Top ten cars with hidden highlights | Axon’s Automotive Anorak
In my last Anorak, I celebrated the return of the ‘hidden’ covered headlamp with the introduction of the limited production Runabout by the revived Italian coachbuilder and design house Bertone. With just 25 units of the new mid-engined Raceabout planned to be made, Bertone believes its low volume build will give it legal type approval exemptions in some markets where pop-up headlights are usually outlawed, and have been since the early 2000.
Hundreds of cars featuring concealed pop-up headlights have been made over the decades since concealed headlamps first appeared on the production Cord 810-Series 90 years ago in late 1934. Trying to narrow down a top ten favourites with covered lamps is a difficult job, but here goes anyway, with my choice restricted to just six production cars and four prototype concept cars.
Siata 208 1952-55
Based on the advanced mechanicals of the rare and desirable Fiat 8V, the coachbuilt Siata 208 wore aggressive yet attractive sporting GT coupe or cabriolet coachwork which pioneered pop-up headlamps, mounted atop its rotund front wings with a snarling chrome grille and fog lamps set below.
Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona 1968-74
Originally launched in 1968 with a bank of round headlights set behind a continuous perspex band, in 1971 the front of the Daytona was revamped to incorporate quad retractable lamps, to make it the first ‘regular’ production Ferrari to feature hidden headlamps. Interestingly, today the earlier pre-’71 perspex front Daytona models are more desirable and valuable that the later hidden lamps models. As an aside, personally I’ve always favoured the scarcer Ferrari 365 GTC/4 over the Daytona, which wears its pop-up quad lights more convincingly.
Opel GT 1968-73
Built in France to a GM design as a poor man’s Chevrolet Corvette, the Kamm-tailed Opel GT coupé used humble Kadett running gear, mated to a pair of innovative concealed headlamps, which rotated into position when needed. The clever but short-lived Panther Solo of 1989 later revived the Opel’s clever revolving headlamp system.
Aston Martin Lagonda 1976-87
Startling, sharp-edged wedge styling by William Towns combined with ambitious but troublesome space-age electronic instrumentation, the Newport Pagnell made Lagonda was a late ’70s sensation with genuine supercar performance capabilities. Heavily revised by Towns in 1987, the facelifted Lagonda sadly lost its dramatic quad pop-up headlamp/lower fog lights combo for a softer and more rounded six smaller square headlights set up. The wild Towns’ styled Aston Martin Bulldog concept of 1980 used a drop down flap to expose a row of five rectangular lamp units, something Towns later revived for his Metro-based mid-engined Tracer sports car.
Lamborghini Diablo 1990-2001
With the similar dramatic signature wedge profile so loved by previous Lamborghini designer Marcello Gandini, the Countach-replacing Diablo initially used four purposeful round headlamps mounted in a pair of pop-up pods. In 1999 the Diablo was given a facelift to update the interior, but more obviously, update the frontal styling to now incorporate a pair of ‘regular’ fixed headlights to eliminate the need for hidden pop-up headlamps in anticipation of homologation regulation changes. These new lamp units were sourced from the contemporary Nissan 300ZX (Z32) and featured projector beams, thus arguably negating the requirement for concealed lights.
Cizeta Moroder V16T 1991-95
Designed by Lamborghini stylist Marcello Gandini and said to be a rejected Diablo design, the dramatic Cizeta Moroda V16T used a 6-litre V16 engine, derived from a pair of Lamborghini Urraco-based DOHN V8s joined together to power the machine up to 328 km/h (204mph). After a short and failed four-year production run in Italy, the Cizeta was revived in the USA in 1999, with very limited production ending in 2003. Uniquely, the Moroder featured four headlights, located in a pair of pop-up lamp units, with two lights stacked vertically on either side.
General Motors Le Sabre 1951
Named after an American military fighter aircraft which inspired GM stylist Harley J. Earl to first introduce the famed tail fin for the 1948 Model Year Cadillac Series 62 on GM’s top prestige brand, the Le Sabre was GM’s second ‘dream car’ concept after the famous Buick Y-Job of 1939, which pioneered covered headlamps for GM. Debuting at the 1951 Chicago Auto Show, where it caused a sensation, the dual headlamp units of the Le Sabre were hidden away behind an heavily chromed oval centre grille, which swivelled round when the lights were illuminated. The huge two-seater Le Sabre concept was a full-blown aero-military-inspired fantasy, with exaggerated flowing tail fins which built on the 1948 Cadillac theme, GM taking this to the extreme in 1959 with its flamboyant production Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz incorporating twin red bullet-shaped tail lamps.
Bertone Carabo 1968
Having built a reputation for stealing the show at the annual European motor shows with its one-off Bertone prototype concept cars, Bertone excelled itself at the Paris Salon in October 1968 with its wild wedged Carabo, a mid-engined supercar based around the exotic mechanicals of the Alfa Romeo 33. The dramatic arrow-shaped Carabo was arguably the most captivating concept creation of the celebrated Turin design house. The Carabo’s low and monolithic silhouette with plane surfaces, scissor doors and a pointed prow had dramatic slats over its engine bay, mirrored at the front with more slats covering the lift-up headlamps. A styling masterclass that stole former Bertone stylist Giorgio Giugiaro’s thunder with his 1968 ItalDesign Bizzarrini-based Manta concept, which also featured quad pop up headlights.
Mercedes-Benz C111 1970
The Mercedes-Benz C111 was an experimental GT concept used as a test bed for the Wankel rotary engine that its was trailing at the end of the 1960s, as were most of the mainstream automotive manufacturers at the time. Following the debut of the initial C111 prototype at the 1969 Frankfurt IAA, by the Geneva Salon the following March, Mercedes had reworked the concept car’s styling with more evolved and aggressive lines to create a mid-mounted triple-rotor 280 bhp Wankel engine and wearing the then fashionable quad pop up headlights. After six C111 prototypes were built, Mercedes-Benz pulled the plug on its Wankel development, thus ending the model’s planned limited production prospects.
Pininfarina Jaguar XJ Spider 1978
At the inaugural British Motor Show, held at the NEC in Birmingham in October 1978, Pininfarina used the occasion to rework the awkward-looking Jaguar XJ-S coupe into a svelte convertible with smooth flowing lines clearly drawing inspiration from Jaguar’s celebrated back catalogue of D-Type, E-Type, and so on, yet featuring covered headlamps. Named the XJ Spider, the gorgeous one-off Pininfarina concept was heralded as a great success, with Jaguar inundated by both the public and press alike to build the car as a stylish replacement for the bulky XJ-S, which sadly never happened.
Jaguar
Siata
Ferrari
Aston Martin
Lamborghini
Cizeta
General Motors
Bertone
Mercedes-Benz
Pininfarina
Axon's Automotive Anorak
