When designing their cars, most manufacturers don't spend too much time on the doors, which is why most cars come with the standard two-hinge doors that open outwards. However, some manufacturers consider doors to be not only a functional tool to let people in and out of the car, but also as a design tool to set their car apart from the rest.
Over the years, automakers have come up with various outrageous door designs for the sake of design, physics, or simply extravagance. These doors are typically used on the most expensive supercars and range from scissor doors, butterfly doors, suicide doors, and many others. Let's explore ten cars with some of the most unusual, cool-looking doors.
10 Mercedes-Benz 300SL
Let's kick off with one of the most iconic German cars ever built — the Mercedes-Benz 300SL. Introduced in the '50s, the 300SL is widely considered to be the first-ever supercar. It had a fantastic design, advanced technology, and with its 163-mph top speed, it was the fastest production car at the time.
Despite all its incredible specs, the thing gearheads remember most about the 300SL is its gullwing doors. Unlike traditional doors, gullwing doors are hinged at the roof and open upward to mimic a seagull preparing to take off.
9 BMW Z1
In the late '80s, BMW introduced the first car in its now-popular Z-Series line of two-seater roadsters — the Z1. The Z1 was initially a concept car, but a positive reception forced the German marque to put it into limited production.
Of all the Z1's cool features, the most notable was its doors — or lack thereof. Unlike any other car ever built before it, the Z1 had vertically sliding doors. Drivers only needed to push a button, and the doors would drop into the sills.
8 Lamborghini Countach
Lamborghini is known for its radical approach to car design. Most Lambos are recognizable from a mile away thanks to their extreme designs, brightly-colored paint jobs, beautiful exhaust notes, and, of course, their scissor doors.
The venerable Countach was the first Lamborghini to have scissor doors when it came out in 1974. However, contrary to common belief, the scissor doors were a necessity — the car's tubular chassis and width made it impossible to use standard doors. Since then, every V12 Lamborghini has used scissor doors.
7 Koenigsegg Agera
Although Koenigsegg is less than three decades old, it has already established itself as one of the leading supercar producers in the world. Koenigsegg cars are known for their extreme power, luxury, advanced technology, and eye-watering price tags.
Koenigseggs also have doors that no other brand has ever used. Dihedral synchro-helix doors, as they're called, open by moving slightly outward while simultaneously rotating at 90 degrees at the hinge.
6 Ford GT
In the mid-2000s, Ford introduced the GT in honor of the iconic 1960s GT40 that famously beat Ferrari to win at Le Mans. The Ford GT had a lot of similarities with the GT40, particularly in the design department.
For instance, the Ford GT had similar doors to the GT40. The doors are largely similar to traditional outward-opening doors, but they incorporate the roof into the top of the door. These doors were designed to make it easy for GT40 racing drivers to switch quickly.
5 McLaren F1
After decades of dominating the motorsports scene in Europe, McLaren decided to build its first-ever road-going car in the early '90s — the F1. The F1 didn't disappoint. It had a proper supercar design, various race-derived technologies, and with a top speed of over 240 mph, it was one of the fastest cars of the '90s.
Another thing that set the F1 apart from other sports cars was its doors. The F1 had butterfly doors that swung up and out by hinges fixed along its A-pillar.
4 Tesla Model X
Tesla is always looking to disrupt any market it enters, so when it built the Model X SUV in 2015, it made sure it would compete against the best SUVs on the market. The Model X immediately became the coolest crossover in the world with its electric drivetrain, sub-3-second 0-60 time, and unique design.
Easily the best design feature of the Model X is its rear falcon doors — or gullwing doors if you ignore Tesla's marketing speak. The doors are more advanced than those of the aforementioned 300SL as they have sensors that detect obstacles to ensure that you don't hit anything.
3 Rolls-Royce Phantom
When it comes to building incredible luxury sedans, no one does it better than Rolls-Royce. Rolls-Royce cars are built for wealthy individuals who want to be chauffeured around, which is why the company spends more time to ensure that the rear seating area feels like first-class plane seats.
For this reason, these cars typically have suicide rear doors, which are hinged at the rear instead of the front to make it easier to enter.
2 Lamborghini Egoista
For now, the Egoista is only a concept car, but every gearhead wishes that it would go into production as soon as possible. Lamborghini unveiled the Egoista to celebrate its 50th anniversary, and it immediately took the automotive world by storm with its jet-fighter-inspired design.
One of the best design features of the Egoista is its canopy door. This type of door is mounted at the top of the car and is completely removable if needed. The Egoista also has a one-seat cockpit to maintain the jet-fighter theme.
1 BMW Isetta
The Isetta is a tiny bubble car that BMW introduced in the '50s to compete with the Volkswagen Beetle. The Isetta's 7.5-feet by 4.5-feet footprint coupled with its 236cc engine made it an ideal postwar mode of transport for the masses.
However, it was too small to accommodate normal doors. So BMW designers did the logical thing and used the whole front of the Isetta as a door, allowing humans to climb aboard from the front.