Cars With Pillarless Doors or Popup Headlights

I have two cars with popup headlights. Popups rule!

But the reality is they are like air brakes when opened, you have to turn them on to clean them, and the motors can fail. With the low profile projector headlights we have today, there's simply no need for them. It's an unnecessary complexity and point of failure.
 
I've converted my Miata's "Bug Eye" looking single round headlights to low profile quad Hella projectors, much better in many respects.

Relative to somebody's post about "pillar-less" and Mini-Coopers, I've seen two Minis roll-over at our Pro-Autosports track days and it's alarming when you see the results, that top is nothing more than a big glass fishbowl, they explode!

A Roll-cage is a definate Mini-Driver saver!
 
Pillar-less doors are rather common, as you can see. If the car comes with a convertible option, generally it has pillar-less doors on the hard-top version (except maybe the old school J-Body vehicles). Obviously my S2000 has pillar-less doors, but it would look retarded with the top down if it didn't. lol

When I was 16, my mother had a Pontiac Firebird with the pop-up headlamps, and it was sweet. However, in today's world, if you had two identical cars, but one had pop-up lamps and the other had HID lamps, I'd go HIDs every time.

Also, our cars are parked outside where we live now, and after a night of ice / snow, I'd rather have headlights that work instead of having to unfreeze the lamps so they can pop-up to work.
 
Just about any convertible has pillarless doors. Of course since I replied on page 2, The Chad have already stated this.
 
not sure if anyones said this, but some of the late 80s and early 90s Toyota Celica's had both of what you seek!!!
 
Pardon the massive bump, but when you do a Google search for "pillarless doors", this is the first page that comes up. Schweetness.
 
prizrak said:
Pillarless doors while pretty cool have problems with wind noise after a certain amount of time. That is mostly due to glass being a slow moving liquid rather than an actual solid. So over time the seal between the glass and the car's body gets worse causing the windows to "flap" a little bit at higher speeds creating quite a bit of noise (pretty annoying).
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That is complete rubbish, no offense.

While the theory is correct, glass doesn't "flow" that fast, nor to that degree. If it did, huge picture windows would fall out of buildings regularly. You could lean a broom against a window, and come back in 10 years, and the handle would be sticking through the glass like a barbed-wire fence in a tree trunk.

When your car moves, the air flowing over the shell of your car, the moving air creates lift on the surface of your car, since the car is shaped similar to an airplane wing (arched). This "lift" pulls on the windows ever so slightly the faster you go. Now, a new car doesn't have much issue, however, as the seals start to loose some of their pushback, as people use the glass to close the door, and as all of the flexible components inside the door ,that allow it to move so the glass doesn't simply snap when any of these pressures are put on it, start to loose their flexibility, that negative air pressure is able to pull just hard enough that it increases wind noise at speed.

My car's got pillarless windows.
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edit: V= Thanks M-Bloc. I love it. Sure, it's an automatic and Fail wheel drive, but it was the world's lightest production v-6 at the time, and the auto revs to 7000RPM. Not bad. The fact that Clarkson would buy one over an Alfa was nice to see, too. Although, he's rather drive the alfa home, he'd rather spend his money on the Cougar.
 
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prizrak said:
!) Why would they?
2) Do you really see it working with modern car shapes?
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1) Why not? *shrugs*

2) Sure, but it depends on the car. Wouldn't look half bad on the Mustang or the new Challenger.?
 
Clegg said:
1) Why not? *shrugs*

2) Sure, but it depends on the car. Wouldn't look half bad on the Mustang or the new Challenger.?
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I can't tell if youre being sarcastic or faceitous...
 
The next Corvette desperately needs popups. It looks too much like a praying mantis head right now.
 
Clegg said:
2) Sure, but it depends on the car. Wouldn't look half bad on the Mustang or the new Challenger.
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I do believe the person posing the question said "modern" car designs.
 
:lol: I've always had an obsession with hidden headlamps, but I'm a teenager, we have these funny obsessions :p I just like seeing them pop up when they're turned on. Had the pleasure of a local 240SX driver popping his headlamps up as I drove past the other day :mrgreen: That was the very first time I've ever seen the headlamps in the actual pop up action. XD

Anyway, as for pillarless doors, my mom's 06 Mustang has them. Very, very interesting reaction the day we got it...

Me: -opens door-glass rolls down a tad- :shock2: Wtf is that for?! -shuts door-glass rolls back up- :shock: OMG THAT'S AMAZING! :mrgreen:
Mom: -sigh- :lol:

Yeah, I live under a rock and haven't experience many things, so what? Wanna judge me? :p
 
only car Ive ever driven that had popup headlights was a Ferrari 355 GTS (convertible).

You'll forgive me if "looking at the headlights" wasn't on the top of my priorities list at that time.
old Mazda MX5s have them too, and they're cool aswell.

Aside from looking cool, I see no real point to pillarless doors
 
Has no more of a real "point" than different colors of paint, and yet...
 
< As already pointed out. Pillar-less.


One thing I hate is getting into/out of a car that has door frames and being so used to mine I smack myself in the chin opening the door.
 
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