This new video about varieties of inside doorhandles on cars brought me back to an earlier trivia item about outside doorhandles.
There’s a clear default pattern with a couple exceptions.
Before 1940 all closed cars had simple turn levers, the same mechanism as house doors. Levers varied from T shape to L shape to stirrup, but not round knobs. (A few roadsters had a pullout lever on the top edge, accessible from inside or outside.)
Around 1940 Lincoln made the first change, pushbuttons without handles. Impractical because a door needs a solid puller. Without a handle you have to improvise a way to grab the edge of the door after it pops. If the door is iced up or sticky you’re out of luck.
After the war handles diversified fast, then eventually settled back into one form.
In 1947 both Kaiser and Willys adopted triggers. I knew the Willys because I once owned a ’50 pickup. I didn’t know the Kaiser until I checked a video just now.
Looks and works like Willys. No US cars followed, but VW adopted triggers in the ’60s. Willys used pullouts on the Jeepster and Aero, converged to pushbuttons in ’63, but oddly used pullouts again on the new Jeepster in ’67.
In 1948 Hudson had the first pushbutton with handle.
Packard did pullouts in ’48 then pushbuttons ’51 to the end.
Studebaker did pullouts in ’47 then pushbuttons ’53 to the end.
In 1949 GM adopted pushbuttons and kept them.
Also in 1949 Ford tried pullouts then switched to pushbuttons in 1950 and kept them.
Nash/AMC did pullouts on the first few years of Rambler, switched to a squeeze-up handle in ’52. Switched to pushbuttons around ’63, then to the first pullout FLAP around ’68.
Starting in 1953, Chrysler went back and forth between types, often different handles on different brands. First pullouts on all, then pushbuttons on Plymouth and Dodge in ’55, then back to pullouts in ’56. The upper three brands went to the first pullUP flap in ’57, then gradually returned to pushbuttons in the mid-60s.
Around 2000 everybody converged on a new form that looks like the Hudson pushbutton but with the functions reversed. The button is firm and the handle pulls out slightly to open the door. Unlike most modern shit, this is distinctly BETTER than the earlier forms. It’s almost the same as a simple grabber, and follows your natural intention. Why did nobody try it earlier? It’s not hi-tech; it has the same force and motion as a pushbutton, sliding out instead of in. (Earlier pullout handles were pivoted, not sliding. At the point when the door unlatched, the handle was no longer parallel to the door.)
Polistra's Mill 