.JPG, Melkus RS 1000
Melkus RS 1000 is a sports car produced by Melkus. It is powered by a tuned, mid-mounted 3-cylinder 2-stroke 992 cm3 engine, similar to the one in the Wartburg 353, and features gull-wing doors. 101 cars were made between 1969 and 1979 ...
File:Model X vs. DeLorean.jpg, Tesla Model X
The Tesla Model X is a battery electric mid-size luxury crossover SUV built by Tesla, Inc. since 2015. Developed from the full-sized sedan platform of the Tesla Model S, the vehicle notably uses falcon wing doors for rear passenger access. ...
(and the DMC DeLorean
The DMC DeLorean is a rear-engine, two–seat sports car manufactured and marketed by John DeLorean's DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) for the American market from 1981 until 1983—ultimately the only car brought to market by the fledgling compa ...
in the background)
Kit cars
Gullwing doors are common in
kit car
Kit may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Kit (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname
* Kit (surname), a list of people
Places
* Kit, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province
* Kit Hill ...
s and many were made that are not included on this list.
*
AMT Piranha
*
Bradley GTII
*
Dare
Dare may refer to:
Places
* Dare, Vera Cruz, a ''suco'' in Vera Cruz administrative post, Dili Municipality, Timor-Leste
* Darè, Italy, a comune
* Dare County, North Carolina, United States
* Dare, Virginia, United States, an unincorporate ...
DZ
*
Eagle
Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...
SS Mk1
* Elite Enterprises Laser 917, inspired by the
Porsche 917
The Porsche 917 is a sports prototype race car developed by German manufacturer Porsche to exploit the regulations regarding the construction of 5-litre sports cars. Powered by a Type 912 flat-12 engine which was progressively enlarged from 4. ...
*
Embeesea Charger
*
Fiberfab
Fiberfab was an American automotive manufacturer established in 1964. Starting with accessories and body parts, they progressed to making kit cars and fully assembled automobiles. They became one of the longest lasting kit car manufacturers.
C ...
Aztec 7, an American replica of the Italian
Alfa Romeo Carabo
The Alfa Romeo Carabo is a concept car first shown at the 1968 Paris Motor Show. It was designed by Marcello Gandini, working for the Bertone design studio. The ''Carabo'' name is derived from the ''Carabidae'' beetles, as evoked by the car's iri ...
concept car.
*
Fiberfab
Fiberfab was an American automotive manufacturer established in 1964. Starting with accessories and body parts, they progressed to making kit cars and fully assembled automobiles. They became one of the longest lasting kit car manufacturers.
C ...
Caribee/Banshee
* Innes Lee Scorpion K19
*
Pelland Sports
*
Replicar
A replica is an exact (usually 1:1 in scale) copy or remake of an object, made out of the same raw materials, whether a molecule, a work of art, or a commercial product. The term is also used for copies that closely resemble the original, without ...
Cursor
*
RPB GT
*
Burton Car Company hardtop
*
Siva S160 Spyder
*
Ultima Mk1
*
Ultima Mk2
The Ultima Mk2 and the Ultima Mk3 are sports car, sports kit car, kit cars that were produced by English automobile manufacturer Ultima Sports Ltd from 1984 to 1989, and 1989 to 1996 respectively.
Ultima Mk2
This is The second model produced ...
*
Ultima Mk3
*
Ultima Sport
Ultima Sport and Ultima Spyder is a supercar built by (then) kit-car manufacturers Ultima Sports Ltd. They are of a can-am design, with GRP bodywork set atop a bespoke chassis meant to accommodate a variety of engines from four to eight cylind ...
*
Ultima GTR
The Ultima GTR is a supercar manufactured by Ultima Sports Ltd of Hinckley, Leicestershire, England. The car was available both in kit form and as a "turnkey" (i.e. assembled by the factory) vehicle until early 2015, when it was replaced by the ...
Aircraft
*
Cessna 350
The Cessna 350 Corvalis is a composite construction, single-engine, normally aspirated, fixed-gear, low-wing general aviation aircraft that was built by Cessna Aircraft until the end of 2010.
The aircraft was formerly built by Columbia Aircr ...
*
Diamond DA62
The Diamond DA62 is a five- to seven-seat, twin-engine light aircraft produced by Diamond Aircraft Industries and first announced in March 2012.
Initially designated as the DA52, the first prototype flew on in April 2012 after six months of devel ...
*
Socata TB
The Socata TB is a series of light single-engine piston aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Daher-Socata, SOCATA. The letters TB within the designation stand for Tarbes, the French city where the aircraft series is manu ...
*
Beriev Be-103
The Beriev Be-103 (in English sometimes called "Snipe") is an amphibious seaplane designed by Beriev and constructed by the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association (KnAAPO) in Russia. Intended for autonomous operation in the unmarked ...
*
Stoddard-Hamilton Glasair II
The Stoddard-Hamilton Glasair II is an American amateur-built aircraft that was designed by Tom Hamilton and produced by Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft and later Glasair Aviation as a kit for amateur construction. It was first flown in 1989, and re ...
*
Dornier Seastar
The Dornier Seastar is a turboprop-powered amphibious aircraft built largely of composite materials. Developed by of Germany, it first flew in 1984. The design is owned by Claudius Jr's son, Conrado, who founded Dornier Seawings AG (now Dornier ...
See also
*
Butterfly doors
Butterfly doors are a type of car door sometimes seen on high-performance cars. They are slightly different from scissor doors. While scissor doors move straight up via hinge points at the bottom of a car's A-pillar, butterfly doors move up and ...
*
Canopy door
A vehicle canopy is a rarely used type of door for cars. It has no official name so it is also known as an articulated canopy, bubble canopy,
*
Car door
Exterior side of car door on a 1986 Ford Taurus
A car door is a type of door opening, typically hinged on its front edge, but sometimes attached by other mechanisms such as tracks, for entering and exiting a vehicle. Doors most often integr ...
*
List of cars with non-standard door designs
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
*
Scissor doors
Scissor doors (also called flap doors, wing doors, beetle-wing doors, turtle doors, switchblade doors, swing-up doors, upswing doors, Lamborghini doors, and Lambo doors) are Car door, automobile doors that rotate vertically at a fixed hinge at t ...
*
Sliding doors
''Sliding Doors'' is a 1998 romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Peter Howitt and starring Gwyneth Paltrow while also featuring John Hannah, John Lynch, and Jeanne Tripplehorn. The film alternates between two storylines, showi ...
*
Suicide doors
A suicide door is an automobile door hinged at its rear rather than the front. Such doors were originally used on horse-drawn carriages but are rarely found on modern vehicles, primarily because they are less safe than front-hinged doors.
...
*
Swan doors
Swan doors or swan-wing doors are a type of door typically used on performance cars or concept cars. Swan doors operate in a similar way to car door#Conventional doors, conventional car doors, but they open at an upward angle.
Function
The desig ...
References
External links
*
{{CarDesign nav
Car doors