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Once we store for vehicles immediately, it’s all about large screens, driver assists, and smooth effectivity. But ask anybody who grew up round vehicles from the previous few many years, and so they’ll let you know the options they miss most aren’t about horsepower or mpg; they’re the small quirks that gave vehicles character.
Some had been intelligent options, others had been pure gimmicks, and lots had been extra theater than practicality. From pop-up headlights that winked at you to cassette decks that swallowed mixtapes, these touches disappeared as security laws, cost-cutting measures, and new know-how took over. Nonetheless, fans can’t assist however miss them.
Right here’s a have a look at the automobile options we nonetheless take into consideration fondly.
Trying Again However Dreaming Ahead
We selected these options by asking members of the Guessing Headlights workers which of them they miss probably the most. This checklist is a mix of my very own opinions and the recollections of a few of our staff members. Naturally, views fluctuate; just a few of us bear in mind sure options extra fondly than others, and that’s a part of the enjoyable.
It’s additionally value noting that we don’t really anticipate most of those options to make a comeback. In lots of instances, their disappearance had good causes behind it, comparable to security, price, reliability, or just altering client tastes. This text is much less about arguing for his or her return and extra about remembering the quirks and touches that when made vehicles really feel completely different.
They’re small particulars future generations of drivers will most likely by no means expertise, for higher or worse.
Pop-Up Headlights
Whether or not on a Corvette, RX-7, or Miata, pop-up headlights gave vehicles a smooth, clear face by day and a mischievous wink at evening. They weren’t probably the most sensible function; the motors may fail, they added complexity, and aerodynamics ultimately led to their extinction. Nevertheless, the magic was by no means about practicality; it was about persona.
I loved how each producer had its personal spin on the thought. The Opel GT’s lights rolled sideways like sleepy eyes opening, the Porsche 928’s flipped ahead with a particular bubble look, and others tucked away so cleanly they reworked the entire entrance finish. Every design felt like a signature flourish.
Examine that to immediately’s world of laser-cut LED housings — sharp, vivid, and environment friendly, however typically interchangeable in look. Pop-ups could also be gone, however their theater made even turning in your lights an occasion.
Opera Home windows
Opera home windows would possibly appear to be an odd function to overlook. Outdoors of vehicles just like the Lincoln Mark collection, they weren’t precisely hooked up to extremely fascinating collector vehicles. However that they had a cool appeal: these little porthole-like home windows tucked into the C-pillar gave even unusual coupes a limousine-inspired look. They didn’t add a lot practicality, however they oozed persona.
What makes them particularly fascinating is that they proceed to spark debate to today. Some fans argue that the small quarter home windows on vehicles just like the Dodge Dart, Ford Focus, or Mazda3 are a contemporary echo of opera home windows. They serve an identical operate, breaking apart an enormous blind spot, however the design intent is fully completely different.
Even so, we prefer to assume they carry somewhat little bit of inspiration from that Seventies period of extra.
Rear Window Louvers
If opera home windows had been about class, rear window louvers had been about aggression. They shaded interiors from the solar, however extra importantly, they made vehicles look imply. Whether or not bolted onto a Mustang fastback or a Datsun 280ZX, louvers reworked the rear view into one thing out of a sci-fi sketchpad.
In fact, they weren’t probably the most sensible function. Cleansing the rear glass was a problem, and visibility wasn’t glorious. However none of that mattered: they had been all about type.
Few equipment may change the character of a automobile so shortly. Right now, they’re a cult favourite within the aftermarket, proof that some design tendencies refuse to die quietly.
Frameless Home windows
Frameless home windows by no means actually disappeared, however they’ve change into extra of a design exception than the rule. Most trendy vehicles use framed glass as a result of it’s sturdier, cheaper to fabricate, and higher at sealing out wind noise. Against this, frameless doorways demand additional engineering to really feel strong, and that added price doesn’t make sense for the common sedan or SUV purchaser.
Nonetheless, if you discover them, they bring about a particular form of magic. The straightforward act of closing a coupe door with frameless glass feels upscale and intentional.
One in every of our favourite examples is the BMW 850i of the early Nineties, a automobile that allowed you to roll down each the entrance and rear facet home windows, making a wide-open expanse from the A-pillar to the C-pillar. With no frames breaking apart the view, it was as shut as you might get to a convertible with out shedding the roof.
Hood Ornaments & Hood-Mounted Tachometers
From Rolls-Royce’s Spirit of Ecstasy to the leaping Jaguar, hood ornaments as soon as served as mascots, proudly saying a model’s identification earlier than the automobile even moved. They grew to become statements of status, class, and typically even whimsy. A Cadillac’s crest or a Packard’s winged determine made the automobile immediately recognizable from a block away.
Over time, security laws and altering tastes pushed ornaments off the street. Issues about pedestrian impacts, theft, and aerodynamic effectivity led producers to part them out, forsaking clean, unadorned hoods. Right now, solely a handful of manufacturers, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and Mercedes-Benz, nonetheless carry the custom ahead, often with retractable or extra refined designs.
Fashionable vehicles could also be sleeker, however they not often put on that very same sense of identification up entrance. Hood ornaments had been jewellery for cars, and their absence leaves immediately’s vehicles trying just a bit extra nameless.
T-Tops
T-tops had been born out of a regulatory scare. Within the late Nineteen Sixties and early Seventies, automakers feared that new rollover security requirements would successfully eradicate convertibles. The compromise was a detachable pair of glass roof panels, break up by a strong bar, which gave drivers open-air freedom whereas assembly the structural laws required.
On paper, it was good. In observe, T-tops creaked, leaked, and typically whistled at freeway speeds. House owners both realized to dwell with the quirks or spent years chasing down new weatherstripping. Nonetheless, their cultural second was unforgettable. They grew to become legends on Corvettes, Firebirds, and Trans Ams, perpetually tied to icons like Smokey and the Bandit — and later confirmed up on quirky favorites just like the Nissan Pulsar NX, Pontiac Fiero, and even the oddball Suzuki X-90.
From a use-case perspective, the Targa high proved way more sensible. It provided comparable open-air enjoyable with out the complications, which is why Corvettes and plenty of different sports activities vehicles embraced it as an alternative. We don’t actually anticipate T-tops to make a comeback, however we do miss the vehicles that wore them proudly.
They weren’t excellent, however they gave a sure magic to the rides of the ’70s by way of the ’90s that immediately’s neatly engineered options can’t replicate.
Handbook Transmissions
Again in our youth, the guide was typically the popular alternative. It was faster, cheaper, longer-lasting, often extra fuel-efficient, and, in our opinion, much more enjoyable to drive. That was additionally throughout a time when automatics had been clunky three- or four-speed items that at all times appeared to be looking for the correct gear however by no means fairly discovering it, regardless of how laborious producers tried.
Then know-how caught up. Twin-clutch automatics arrived, able to shifting sooner than even probably the most expert road racer. Producers piled on extra gears — eight- and ten-speed transmissions are frequent immediately, and digital aids like launch management pushed automatic-equipped vehicles to record-setting 0–60 and quarter-mile instances. By way of uncooked efficiency, the automated has taken over (there have been solely 30 new guide vehicles introduced for 2025).
However efficiency isn’t the entire story. There’s nonetheless one thing deeply satisfying concerning the three-pedal setup: the rhythm of clutch, throttle, and gearshift working collectively, the direct sense of management, and the connection to the machine that no paddle shifter can replicate. Manuals might not be the quickest choice, however for fans, they’ll at all times be probably the most partaking.
Hydraulic Energy Steering
Again within the day, hydraulic energy steering was the usual, and for good purpose. It gave vehicles a weighty, communicative really feel that made each nook extra involving. You could possibly really feel the feel of the street floor by way of the wheel, a form of suggestions loop between automobile and driver that made even an unusual commute extra linked.
Then got here electrical energy steering. It’s lighter, extra environment friendly, and simpler for producers to combine with trendy driver-assist methods. For on a regular basis drivers, it really works effective, and in some instances, it even improves gasoline economic system. However for fans, one thing was misplaced. Most trendy setups really feel numb by comparability, tuned extra for isolation than interplay.
Even immediately, fans nonetheless reward the precision of a well-sorted hydraulic rack. It wasn’t excellent, but it surely had character, and it reminded you that driving was imagined to be an lively expertise, not only a point-and-go affair.
Bench Seats
Bench seats provided a sensible intimacy that trendy bucket seats can’t match: {couples} may sit shut collectively on street journeys, and households may match three folks comfortably throughout the entrance row with out the inflexible separation of particular person seats.
In addition they offered versatility that immediately’s automobile interiors lack, permitting passengers to stretch out, lie down throughout lengthy journeys, or simply slide throughout to exit from both door.
The lack of bench seats represents a shift towards particular person consolation zones, which, whereas ergonomically superior, eliminates the communal feeling that made vehicles really feel extra like shared dwelling areas than private transportation pods. Plus, they give the impression of being so good.
Analog Gauges & Retro Digital Dashboards
I don’t have a sensible purpose to overlook analog gauges. They didn’t show velocity or RPM any extra precisely than a contemporary digital display. But, there’s some small a part of my mind that adheres to the concept that if an EMP ever took out the grid, the needles in my previous ’54 Worldwide R100 would nonetheless sweep and work, for no matter good that will do. Analog dials evoke a way of trustworthiness, even when it’s purely emotional.
And but, in what may appear contradictory, I additionally miss the early digital dashboards of the Nineteen Eighties and ’90s. Automobiles just like the Corvette, Nissan 300ZX, Plymouth Laser, and even GMC vehicles had glowing readouts that seemed like they’d been ripped from an arcade cupboard. They weren’t elegant, however they had been enjoyable, and so they made you are feeling like the longer term had arrived.
The irony, after all, is that the “future” did arrive. As an alternative of flying vehicles and space-age cockpits, we obtained bland, outsized iPads glued to dashboards. Fashionable screens are useful and endlessly customizable, however few encourage the identical pleasure as a row of exact analog needles or a neon-green speedometer glowing at evening.
Ahooga Horns
The well-known “ahooga” sound wasn’t really a manufacturing facility choice on the Ford Mannequin T. As an alternative, it was a well-liked aftermarket improve — a Klaxon horn that shortly grew to become so related to the Mannequin T that individuals now assume it was customary gear. By the Thirties, electrical horns had changed them, and honestly, horn know-how hasn’t modified a lot since.
Even so, the previous Klaxon nonetheless has a appeal that trendy horns lack. It’s goofy, cartoonish “ahooga!” feels whimsical in a means that immediately’s flat, indignant blasts by no means will. Think about if extra vehicles had foolish horns, possibly the street would really feel somewhat lighter, and possibly drivers wouldn’t be comparatively so fast to lose their tempers. Typically, a little bit of levity is strictly what visitors wants.
Full-Dimension and Tailgate-Mounted Spares
Compact “donut” spares and inflator kits don’t encourage a lot confidence. Positive, they save weight and cargo house, however they give the impression of being flimsy and really feel like short-term Band-Aids. I’ve at all times most well-liked the look and utility of a full-size spare mounted proper on the tailgate, as seen on a Jeep Wrangler or Ford Bronco. There’s one thing rugged about it, a visible promise that the automobile is prepared for something.
It’s most likely no coincidence that my present every day driver is a Wrangler Rubicon 4xe. Nevertheless, even in our earlier Honda Ingredient or previous Nissan Armada, I might have gladly traded the hidden under-floor setup for a tailgate-mounted spare. Actually, I at all times thought the house typically reserved for the spare would make a wonderful lockable storage bin: excellent for instruments, gear, or possibly even my bug-out bag, in case the inevitable EMP fries my sprint gauges and energy home windows.
Cassette and CD Gamers
Right here’s one other function I miss extra for its symbolism than for its practicality. I’m not a Luddite: I’ve ripped CDs to my cellphone, I’ve obtained an Apple Music subscription that offers me instantaneous entry to just about each tune ever recorded, and if I actually wished to, I may even plug my previous Sony Walkman or Discman into a contemporary automobile by way of a USB port. The comfort of streaming is simple.
However there was one thing ritualistic about sliding a cassette into the sprint or feeding a freshly burned CD into the slot. It made music really feel private and tactile, a part of the driving expertise moderately than simply background noise. Many people nonetheless have shoeboxes stuffed with tapes or spindles of discs, however we not have a spot to play them.
What actually hits me is what number of instances I’ve purchased the identical album. First on vinyl, then cassette, then CD, then once more on iTunes — solely to finish up “renting” it as soon as extra by way of Apple Music. Digital entry might have gained, however it may well’t substitute the sensation of urgent play on a favourite tape or watching a CD spin behind the sprint.
Bodily Local weather Controls
We get why producers wish to transfer every part into the touchscreen. It creates a smooth, minimalist inside, and it’s most likely cheaper and simpler than having dozens of buttons and switches scattered in every single place. From a design standpoint, it is sensible. However in the case of really utilizing the system, nothing beats an excellent old style dial you’ll be able to twist with out taking your eyes off the street.
Fortunately, many shoppers agree. After years of frustration, automakers are progressively reintroducing rotary knobs for quantity and local weather controls. Nonetheless, whereas we’re strolling down reminiscence lane, let’s not neglect how enjoyable these previous temperature sliders was. They weren’t as exact as a contemporary dial with a digital readout, however sliding that little lever throughout the sprint to seek out simply the correct setting felt oddly satisfying.
Retractable Antennas
Like my beloved pop-up headlights, computerized retractable antennas had been extra a matter of pageantry than practicality. Sure, they solved the issue of somebody snapping off a hard and fast mast, however in actuality, they had been largely a gimmick, and what a wonderful one it was.
I nonetheless bear in mind the primary automobile in our household with an influence antenna: a Lincoln Mark VII that my father purchased new, which later grew to become my first automobile greater than a decade later. Each time I turned on the stereo and watched that slim metallic rod rise easily from the fender, it felt like a small ceremony —an indication that the automobile was alive and prepared. I by no means uninterested in it.
Shark fins and hidden receivers is likely to be sleeker and extra dependable immediately, however they lack the appeal that when made them fascinating. A retractable antenna grew to become one thing of a efficiency. A manufacturing that’s lacking from trendy vehicles.
The Street Forward
Automobiles immediately are safer, faster, and extra dependable than ever, however one thing was misplaced alongside the best way. Laws, effectivity, and digital comfort left little room for quirks like pop-up headlights, tailgate spares, or cassette decks. Most of those options weren’t sensible, and a few had been downright flawed, however that’s exactly what made them memorable.
We don’t actually anticipate to see them once more, and possibly that’s effective. What issues is that they remind us of a time when vehicles had extra persona, and driving felt just a bit extra particular. And that’s why, even with all of the tech at our fingertips, we nonetheless miss them.
