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 out via hinges along the A-pillar. [1] This makes for easier entry and exit, at the expense of requiring more side clearance than needed for scissor doors.
Butterfly doors were first seen on the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale in 1967. [2]
These doors were commonly used in Group C and IMSA GTP prototypes, as they preserved the aerodynamic shape of the canopy while allowing the driver to enter and exit the car more quickly than conventional and gullwing doors.
The Toyota Sera, made between 1990 and 1995, was a limited-release car designed exclusively for the Japanese market and the first mass-produced vehicle with butterfly doors. The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren is one of the few open-top cars to use butterfly wing doors. This is made possible by having hinge points along the side of the A-pillar instead of at the top.
Butterfly doors have been an adopted design of modern prototypes and sports cars such as the McLaren F1, Toyota GT-One, Saleen S7, Ferrari Enzo [3] (and its track day version, the FXX), Bentley Speed 8, Peugeot 908 HDi FAP, McLaren Senna, Maserati MC20, and Bugatti Tourbillon.
The McLaren 12C has a unique system wherein the butterfly doors do not use a top hinge. This allows the car and its convertible version to use frameless windows.
Maserati S.p.A. is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914 in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Maserati was initially associated with Ferrari. In May 2014, due to ambitious plans and product launches, Maserati sold a record of over 3,000 cars in one month. This caused them to increase production of the Quattroporte and Ghibli models. In addition to the Ghibli and Quattroporte, Maserati offers the Maserati GranTurismo and two SUV models, the Maserati Levante and the Maserati Grecale. Maserati has placed a yearly production output cap at 75,000 vehicles globally.
Zagato is a coachbuilding company founded by Ugo Zagato in 1919. The design center of the company is located in Terrazzano, a village near Rho, Lombardy, Italy.
McLaren Automotive is a British luxury automotive manufacturer based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, England. The main products of the company are sports cars, which are produced in-house in designated production facilities. In July 2017, McLaren Automotive became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the wider McLaren Group, which is wholly owned by Mumtalakat Holding Company, the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Bahrain.
In automotive engineering, a mid-engine layout describes the placement of an automobile engine in front of the rear-wheel axles, but behind the front axle.
In the automotive industry, a gull-wing door, also known as a falcon-wing door or an up-door, is a car door that is hinged at the roof rather than the side, as pioneered by Mercedes-Benz 300 SL and was designed by a Maxwell James Harris, first as a race car in 1952 (W194), and then as a production sports car in 1954.
Automobile was an American automobile magazine founded in 1986 by a group of former Car and Driver employees, led by David E. Davis with support from Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, using the credo No Boring Cars. From 2014-2020, Automobile had been absorbed by the Motor Trend Group.
The Toyota Sera is a 3-door 2+2 liftback coupe manufactured and marketed by Toyota from 1990 to 1996. It was only officially sold in Japan.
The Geneva International Motor Show was an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva.
Evo is a British automobile magazine dedicated to performance cars, from hot hatches to supercars published by Carwow.
The 2006 Paris Motor Show took place from 30 September to 15 October 2006, in Paris expo Porte de Versailles, Paris, France.
The Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale is a mid-engine sports car built by Italian automobile manufacturer Alfa Romeo. It was the fastest commercially available car for the standing kilometer upon its introduction. 18 examples were produced between 1967 and 1969. "Stradale" is a term often used by Italian car manufacturers to indicate a street-legal version of a racing car; indeed the 33 Stradale was derived from the Tipo 33 sports prototype. Built in an attempt by Alfa Romeo to make some of its racing technology available to the public, it was also the most expensive automobile for sale to the public in 1968 at US$17,000.
The Turin Motor Show is an auto show held annually in Turin, Italy. The first official show took place between 21 and 24 April 1900, at the Castle of Valentino, becoming a permanent fixture in Turin from 1938 having shared it with Milan and Rome until that time. From 1972, the show was held biannually and in 1984, it moved into Fiat's shuttered Lingotto factory.
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, cockpit canopy, canopy door, or simply a canopy. A canopy is a type of door which sits on top of a car and lifts up in some way, to provide access for passengers. It is similar to an aircraft canopy. There are no established sub-types of canopies, so they can be hinged at the front, side, or back, although hinging at the front is most common. Canopy doors are rarely used on production cars, and are sometimes used on concept cars.
Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este is a Concours d'Elegance event in Italy for classic and vintage cars. It takes place annually near the Villa d'Este hotel in Cernobbio, on the western shore of Lake Como in northern Italy. Since 2011, the event has taken place in the second half of May.
The Museo Juan Manuel Fangio, is a museum of motor racing cars, dedicated to Formula One driver Juan Manuel Fangio and located in Balcarce, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.
Dana Graziano is an Italian company based in Turin manufacturing gearboxes, drivelines and their mechatronics components. It makes the "Pre-Cog" seven-speed Seamless-Shift gearbox (SSG) dual-clutch transmission used in the McLaren 12C.
Stola is an Italian automotive company founded in 1919. From its start it realized concept cars, prototypes and style models, master models and engineering consultancy for some of the biggest manufacturers in the automotive industry.
The Maserati MC20 is a two-seater, rear-mid-engine sports car produced by Italian car manufacturer Maserati.
The Milano Monza Open-Air Motor Show (MIMO) is an annual auto show first held in June 2021 in Milan and Monza, Italy.
Media related to Automobiles with butterfly doors at Wikimedia Commons
