# The DeLorean's gullwing doors **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 25, 2004, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-deloreans-gullwing-doors/241884 "2004-04-25T04:57:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![htns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@htns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/htns)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-deloreans-gullwing-doors/241884/1 "2004-04-25T04:57:36Z")
How do the doors on the DeLorean DMC-12 stay open? Is the device used hydraulic, pneumatic, or what? ---
**Author:** ![cabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@cabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabdude)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-deloreans-gullwing-doors/241884/2 "2004-04-25T06:32:23Z")
I also heard that if the battery went flat while you were sitting in it, you couldn’t open the doors from the inside. You couldn’t reach the outside door handle through the window either due to the gull wing design, so you were reduced to pathetically pleading passersby to let you out. Apparently the batteries used to go flat regularly as the alternator was too weak for all the electric doo-dads installed. Anyone confirm? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-deloreans-gullwing-doors/241884/3 "2004-04-25T11:21:37Z")
Not sure about the actual door mechanism, but for the door locking I found this on the web: From: [http://labwww.csv.cmich.edu/luke/auto/delorean/repair/lockin.html](http://labwww.csv.cmich.edu/luke/auto/delorean/repair/lockin.html) > [@](#): > > The design of the original locking mechanism has flaws. The most major flaw is the fact that you can be locked into your own car (it happened to Johnny Carson, it can happen to you too). It is possible to trip this if you make attempts to lock/unlock while a door is open. It can be also tripped by people who don’t know how to open the doors from the inside and end up pressing the lock switch and door handle at the same time. If this design bug is tripped, you WILL NOT be able to unlock the doors. From: [http://www.babbtechnology.com/thecar/misc.htm](http://www.babbtechnology.com/thecar/misc.htm) > [@](#): > > John DeLorean is well over six feet in height, and he designed the car to comfortably fit someone of his height. What happens when someone of shorter stature gets in and tries to close the door? Oops, if you can’t reach the handle, you can’t close the door! The addition of a pull strap helped to make this less of a problem… ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-deloreans-gullwing-doors/241884/4 "2004-04-25T12:49:51Z")
I have always loved the gullwing door look. I have never been in a car with gull wings, so I don’t know whether they are practical, but I have wanted a car with GullWings for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![mike1dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@mike1dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mike1dog)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-deloreans-gullwing-doors/241884/5 "2004-04-25T12:56:32Z")
They’re not very practical. If you wanted to get in a tight parking spot, you obviously can’t open the door only a little and get out. I always wondered what you would do if you rolled the car and ended up on the roof. There is no way you could get the door open, and the door had that little mail slot of a window in it. ---
**Author:** ![coop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/87869e/32.png) [@coop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coop)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-deloreans-gullwing-doors/241884/6 "2004-04-25T13:09:16Z")
[This site](http://www.delorean.co.uk/DMUK/myths.html) has a comment about how the doors work. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-deloreans-gullwing-doors/241884/7 "2004-04-25T15:01:58Z")
> [@mike1dog](#): > > They’re not very practical. If you wanted to get in a tight parking spot, you obviously can’t open the door only a little and get out. Actually, the doors are easier to open in a tight parking spot than a conventional door because they are hinged in the middle of the roof and swing upward, not outward. They need less than a foot of clearance to open. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-deloreans-gullwing-doors/241884/8 "2004-04-25T15:10:24Z")
What **Jet Jaguar** said. It was one of the few conveniences of the DeLorean. I owned one for a time, inherited from Pops Mercotan. Looked cool as hell tooling around in it, then looked stupid as hell as it broke down every 300 miles or so with some sort of mechanical problem. The stainless steel body was nice in the snowbelt; no rust. However, the frame was NOT stainless steel, and got eaten by road salt all too quickly. ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-deloreans-gullwing-doors/241884/9 "2004-04-25T17:06:40Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > I owned one for a time, inherited from Pops Mercotan. Looked cool as hell tooling around in it, then looked stupid as hell as it broke down every 300 miles or so with some sort of mechanical problem. The DeLorean was awesome! Everywhere you go, someone says, “Whooaaaa, Back To The Future!” And the doors? The doors are great. There was a time when I wanted **Qadgop** to hang on to it and give it to me when I turned 16. He basically said “Ha. No.” Eventually, I realized that an unreliable, flashy, difficult to repair car with no back seat was just a dumb idea. Elfbabe, who drives the used Volvo selected by the infinitely wiser Mercotan elders ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-deloreans-gullwing-doors/241884/10 "2004-04-25T17:10:38Z")
But **Elfbabe** , we do have that picture of you sitting on Rick Mears’ lap in our old DeLorean. ---
**Author:** ![cabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@cabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabdude)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-deloreans-gullwing-doors/241884/11 "2004-04-25T19:09:27Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Not sure about the actual door mechanism, but for the door locking I found this on the web: > > From: [http://labwww.csv.cmich.edu/luke/auto/delorean/repair/lockin.html](http://labwww.csv.cmich.edu/luke/auto/delorean/repair/lockin.html) > From: [Misc. Information / Pictures](http://www.babbtechnology.com/thecar/misc.htm) Ah - Ok. I’ve just got a garbled, half-remembered version of two stories - one, the door locking mechanism had a weird flaw and two, the car used Lucas electrics. I have never seen one “in the flesh,” so to speak as they weren’t officially imported into Oz.