Pop-up headlights are, like mullets, shoulder pads and dial-up internet, a thing of the past. But not all cars who featured them looked bad.
I can distinctly remember the moment in my early youth when, in a dark parking lot, a red C4 Corvette first revealed its pop-up headlights. The simple mechanical pleasure of a device, a gizmo, a whizbang gadget smoothly emerging from the sculpted hood of a car was all my little brain needed to develop a thing, not just of pop-up headlights, but of cars as a concept.
I still primarily associate wedge-shaped cars like that Corvette with the pop-up headlight, but their history stretches back much farther. First displayed in 1936 by the Alfa Romeo 8C 2900A Ferrari Berlinetta and the Cord 810, those cars used hand cranks to turn the headlights and make them pop out of their fenders.
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The reason I associate pop-up headlights with the wedge era, though, is because of U.S. regulations. Automakers looking to get around headlight height regulations could simply make the headlights pop up to satisfy the Feds, rather than lifting the whole front end. That’s what led Toyota to import the AE86, which had pop-up headlights, rather than the Corolla Levin, which didn’t, per Wikipedia.
Once regulations allowed automakers to use aerodynamic headlights, they did so since not having a mechanism costs less than having one. Still, the part of my brain that’s still fascinated by toys and machines and any device that moves or unfolds can’t help but love a pop-up headlight.
But which car appeals to you most? Does the wild excess of the Lamborghini Diablo do it for you? How about the flip-up style of the ’60s Lotus Elan? Or did Toyota and Mazda get it right with the MR2 and first-gen MX-5 respectively? Let us know in the comments below!
