Now you see them, now you don’t!
Pop-up headlights revolutionised car design.
Hiding the lights beneath the body allowed designers to experiment with new, more aerodynamic shapes in an era when glass lenses (either round or rectangular) were the norm.
Like many features in the automotive world, pop-up headlights first appeared on relatively expensive sports cars and later trickled down to more affordable models, including a few built by mainstream brands.
Join us for a look at some of the cars that wore pop-up headlights the best.
1. Cord 810 (1935)
Hugely innovative, the Cord 810 presented at the 1935 New York motor show looked like nothing else on American roads.
In a decade when headlights were normally mounted externally, designer Gordon Buehrig (1904-1990) placed them under flaps integrated into the front wings.
The end result was a clean, futuristic and extremely controversial design that left no one indifferent. These lights represented the proverbial tip of the innovation iceberg: the 810 also offered front-wheel-drive.
2. Chevrolet Corvette (second generation, 1962)
Chevrolet began adding hidden headlights to its concept cars (like the Mako Shark) in the early 1960s, and it first put them on a production model when it released the second-generation Corvette in 1962.
Pop-up headlights were one of the nameplate’s defining styling cues for decades. However, some racing variants of the Corvette ditched the pop-up system for Plexiglas covers to save weight.
3. Lotus Elan (1962)
Lotus adopted pop-up headlights before most of its rivals. It put them on the Elan introduced in 1962, and the design cue remained associated with the company for many years.
Models like the Elan+2 and the Elan M100 received pop-up headlights, as did the Esprit and the rather obscure Éclat.
It’s a solution that inevitably added weight, which went against company founder Colin Chapman’s famous philosophy, but the extra mass was a small penalty compared to the design benefits.
4. Lamborghini Miura (1966)
Lamborghini wanted to integrate the Miura’s headlights into the front end to reduce the model’s drag coefficient, but it chose not to hide them under metal covers.
Instead, the lights were nearly flat when they were off, and they pivoted up when the driver switched them on. While this solution was relatively expensive to implement, the company saved money by using headlights from the Fiat 850 Spider.
5. Toyota 2000GT (1967)
At first glance, it doesn’t look like the Toyota 2000GT has pop-up headlights, because there are big round lights under Plexiglas covers on either side of its grille.
Those are the driving lights; the headlights are integrated into the aluminium body and hidden under covers that follow the front end’s curves.
6. Opel GT (1968)
Opel created one of the coolest hidden headlight set-ups ever fitted to a production car.
When the lights are off, they’re hidden under the body and the front end is smooth. Pulling a lever located in front of the gear selector on the centre console exposes the lights by rotating them 180 degrees.
7. Saab Sonett (1970)
Saab’s final Sonett was mechanically related to its predecessor but the two coupés shared very few styling cues.
The third-generation model gained pop-up headlights that allowed stylists to give it a low, sharp nose in line with the design trends of the 1970s.
Interestingly, one of the solutions that Saab tested and abandoned in the 1960s was a roof-mounted headlight developed to improve visibility. This set-up was quickly canned, reportedly because it would have cost too much to mass produce.
8. Ferrari 365GTB/4 (1971)
Ferrari’s 365GTB/4 wasn’t designed with pop-up headlights.
Pininfarina gave it two pairs of round headlights mounted behind clear covers, but this feature became illegal in the United States in 1971; many other European cars ranging from the Volkswagen Beetle to the Alfa Romeo Spider were redesigned to conform with the new regulations.
After experimenting with several solutions, Ferrari replaced the fixed lights with pop-up units that complied with American rules starting in 1971. In doing so, the firm blazed a path that many of its models later followed. The 308GTB, the Mondial, the 288GTO, the Testarossa and the F40 are among the Ferrari models fitted with pop-up headlights.
9. Fiat X1/9 (1972)
Pop-up headlights appeared on numerous Italian cars at the height of their popularity, but Fiat largely steered clear of them. Moving lights added cost and complexity, and Fiat’s mass-market models needed to be as affordable as possible.
And yet, there was one notable exception: the X1/9. Drawn by Marcello Gandini at Bertone, it was loosely previewed by the 1969 Autobianchi Runabout concept and hiding the headlights under the body was the only way to maintain a resemblance between the two cars.
Oddly, the Runabout’s lights didn’t pop-up; they were mounted behind the occupants on the roll hoop.
10. Lancia Stratos (1973)
Lancia brought pop-up headlights to the World Rally Championship when it released the Stratos in 1973. It was a feature that added weight, but the coupé’s Ferrari-designed 2.4-litre V6 easily made up for it.
More significantly, hiding the lights in the front end made it possible for Bertone to give the Stratos a low, wedge-shaped front end that resembled the futuristic Stratos Zero concept introduced in 1970.
11. Lamborghini Countach (1974)
Italian designer Marcello Gandini deserves a tremendous amount of credit for the proliferation of pop-up headlights. He put them on a long list of concept and production cars during the 1970s, including the Lamborghini Countach.
At first glance, it doesn’t look like the Countach’s lights are hidden because its front end wears a pair of clear covers mounted flush with the body. Those hide the indicators; the lights are mounted above them under a pair of rectangular flaps painted in the same colour as the body.
Lamborghini gave the Countach several visual updates during the model’s unusually long production run, but it never deleted the pop-up lights worn by the first Gandini-designed prototypes.
Its successor, the Diablo, arrived in 1990 with pop-up lights but it lost them when it received a mid-life update in 1999. Interestingly, the facelifted model’s exposed lights were sourced from the Nissan 300ZX.
12. Aston Martin Lagonda (1976)
In the 1960s and ’70s, pop-up headlights were generally associated with low-slung coupés and convertibles, and they rarely appeared on saloons.
William Towns (1936-1993) broke this unwritten rule by putting them on the head-turning Aston Martin Lagonda introduced at the 1976 Earls Court Motor Show. They were replaced by fixed lights in 1987, when the Lagonda received its final redesign.
13. Lancia Beta Scorpion (1976)
Lancia faced several hurdles in its quest to sell the Beta Monte-Carlo in the United States. Chevrolet already owned the name, so it had to call the model Beta Scorpion.
The 2.0-litre four-cylinder that powered European-spec cars didn’t comply with American regulations, so it was replaced by a 1.8-litre unit. And, fitting sealed-beam headlights without completely ruining the design required them to pop up by a few inches when they were switched on.
Lancia only sold the Scorpion in 1976 and ’77.
14. Mazda RX-7 (1978)
Few were shocked to see Mazda’s first-generation RX-7 make its debut with pop-up headlights. It was aimed at the heart of the sports-car segment in Europe and in the United States, and pop-up headlights helped give it a modern-looking design that remained fresh into the 1980s.
The second-generation model kept its predecessor’s proportions, meaning the pop-up lights stayed. Surprisingly, the third and final generation of the RX-7 launched in 1991 under Mazda’s short-lived ɛ̃fini brand used pop-up headlights, too, even as rival models switched to exposed lights with plastic lenses.
15. Honda Accord (third generation, 1985)
Honda helped bring pop-up headlights to the masses when it put them on most variants of the third-generation Accord, which was available in several body styles and in dozens of global markets.
All two-door models received retractable lights, but some saloons shipped with fixed units in the name of cost and simplicity.
Fitting pop-up headlights created a visual link between the Accord and the sporty Prelude. The NSX (sold as an Acura in America) later got them, too, though they were deleted in 2001.
16. Subaru XT (1985)
Starting with the 360 released in 1958, Subaru largely ignored mainstream design trends and followed its own path. This approach to styling changed when it launched the XT, a sporty coupé, in 1985.
It ticked nearly every box of ’80s sports-car design, including a wedge-shaped silhouette and pop-up headlights. With the lights hidden and a low flat-four or a flat-six engine under the bonnet, Subaru was able to achieve a drag coefficient of 0.29Cd, a figure which made the XT one of the most aerodynamic cars of its era.
For context, that’s on par with a BMW i3, and better than a second-generation Nissan 300ZX.
17. Volvo 480 (1986)
Even Volvo, the purveyor of all things safe and staid, experimented with pop-up headlights. It fitted them to the 480 released in 1986 in a bid to give the hatchback a sportier exterior design.
In hindsight, the 480 was the first, last, and only series-produced Volvo with pop-up headlights; it was also the Swedish firm’s first front-wheel-drive car.
It was developed largely for the United States market, hence the side-marker lights, but exchange-rate-related problems prevented it from popping a light in America.
18. Buick Reatta (1988)
Buick built several cars with hidden headlights, including the second-generation Riviera (launched for the 1966 model year) and the second-generation Skyhawk (released for 1982). In these models, the light assemblies remained fixed and only the flap covering them moved.
Its first (and last) car equipped with true pop-up lights was the Reatta, a surprisingly upscale coupe released in 1988 and built largely by hand.
19. BMW 8 Series (E31, 1990)
BMW explored several paths as it gradually moved away from round headlights in the late 1980s. It mounted the Z1’s headlights deep into the front fascia and covered them with a fixed transparent cover.
While it could have adopted this solution for the first-generation 8 Series, it chose to fit the big coupé with pop-up lights to give it a sleeker design and a touch of exotic flair.
The 8 was one of two series-produced BMWs built with pop-up headlights. The first was the M1 (1978).
20. Porsche 968 (1991)
Launched as an evolution of the 944, which traced its roots to the 924, the Porsche 968 took a different approach to pop-up lights than its predecessors.
Its round headlights were exposed rather than covered when they were off, like the Miura’s, and they pivoted up when switched on. It was a styling cue that brought the car in line with the 911, which controversially lost its round headlights in 1995.
Honourable mention: Alfa Romeo Montreal (1970)
Bertone designer Marcello Gandini took a different approach to covered headlights when he drew the production version of the Alfa Romeo Montreal.
Powered by a V8, the coupé wore two pairs of round headlights installed behind metal louvres that pivoted down.
This feature was one of the many unusual styling cues that set the Montreal apart from other high-powered coupés available in the 1970s.
Honourable mention: Jaguar XJ220 (1992)
The only car with power-operated headlight covers on Jaguar’s résumé is the XJ220, which was introduced as a V12-powered concept in 1988 and launched with a V6 in 1992.
It was developed for flat-out speed, and hours spent fine-tuning the car in a wind tunnel convinced designers placing the lights beneath the body was necessary to reduce drag. It’s a solution that paid off: the XJ220 clocked 217.1mph on the Nardò track in 1992, a feat that earned it the honour of being the fastest series-production car in the world.
Pininfarina experimented with pop-up lights on a Jaguar in 1978, when it unveiled the XJ Spider concept. It was shown at the British Motor Show, and executives loved it, but it ultimately remained a concept.
The end of pop-up headlights
Several factors escorted pop-up headlights off the automotive scene during the 1990s. On one hand, many considered them old-fashioned because they were associated with previous models.
Much like chrome and fins, they fell out of vogue. Plastic allowed designers to think outside the box (literally, in some cases), and experiment with new and unexpected headlight shapes that they wanted to show off.
On the other hand, ever-stricter safety regulations gradually made pop-up headlights a hazard. Toyota’s Celica lost its pop-up headlights when it entered its sixth generation in 1993; Mazda’s MX-5/Miata gave them up in 1997.
There were some hold-outs, however. Models that kept pop-up headlights into the 2000s include the Chevrolet Corvette (pictured), the Ferrari 456M, the Lotus Esprit and the Mazda RX-7.
Who didn’t surf the trend?
Pop-up headlights were reasonably common across the industry up until the 1990s, but not every car maker adopted them.
Citroën, Peugeot and Renault are among the brands that have never released a car with pop-up headlights, though the latter’s Alpine division put them on two of its models.
Peugeot and Renault were less concerned with aerodynamics than some of their rivals, while Citroën found other (presumably cheaper) ways to lower a car’s drag coefficient. It gave the 1972 GS Camargue concept a sharp front end that sliced through the air by putting the headlights behind clear covers, for example.
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