The 1980s was a magical time for automotive technology. Car manufacturers were finally getting a handle on emissions and safety demands and hence could turn their attention to other, more fun aspects of the driving experience. That resulted in cars with wonderful digital dashboards, talking cars, cars with air vents that oscillated like a table fan and more. What a time it was to be alive.
Sadly, many of those cool features—remember movable control pods?—have long since been abandoned. That’s too bad because what we need in cars these days is more fun. Do you think that some of that ’80s technology should be resurrected, and if so, which feature would you most like to see make a come-back?
Image: Dark Roasted Blend
Hooniverse Asks: What '80s Tech Should Most Make a Comeback?
By Robert Emslie
Jan 30, 2017
Kamil Kaluski 
Jeff Glucker
Goofy steering wheels.
http://momentcar.com/images/subaru-xt-1985-5.jpg
Wild lights.
http://www.newoldcar.co.uk/images/Featured_Cars/Volvo/480/785_1988_Volvo_480_ES/1988 Volvo 480 ES 1.7 Pop Up Lights.JPG
No point in pop up lights at all apart from maybe getting much better light spectres and vision out of a sleek design.
Drive like you browse – Always allow popups!
(that’s in my personal top ten from blipshift)
Edit: I got it wrong the first time.
Why, talking cars of course!!
“A door is a jar”.
Zoltan’s a philosopher.
I had an ’83 Plymouth Sapporo Technica, and it said that as well. I would always reply, “No, it’s a door”.
Sounds more like Zoltan is a Surrealist?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b9/MagrittePipe.jpg
Or Mario.
http://orig01.deviantart.net/b99f/f/2012/097/f/c/ceci_n__est_pas_une_pipe_mario_for_iphone___ipod_by_donkoopa-d4vcm0o.jpg
Floating, moveable dash elements.
http://www.thirdgen.org/forums/attachments/body/23048d1034297010-84-berlinetta-swivel-radio-passengersviewa.jpg
I could see where that would actually be useful. For example, you can’t play with the sat nav while the vehicle is in motion, unless the display is turned towards the passenger. Even more useful when more cars have internet connected infotainment systems.
Preach.
http://www.newoldcar.com/images/Featured_Cars/Isuzu/Impulse/569_1984_Isuzu_Impulse_2_0_Liftback_Coupe/1984%20Isuzu%20Impulse%202.0%20Liftback%20Coupe%20Front%20Interior%203.jpg
5 speed manual transmissions
Basket weaves clad in tires with sidewalls
Hand cranked windows
Chrome
Bold paint and interior colors
Limited use of computers
BOF construction
Okay, so… everything?
I’m in favor of this.
TURBO-branded… everything.
That is the one tech that has come back. Just need to bring back the appropriate badging and stripes.
http://images.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/02/10-1984-Plymouth-Colt-Turbo-Down-On-The-Junkyard-Pictures-courtesy-of-Phillip-TURBOOOOOOO-Greden-550×412.jpg
http://www.civicx.com/attachments/mycivictouring4-jpg.3677/
Offhand, Honda’s put small stickering on the new Civics, but it’s not enough, and it’s not big enough. Get back to me when TURBO is stitched into the seat belts.
Our abuse car is currently a 1.2L turbo with 77kW; Skoda Roomster. While it feels more as agile on straights than a 120kW 944, I hate that the turbo will kick in at 2210 rpm, exactly out of the range of the consumption cycles.
Maybe a QOTD (probably the fourth time): NA or turbo?
Thirstier than you’d expect? I’ve always been a little wary of European fuel economy ratings. I hear lots of complaining about stuff not being able to hit the EPA ratings (which are much more conservative), but I haven’t found it to be that difficult.
I don’t know the ratings of this car, but ours is 6.6L/100km in real life, with mainly <10miles city driving and a lot of winter exposure. Long distance travels at moderate speeds (~100km/h) get around 5.5L/100km, that's okay for me.
I guess they could have smoothed out the torque curve a bit more, but they didn't, for obvious reasons; when downshifting, always take two.
My P-car from ’83 doesn’t have chrome, which I like. The rest: check! (/)
I’m not sure a P-car would be improved with a separate chassis. Then again, they’ve never tried that so perhaps it’s not impossible.
But I doubt it.
You’re certainly right, I just didn’t realize that this is considered 80s tech, or that it should make a comeback (it’s still around, isn’t it?)
Very true. I think just about everything mentioned is pre-80’s tech except the talking computers.
Makes me wonder if the conversation really would have been much shorter if we all had done proper research?
– “Did anybody find something?”
– “Nah, and the talking computer per se is older, too”
Fair point, and say moving dashboard pods were really only the 928 had before 1980. But chrome, or BOF construction?
I don’t need a lot of chrome, but I’d like to return to chrome and somewhat sacrificial bumpers.
Have a triangle for “sacrificial bumpers”. If there’s one auto executive in history that deserves a beating, it’s the first person to propose painting bumpers. It’s like offering a toilet seat with nails in it, or a holed spoon to eat soup with. Pointless.
I’d think a toilet seat with nails on it would be anything but pointless.
I’ll bet that same executive was set for life after coming up with that huge cost saver. There should be a picture of him on the wall of every body shop.
Clearly: graphic equalizers.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bb702bbd3d4d8a5cc5fdf7ced74674cc6899d33e829b95a669c88103b2b3538b.jpg
Yes!
Combining Kiefmo’s nomination of ‘movable dash elements’ with your suggestion: The Blaupunkt Berlin…
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads3/dash1086704555.jpg
Magnificent.
A friend of mine has it on his father’s old BMW 520
I wish I have that stereo on my car. Fantastic!
Buttons, knobs, switches, and levers.
Everything in this pic:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/33/MB_quattro.jpg
So were the Mazda oscillating vents 80s or 90s? Oscillating vents need to make a comeback!
Late 80’s. I have a friend who had it on his 89 MX6. I thought they were annoying.
I’m fine with a switch to turn them off.
The driver is the captain of the ship. I experienced them primarily as a front seat passenger.
I had an ’89 323, and while no oscillating vents, it did have the driver’s side crotch vent (under the steering wheel). These could make a comeback as well.
Foot well openings were a great feature of earlier cars, up the same alley. Push it open with your feet, and fresh air would flush in at high speed. Simple and genius.
I had a 1996 626 with the ‘dancing vents’. Not sure when they first appeared.
Dashboard parcel shelves.
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/1/2274/2241/5683620004_large.jpg
Our (new to us) 2014 Pilot has one, as does the previous generation Ridgeline. The 2016+ models do not. Honda is moving backward!
They just serve to dump everything onto the floor during spirited driving. It was less noticeable in the 80’s when performance cars had about 140 hp and economy cars got by with half of that.
My Grand Cherokee had a dash shelf. My wife used to keep crayons there, to quiet the noise coming from the child seat. We came back to the parked car one summer day, and the dash had turned into a bowl of crayon soup. That was a mess that could only be cleaned up when interior temperatures were warm enough to keep the crayon residue liquid.
My ’86 Honda Civic Wagon had this, plus a pop-up center vent, a full length dash (ambient) vent (a la modern HR-V), and a parcel shelf _under_ the dash. This is not mine but it looked just like this except for the three-spoke steering wheel. http://www.checkoutthiscar.com/2012/11/clean-blue-plate-1986-honda-civic-wagon.html
My 86 Civic Shuttle is the RHD mirror image of this.
Bench. Front. Seats.
Can we also get column-shift manuals back with our bench seats?
I’d love/hate to learn to row through a 6-speed H-pattern on the column. That’d be a helluva skill to say I’ve mastered.
I’d settle for column shifted automatics.
It annoys me how much space is wasted by the console sifter in our Mazda CX-9.
It’s not even hate against consoles, it’s just that the linkage for the shifter means that the console is huge, without the storage space to justify it!
I daily drive a 5 speed manual floor shift (2009 Fiat Uno… boring, slow, simple, cheap and very dependable little thing), and ocassionally also drive a 1946 DeSoto with a 3 speed column-shift.
More than one time I unintentionally go 3rd to 2nd looking for more gears that aren’t there… it still requires me to actively think “i’m already on third, there are on more gears”
That’s 80s tech? As in “i486”, or “Space Shuttle”? I have to adjust my childhood perceptions, I guess.
Not peculiar to the ’80s but scarcer and scarcer after them.
Visibility.
A significant greenhouse with pillars narrow enough to not swallow cyclists in their shade and great rearward visibility. Preferably the ability to see all four corners of the car to aid parking.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8aa89d8b6d5fd2c416b130e4047b6132e82fb6f1ecbc518111ebad58ab2d5e31.jpg I fully agree and here’s a perfect example.
Perhaps the ultimate. Ford’s Aussie XD-XF Falcon Wagons
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/1982_Ford_Falcon_(XE)_GL_station_wagon_(17938576413).jpg
Even the 90s’ visibility still beats the 2010s’ . And I took history classes!
Crotch vent, I had one in my ’89 323, Since it didn’t have aircon, it was great to have semi-cool air blowing on muh twig and berries. If it were cold air, even better!
Circular headlights
http://www.bmwhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/e30coupe.jpg
How about big, lazy engines with a broad torque spread, but smooth. Like big sixes.
If I were to pick up a 90’s or older F150, I’d want it to come with the 300/4.9L, not a V8 of any description.
Don’t forget the 4.9L had timing GEARS, no silly belts or chains. A hard motor to kill.
Now why is that not standard? Seems like an obvious route to go….unless you’re into planned obsolescence. Never mind my question, sigh.
Noise and cost are the two chief concerns. They are kits to convert Chevy small block V-8s (among others) from timing chains to timing gears.
Packaging, too, I’d guess. Relatively simple for a cam-in-block pushrod setup, but with, say, a DOHC V-8, I can see it being pretty tricky to both fit all the gears needed and get the right reduction.
Then again, they did it for radials, so…
http://bristol-hercules.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/17-dec-002.jpg
Looks sort of like a GIANT watch.
…I was about to make a joke about how it probably does tick, but this particular engine used sleeve valves, so so much for that.
It is such a gorgeous picture. Great engineering!
I don’t care what it is, I want one.
Yes, gears – lots of gears! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/35609e20416f1d6a392fe7b9d0be83cae72d69428d551067ef5206e650f0bb8c.jpg
It’s bothering me immensely that that’s a 7 made out of 10 gears.
7 out of 10 is not too bad. Not Nobel Price material, but you will do fine in life.
Free gears for everyone! With enough gears, every car becomes pretty. And if that is not enough, I hear there are craft gears for the LS1.
And why have gears when you can have a shaft drive? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0dfac63919a07366fc720b821041db8bd75d77aa5fb0dc5940692daef47289c8.jpg
This is Correct.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/726e35d126a6a7328e83889b080cf2124561c7df35611d6a72b33b43f6ff2189.jpg
Ducati?
Aye yup
“check-control” test push button on various old bimmers. If you didn´t trust your own electronic gadgets you could press that button and all controls+lamps were forced to flash up at maximum warp. It was one of the most intelligent and simple buttons ever. BMW spared it when they integrated this functions into the ignition (@position ON). But that was a bad replacement as engine had to be turned off.
http://i.auto-bild.de/ir_img/2/0/2/1/7/BMW-728i-E-23-_-Mercedes-Benz-500-SE-W-126-729×486-39e33357f3b7c8c8.jpg
(sorry for the bad pic. What I mean is the middle button in the last row)
Not just Windows. Turbo buttons were very popular with MS-DOS, too.
Whoa, flashback. My first PC had a 66MHz processor. 200MHz machines were on the horizon and I couldn’t believe the future. On the same machine, I threw out Windows, because I wanted both Sim City 2000, MiG19 and a bunch of racing games all installed at the same time. 512MB wasn’t much for a harddisk.
Good aerodynamics and used as a selling point. Low drag gives speed and economy.
Renault 25 1986 Cd 0.25 -0.28
https://i0.wp.com/petrolblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Renault25.jpg
Mercedes Benz W124 Cd 0.27-0.28
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/1991_MB_300D_2.5_Turbo.jpg
Audi 100 Cd 0.30
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Mint_Audi_100_%281982-91%29_%2810629216834%29.jpg/280px-Mint_Audi_100_%281982-91%29_%2810629216834%29.jpg
Chrysler 300Cd 0.32
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/2011_Chrysler_300C.jpg/1280px-2011_Chrysler_300C.jpg
Clearly your 4 year old is a future VW Phaeton owner: http://hooniverse.info/2013/01/21/what-vw-phaeton-owners-complain-about/
I hope not. Never envisioned a criminal career for my offspring.