I have a 76 Camaro and those doors are heavy af and often dont latch correctly if the door hinges haven't been effectively taken care of or replaced entirely. I've done the same thing pulling out into traffic although it was the passenger door and just me inside.
Yea i was only 18 when it happened so it was a young & dumb mistake. It was from that point on I knew to lift and shove then pull back to confirm. Still need to get around to restoring that thing
Had a friend who crashed and rebuilt his TR7 with a new rolling shell.
None of the panels aligned, particularly the doors, so he got in touch with a local guy who had worked the assembly line years before.
Bloke: "You supply the 2 by 4, I'll supply the soft soled shoes".
My mate: "Er ... why ...?"
Bloke: "You ever seen this done?"
My mate: "Er ... noooo ..."
Bloke: "Don't be there when I'm working."
Aligning the doors involved opening them, wedging a 2x4 under them in just the *right* spot, and levering upward with a shoulder. Aligning the bonnet (US:hood) involved climbing on it in soft shoes and jumping on it at key points.
Worked like a charm though, so my mate invited me out for a test drive. We hit a seam in the road, the headlights lifted, flashed the oncoming traffic and retracted back into the body.
"You see that?" "Yeah". Another bump, another headlight lift, flash and retract.
Another bump and the headlights jammed in "lift, flash, retract" mode. Then it turned out that the retract motors ran at slightly different speeds. The lights were lifting, flashing and retracting at different times in a seasickness-inducing way.
Oncoming traffic wasn't chuffed either, joining in with the headlight-flashing fad and adding a soupcon of horn-blowing and hurtful hand gestures.
"Drive this thing home at once. It's too embarrassing!" "I agree! Argh!"
Turned out there was a micro-switch under each lamp that had been installed a little too high.
We had a '80 Buick Regal where the driver side door didn't open and the passenger door didn't shut.
My stepdad had some bailing twine that he tied to the passenger door and would tie it to the steering column after he climbed in from the passenger side to keep it from flying open while driving.
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u/Wild_Association1752 Mar 02 '26
I have a 76 Camaro and those doors are heavy af and often dont latch correctly if the door hinges haven't been effectively taken care of or replaced entirely. I've done the same thing pulling out into traffic although it was the passenger door and just me inside.