If you've ever seen an old Lincoln Continental or Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, a Rolls-Royce, or a Mazda RX-8, you've probably noticed that the rear doors open in the "wrong" direction. Instead of hinging at the front, the rear doors are hinged at the back. They're commonly called "suicide" doors, although automakers have used much friendlier names such as coach doors and freestyle doors.
It sounds like a strange idea today, but rear-hinged doors were once fairly common. They weren't invented as a dangerous gimmick, either. The layout offered some genuine advantages for getting into and out of a car, and it was inherited from the horse-drawn carriages that preceded automobiles.
