We haven’t seen pop-up headlights on a car since production of the C5 Corvette came to a halt after the 2004 model year. When Chevrolet dropped the Vette’s familiar square pop-ups from the all-new sixth-generation, it was a giant departure from the 43-year norm that raised eyebrows, drew a few criticisms, and triggered a lot of boomers. Having flush, exposed headlamps gave America’s affordable hot rod a more modern aerodynamic, clean, and exotic look.
The majority of pop-ups were found on sporty two-door coupes like all generations of the Mazda-RX7, the Ford Probe, Toyota’s Celica and Supra, Pontiac Fiero, plenty of Porsches, and of course the Miata. I remember too pop-up headlamps being a styling staple of many exotics I dreamed of as a kid growing up in the 1990s like the Lamborghini Diablo and Ferrari F40. There were even a rare few four-door sedans that arrived with pop-ups like Aston Martin’s Lagonda and the boxy third-generation Honda Accord.
Today pop-ups are MIA, sadly erased from the sketchbooks of current car designers. But that doesn’t mean the enthusiasm for them has died, nor the hilarious dreams of bringing them back.
I believe Toyota could still get away with pop-up headlights on the 86, Acura could blow our minds by ditching the NSX’s thin strips of square LEDs at either end of its nose, and I’m convinced Hyundai’s Elantra GT hatchback could wear them well too. To stretch the question, look at any side-profile shot of the upcoming C8 Corvette and prove to me that it wouldn’t look bad-ass with pop-ups. After posting the question on my Twitter last night, an autojourno friend answered with the concept installing hide-away headlights on Kia’s new full-size Telluride.
Pause and think for a second. Which newer cars should actually have pop-up headlights? Let’s get some open dialogue going.
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