The six best car innovations from the 1960s

Alternators – 1960

Up until the ‘60s, cars were fitted with dynamo generators, but the increasing use of electrical elements introduced during the innovative years of the 1950s meant that a new, more powerful source of energy would be needed. The answer was the alternator.

Alternators are far more sturdy in construction than dynamos, which makes them able to work harder to produce more power. The way they work also means they expend energy in a more controlled way, which makes them more reliable over time and safer. The first production car to be sold with an alternator as a standard fixture was the Plymouth Valiant in 1960, a move that was eventually imitated by both Ford and General Motors before the decade was out.

Emission control – 1961

The number of cars on the road was rising at an ever-increasing rate. Governments began to realise that emissions from their engines were beginning to cause some pollution problems. The only option was to try and crack down. Sound familiar?

Well, there were no ULEZs in the ‘60s, but authorities in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan were all keen to put in place a number of controls that would at least help to reduce car emissions. The State of California was a key driver in these advances, as it was combatting major smog issues in Los Angeles. Ideas such as positive crankcase ventilation (PCV) were introduced in 1961, which worked to re-circulate waste gasses into the engine so that they could be further combusted and less harmful upon emission. In 1966, the first-ever emission test was introduced for all new cars, again in California, in a bid to police car emissions. This was taken up by the entire US in 1968.

Japanese imports to the UK – 1964

While not a technical innovation, or great advancement in engineering, it’s difficult to know what the car market would look like today without imports from Japanese manufacturers. The likes of Toyota, Honda and Nissan to name just three of the biggest names, have transformed the global since the Daihatsu Compagno was the first Japanese car to be sold in Britain back in 1964.

Prior to that, nations had tended to keep themselves to themselves when it came to cars. Here in the UK, we had the likes of Vauxhall, Rover, Austin and Morris to choose from, while France stuck to what it knew with Renault, Peugeot and Citroen. But it goes without saying that the influx of competition from Japan helped to galvanise a revolution in car manufacture, and while some of those classic British names fell by the wayside, the advancements in quality, safety and technology have been worth it.

Dual-action tailgates – 1966

As a relatively new member of the dad club, I have plenty of appreciation for just how useful this innovation was for American families in the ‘60s. This was, of course, a time before SUVs, where drivers in need of more boot space and enough room for dogs and children were faced with just one admittedly quite cool option: an estate car.

While there’s nothing at all wrong with today’s hatchback-style boots on modern estates, the dual-action tailgates of ‘60s station wagons in the US allowed for an extra layer of convenience. The basic idea was the boot opening was double hinged, so you could either open the boot sideways like a normal door, or you could drop it down more akin to a pick-up truck to leave a shelf-like space that immediately screams “baby changing facility”. Previously, estate car boots tended to be two-piece jobs with a window lifting up and tailgate dropping down, so combining it into one door was a welcome step forward in convenience.

A host of safety upgrades – 1966

It could be argued that the 1960s saw the birth of the ‘Health and Safety’ concept. While some pretty primitive measures had been put in place in the preceding years – 1959 saw the introduction of the three-point seat belt – the worlds of both motoring and motorsport began to consider driver safety with far more severity in the ‘60s.

Sir Jackie Stewart is often credited with kickstarting the race for safety in Formula 1 and motorsport in the ‘60s, and it can be no coincidence that road cars would also begin to see widespread innovations. The number of road deaths was growing exponentially (in the region of 1,000 per week in 1966) and so the list of new safety features introduced in that same year included the likes of collapsible steering columns, uniform gearshift patterns, side-mounted indicators, rear window defoggers, and non-rupturing fuel tanks. It was early days, but the mission to make roads safer was up and running.

Intermittent windscreen wipers – 1969

This one made us wonder what on earth drivers used to do before it was invented. Driving in the rain is not really a consideration for most of us anymore. Sure, it’s worth taking a bit of extra care when there’s water on the road. But at least we can see where we’re going. That final point is all thanks to a man called Robert Kearns, whose intermittent windscreen wipers were initially rejected by Ford but then introduced first on its Mercury range in 1969. The legal dramas that unfolded thereafter when Kearns accused Ford and others of stealing his idea have even been made into a film: Flash of Genius.

This system was designed to behave similarly to the way our eyes blink, wiping the windscreen every few seconds rather than constantly as they had done previously, and it remains substantially the same today.

Click to read our list of the six best car innovations from the 1950s.