Allow Pop Ups: Cool Models from the ‘60s (and more) with Pop-Up Lights
Wrapping up the week of pop-up madness is a list of vehicles from the 1960s and earlier which cemented this style of headlamp as one of the cooler features ever to be included on a car. But, like gas fillers under license plates, the tech has largely gone away because of health and safety nuts. Thanks for nothing.
We say “largely” and not “completely” disappeared because pop ups have again surfaced on a relatively new machine thanks to an outfit called Result Japan. That company plans to roll out pre-orders of its Neo86 at this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon, a car which blends old-school AE86 styling with GR86 modernity.
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Arguably the first car with pop-up headlights was the 1936 Cord 810, a vehicle which looked far ahead of its time for the era and still looks stunning today. If you ever see one of these in person, you’re surely not going to forget it.
The headlight design allowed for a smooth and sleek shape up front, far more than typical efforts to that point which were basically two round lamps attached to vehicle fenders or grille. Introduced way before electric motors were used for pop-ups and in another world from today’s computers, a Cord driver had to crank the lights up and down by hand.
The mighty Corvette has always been an entrant in the pop-up game, kicked off by the 1963 model which revamped the entire car. Notable not just for the split rear window, its quad round headlamps were hidden in buckets which flipped around when activated.
This certainly cleaned up the front end when they were off but, over time, one side would invariably get a bit slower than the other, making the Corvette sometimes appear to look like someone gradually opening one eye after a deep slumber.
Sticking with GM in the ‘60s, the beautiful 1965 Buick Riviera managed to hide its headlights under twin clamshell doors which all but disappeared into the leading edge of the car’s fenders when closed - yet also looked good when open thanks to how those doors vanished.
Many other variants of the Riviera had pop ups (or hidden) lights, as well. Add in cars like the late-’60s Charger and it is easy to see why the styling feature became so popular.
