A Feature that was Cool but Died

When you look at cars of the past do you ever wonder where some of the signature features of the time went?  We saw cars of the 1930s and 1940s with massive structures and so much sheet metal that would make a Pittsburgh Steel Worker blush and we have seen cars in the 1950s and 1960s that had wings on them as if they wanted to take off and fly if only these wings were turned horizontally.  In other cases we have enjoyed the styles and features of cars that have long gone and others that have nameplates that are still around but have a different style.

One of the features that was extremely cool but eventually bit the dust is the pop up headlight.  These cool lights were motorized and either came up out of the hood area or right up from the front of the car.  Why did we even have these to start with?  The US regulations dictated specific headlight shapes for a long time which was to only allow round or rectangular shaped lights.  Can you imagine a low and sleek Corvette of the 1980s with big bulbous round lights up front, that just wouldn’t do.  In response manufacturers took to making the pop up lights.

For many years (from the 1960s until 2004) the pop up headlights were a feature many looked for in a car, especially since the alternative was a light that looked like a preschooler should be building with it.  With these pop up devices many automakers, particular the Japanese companies, were able to build cars with low and long hood lines that only had to leave a space for the headlight to pop up and when the lights were off and away the covers for the lights added to the continuous line without a rude interruption of shape.

Why don’t we have these lights anymore?  The regulations were eventually lifted and headlights became a part of the design of a car.  Today you see more cars than ever that have angular headlight designs and a variety of shapes and sizes in order to give you a look that begins at the front of the car and points toward the back.  Another reason these lights eventually were deleted is the fact that many reported a lack of function of the lights.  You could see cars with the pop ups winking at you with one working and one not, or during the day both would stay open because the motors no longer functioned, they just weren’t practical anymore.

As much as it’s disheartening to see such a cool feature be deleted from the automotive world entirely, the lights of cars made today really do add a great deal of style and elegance to the vehicles they are part of.  It is fun to sometimes look back though and see what once was, if you are at an auto show and see a car that has this feature on it, appreciate what you see, which is a feature that will not likely ever make a return.