As someone whose formative auto years were in the 1960’s, I’ve always been a fan of hidden headlights. While they haven’t completely disappeared, with the focus on aerodynamics, light weight, and increased fuel economy, they’ve mostly gone the way of the hand-cranked window and manual choke.
While covered headlights can be traced all the way back to the late 30’s Cords and early 40’s DeSotos, and could be seen up until the mid-90’s, their peak was reached in the decades of the Sixties and Seventies.
There are so many to choose from, here is just my take on a Top 3;
1965 Buick Riviera. Those vertical clamshell headlight covers are brilliant. As beautiful as Bill Mitchell’s ‘63 original is, I think the hidden headlights give it an even more impressive and unique look.
1963 Corvette Sting Ray. Breathtaking – that was all I could say when I first saw a ‘63 Corvette. With that knife-like horizontal prow, it looked like it could cut right through the wind. It still has that effect on me today.
1965 Chryslers. OK, so these are not really “hidden” – they’re more “clear lenses”, but these transparent headlight covers really made the ‘65 Chryslers stand out. I think the most attractive are those on the ‘65 Imperial. It’s a shame later federal regulation did them in.
What are your favorite hidden headlight designs?
66 and 67 Riviera look good whether covers are open or closed
Here you go. (Via Bring a Trailer.)
Consumer Reports was highly critical of hidden headlights for safety reasons particularly those on 66-67 and later Rivieras because they could temporarily blind oncoming drivers when they dropped into position.
My Elan has pre-safety lights. That is the head lights lifting mechanism fails in the down position. Hard on the gas climbing a hill, vacuum goes away and the lights recede.
Weren’t the Riv’s hinged on the top? How could they aim upward?
The Porsche 928’s were hinged at the bottom–that could cause a brief issue.
The lights come on then pivot down and could momentarily blind an oncoming driver.
It was things like this and system malfunctions that prompted the NHTSA to issue safety standards in 1969 for hidden headlamps. I had a 67 Cougar and the owners manual provided instructions on how to manually open the doors if the vacuum motors failed to open the covers. It involved opening the hood and depressing a plunger and lifting the doors by hand. After the safety standard was implemented the doors were held closed by the vacuum motors and in the event of a loss of vacuum springs would open the doors. As cars with hidden headlamps using this system age and develop vacuum leaks the doors will open after the car has been sitting.
Thanks, I just saw them facing upward under the hood on YT’s Rare Classic Cars. They could have engineered a delay, so the lights came on after the bulbs were down.
Some Congresswoman just announced she wants to limit headlight intensity again. Fine with my old eyes.
70 and 71 Sport Fury/Sport Suburban. Perfect complement to those big loop bumpers. And that loud ‘kachunk’ sound they made when they closed…
Like this one
1936-37 Cord. 1942 DeSoto. 1965 Riviera.
The article appeared as a question on my screen and I responded mentioning the cars mentioned in the article. Ooof! I always liked the 1968-69 full sized Chevy. They looked good and were rare even when new.
Cord 810/812.
+1 One of the first. And remained, one of the most attractive.
1965 Riviera was my first thought, but that was mentioned in the text. So I’ll go with 1966-67 Dodge Charger, whose hidden lights did a 180-degree flip when turned on, preserving the surrounding grille texture.
The first three generations of the Dodge Charger were all quite attractive.
One of my favorite styling tidbits is how Chrysler cribbed a few of the 1963 Studebaker Sceptre’s features for the new 1966 Dodge Charger, with the ‘electric razor’ grille being a big one. I’m not entirely positive the grille had actual hidden headlights, though, since there were a couple of outboard, square lights underneath (but those might have been foglights).
I’d give it to the 68 Charger personally, perfect front end design and though the exposed headlights weren’t as clean as the 66-67s for 68 only Dodge did use a bezel that mimicked the grille for a similar but less elaborate effect
If they’re supposed to be hidden, how could they also be attractive?
Have you ever seen a busty girl in a sweater?
I am a little biased here but there were many nice ones.
I’ve always liked the early Mazda Miata (NA generation) with the small lense that allowed flashing the headlights when the were retracted.
You’re thinking of the FC RX-7 (1985-1992), the Miata had parking lights in that location.
As a little kid, I liked the headlight treatment on the Toyota 2000GT.
The biggest impact on a front end design had to be the 72 Plymouth. The hidden headlights on the Gran Coupe/Sedan looked quite good. The plain headlight front end on the Fury I, II, III looked wretched.
’65 Riv, Opel GT, Alfa Romero Montreal, ’69 Camaro rs,
1973 Dodge Monaco
How not to do it? Australia’s only hidden headlights. 1974 Ford Landau/LTD. Interesting, but over-ornate.
It looks like a cross between a Cougar XR-7, a Gran Torino and an unidentified sea creature.
Never did like the Landau too much lipstick on an otherwise nice hardtop coupe
I love hidden headlamps and think they almost always look good, almost always better than open headlamps. Favorites? It would be a list with almost every car that offered hidden headlamps.
The Geo Storm and Isuzu Impulse win the “halfway there” award for their half-hidden headlights!
Later Pontiac Sunbird too.
Came here to say this. Especially love the 88 Sunbird wagon. Like a reverse mullet. Sports car in the front, standard wagon in the back.
I’m partial to the 69 Cougar for reasons.
Mine, not this one, was so early production (5566) it lacked the twist knob under the hood to manually open the covers in the event of vacuum issues (I added one later).
It is pretty hard to beat the Corvette featured, but the hidden headlights on the Buick Rivera were gorgeous.
Coming from a mechanic background, I don’t much care for hidden headlights because of the service problems they cause. Road salt is brutal on them.
“Alack, I have no eyes.” [ King Lear: Act 4, Scene 6]
Slightly biased: my Fiat X1/9
i absolutely love the front clip of the `42 De Soto. The hidden headlights in the closed position make it look like an electric razor. Quite futuristic for 1942.
Top three
MX-5 mk1
Lamborghini Miura (of permitted, not really hidden)
Corvette Stingray
Fiat X1/9
Soft spot for the ’72-3 Monaco. Well integrated into a complex front end.