Greatest cars ever made with pop-up headlights

Nobody had ever created anything like it but it would be another 30 years before the technology would become more widely adopted. By the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s pop-up headlights had become mainstream, with companies as diverse as Lotus, Ferrari, Triumph and Porsche all embracing the design.

By 2004 the last mainstream production cars with pop-up lights were made: the Lotus Esprit V8 and Corvette C5. Pedestrian safety regulations on both sides of the Atlantic killed them off and they weren't great for aerodynamics either. Here we revisit 50 of the greatest car designs to feature concealed headlights; most pop up but there are a few variations on the theme. Buckle up:

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When Cord introduced its L-29 in 1929 it was the first US-produced front-wheel drive car. Six years later Cord came up with another first: a car with pop-up headlights, in the form of the 810. Featuring a hand-cranked mechanism that used the landing lights from a Stinson aeroplane, the 810 remained in production until 1940.

The Y Job is generally reckoned to be the first true concept car even though the Volvo-sponsored Venus Bilo predated it by five years. The Swede didn't get pop-up headlights though – which was just one of the many forward-looking features of this Harley Earl-designed dream car.

The first mainstream production car to feature pop-up lights after the Cord of more than a quarter of a century earlier, the Elan was a landmark car because of its incredible dynamics thanks to its zesty engines, minimal kerb weight, all-independent suspension and disc brakes all round.

Launched in the same year that the production Lamborghini Miura was shown, the Ghibli was the first in a succession of Maseratis with pop-up lights; the Bora, Merak, Khamsin and Indy would all follow. Designed by a young Giorgetto Giugiaro in his time at Ghia, the Ghibli came in coupé and spyder editions, powered by either a 4.7 or 4.9-litre V8.

Chevrolet's quick answer to the Ford Mustang, the standard Camaro that went on sale in 1966 didn't come with hidden headlights. However, buyers could choose from a raft of extras and option packs, and among these was the RS package which brought hidden front lighting. Available on any Camaro in the range, the RS package transformed the front-end appearance of the Camaro, making it look much more menacing.

The Oldsmobile Toronado was notable for a whole raft of reasons, not least the fact that it packed a 385bhp V8, yet the power went to the front wheels – in an age when all of its rivals were resolutely rear-wheel drive. The 7.0-litre V8 also produced 475lb ft of torque, transmitted through the wheels that also had to do the steering. The handling was predictably terrible but at least the front-end design was neat with those concealed headlights.

One of the quirkiest-looking sports cars ever created, the Matra M530 was designed by ex-Simca designer Philippe Guédon, who also came up with the Matra Rancho and Renault Espace. Featuring a mid-mounted 1.7-litre V4 engine sourced from Ford, production lasted until 1973, with almost 10,000 M530s built.

Developed by Yamaha and originally offered to Datsun, it was Toyota that put the 2000GT into production. Aping the Jaguar E-Type with its long bonnet, swoopy nose and fastback rear, the 2000GT packed a 2.0-litre twin-cam straight-six rated at 148bhp. But the Toyota was much more costly than its Jaguar nemesis and as a result sales were slow.

Just 351 2000GTs were made by the time production was wound up in 1970, but it became the first serious sports car to come from Japan.

The Mercury brand is now defunct, but it was set up by Ford in 1938 to build affordable premium cars. Mercury's biggest-selling model was the Cougar which arrived in 1967 as an upmarket alternative to the Mustang, with V8 engines the only powerplant options. Hidden headlights were standard and as with many US cars of the time they revolved to illuminate, rather than popping up.

The Corvette C2, C3, C4 and C5 were all worthy of inclusion here, but there was space for only one and somewhat arbitrarily we've opted for the C3, largely because of its sensational design. This was the longest-lived of all the Corvette generations and even now it looks impossibly dramatic, mainly because of that incredible V-shaped nose with its pronounced wing tops and hidden headlights. The Corvette C3 came with no fewer than 21 engine options thoughout its lifetime – every one of them a V8.

Ferrari isn't often early to the party, but when it came to pop-up headlights it created an all-time great with the Daytona and would go on to adopt them for all of its cars (apart from the Dino 206 and 246) until the arrival of the 550M in 1996.

Operated manually via a lever, the GT's headlights swivelled into place rather than popping up. Made in left-hand drive form only, for sale in Europe, the GT came with 1.1 or 1.9-litre engines. More than 100,000 were sold including some with Buick badges for the North American market.

Lincoln was founded in 1917 and then acquired by Ford in 1922 to become its luxury division. The Continental was launched in 1939 and it survived until 1961, but was then revived in 1968 as something completely new and ultra-modern. Still Ford's most luxurious model, the Lincoln Continental Mark III came only with a 7.5-litre V8 which drove the rear wheels via a three-speed automatic transmission.

There were three generations of Saab Sonett, but just six examples of the first edition were built. An all-new design was introduced in 1966 which proved more successful, but it wasn't until the third take that Saab really hit its stride with more than 8000 examples sold. This final version was the only production Saab to feature pop-up headlights.

First shown in concept form at the Expo '67 event in Montreal, with a 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine, the production version of this intriguing coupé featured a far more interesting 2.6-litre dry-sump V8 derived from the 2.0-litre unit in Alfa Romeo's Tipo 33 race car. While the Montreal featured a retractable grille that fully exposed the headlights when switched on, this grille covered only the top of the lights when they weren't in use, so they were visible at all times.

Designed by Tom Tjaarda during his time at Ghia, the De Tomaso Pantera was theoretically the perfect supercar. Underneath that sleek bodywork was an unstressed push-rod V8 that was cheap to maintain yet it provided mountains of torque. Between 1971 and 1992 more than 7000 Panteras were made, making it by far De Tomaso's most successful model.

In 1971, Maserati introduced its V8-powered Bora; a year later came the V6 edition, the Merak. While the two cars shared quite a few panels the bodyshells weren't interchangeable though; the Bora was strictly a two-seater but the Merak was billed as a 2+2. Both came with pop-up headlights, which throughout the 1970s were seen as essential to the design of any seriously high-performance car.

First shown at the 1971 Turin motor show in prototype form, the Stratos was the first Lancia to be designed by Bertone. Power was courtesy of a Ferrari Dino-sourced 2.4-litre V6 while the plastic body was draped over a steel spaceframe. The car proved unbeatable in rallying, the Stratos notching up victories in the 1974, 1975 and 1976 World Rally Championships.

Here's a curio for you. The Bitter CD was first shown as a prototype in 1969; four years later the production model was shown at the Frankfurt motor show where it went down a storm. However, the fitment of a 327ci (5.4-litre) Chevrolet V8 scuppered the car's chances of success as it arrived just as the oil crisis hit, although between 1973 and 1979 Bitter still managed to sell 395 CDs.

At a time when the British were producing the front-engined MGB and Triumph Spitfire, Fiat's take on the affordable sports car theme was refreshingly different. Not only was the engine in the middle but the sleek design was topped off with flip-up headlights. Over a 17-year production span more than 150,000 X1/9s were built, later models being sold in the US wearing Bertone badges.

Malcolm Bricklin set out to build an affordable sports car that put a focus on safety; SV-1 was short for Safety Vehicle 1, so presumably he intended to come up with at least one sequel. Sadly that wasn't to be as the V8-powered SV-1 was beset with problems including truly shocking build quality, unrealistically high pricing amd mediocre dynamics. Despite this, almost 3000 SV-1s were made in a production run that lasted just two years (1975-76).

Whereas the Miura's headlights flipped forwards the Countach's popped up and it was partly because of this styling cue that the most brutally designed supercar ever made looked so incredible. The Diablo that followed was also equipped with pop-up lights at first, although these were later swapped for faired-in units for improved aerodynamics.

Until the TR7, Triumph TRs were hairy-chested sportscars with straightforward lines and torquey engines; the TR6 that came before featured a 2.5-litre straight-six. So the Harris Mann-designed TR7 came as rather a shock with its wedge shape, 2.0-litre four-pot and at first it came in fixed-head form only. It wouldn't be until almost the end of production that a convertible was introduced.

Porsche's first car with pop-up headlights was the 914, introduced in 1969. Seen by many as a niche sportster, almost 120,000 examples of the 914 were made before the 924 took over – and in a much longer production run only 150,000 or so were sold. Conceived as a joint venture between Volkswagen and its cousin Porsche, the former got cold feet by the time the car was unveiled, leaving the latter to go it alone.

One of the wedgiest wedges of all time, the original Lotus Esprit was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and later updated by Peter Stevens, who retained the pop-up headlight look. While the later Esprit got a V8 engine option, all of the original Giugiaro-designed cars featured a mid-mounted four-cylinder powerplant with a displacement of either 2.0 or 2.2 litres.

It was (European) Car of the Year in 1978 and it was intended to replace the 911, but the 928 failed in its mission despite its technical wizardry. A front-mounted V8 was mated to a transaxle for better packaging and weight distribution. The bodyshell was galvanised and the body-coloured plastic bumpers were flush but the cost was too high and the 911 continued to outsell the 928 by a huge margin. Production of the 928 lasted for 18 years but only 61,000 or so examples were made in that time.

Had Mazda not fitted pop-up headlights to its three generations of RX-7, it would have been one of the greatest lost opportunities of all time. That's because the rotary engine fitted to the RX-7 was much more compact than the regular piston engines fitted to all of the other cars featured here, and it allowed a much lower bonnet line as a result. Produced between 1978 and 1985, more than 470,000 RX-7 Mk1s were made, but few have survived because of fragile engines and bodywork.

Unveiled as the Diabolo at the 1973 London motor show, and originally featuring an Austin Maxi engine, it would be another six years before this plastic sportster with Ford Essex V6 power was ready for delivery. By this point the car was hopelessly outdated and just 71 were made before the project was sold on and another 30 cars were built in Scotland, before time was called on the project for good.

As the picture shows, the Bulldog's lights didn't pop up; instead the panel in front of them dropped down to reveal five lights in a row. Lagonda designer William Towns was let loose to create what was planned to be the world's fastest car, powered by a twin-turbo version of Aston's legendary 5.3-litre V8. The plan was to build several but in the end just the one was made; it’s currently being restored.

After years of building curvy, fast and affordable lightweight sports cars TVR decided to get all wedgy just as the 1970s was becoming the 1980s. It was a new era for the Blackpool-based company and at the time the Tasmin offered massive performance for the cash - especially in V8-powered form. For years the Wedge was seen as something of an embarrassment but now it's coming in from the cold.

First sold as the Celica Supra, the first-generation Toyota Supra featured conventional headlights. But the all-new second take on the formula was much more exciting to look at as well as to drive. Packing a straight-six engine of either 2.0 or 2.8 litres, the Supra came with either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission, the latter belying the fact that this was more of a grand tourer than a sports car.

There were five generations of Prelude, but only two of them were fitted with pop-up headlights. After the conservatively designed first generation, the second take got flip-up lights for a much sleeker look – but as with most of the cars here, when in use the lights wrecked the aerodynamics.

Arriving just ahead of the Toyota MR2, the Fiero was intended to fill the same gap in the market. Designed as an affordable two-seater sports car, the Fiero was the first mainstream mid-engined production car to come out of the US. Despite a reputation for poor reliability, lacklustre performance and mediocre safety credentials, more than 370,000 Fieros were built in five years.

We got two generations of MR2 with hidden headlights before the third generation appeared with everything on show. Toyota made a big deal of the fact that the MR2 was mid-engined - it was the first production car to come out of Japan with such a configuration. Later we'd get the Honda NSX, S660 and Beat, but even now there have been very few mid-engined Japanese sports cars.

A staple feature of those ugly car books that crop up from time to time, the Subaru XT (sold as the Alcyone in its home market) was weirdly proportioned and not as sporty as its design promised, but it was perfect for anyone who wanted to go their own way. Powered by either turbocharged flat-four or naturally aspirated flat-six engines, almost 100,000 Subaru XTs were made between 1985 and 1991.

The first Volvo to feature front-wheel drive, it was also the Swedish company's first (and last) model with pop-up headlights. Produced in Holland and sharing the mechanicals of the utterly forgettable 440 and 460, the 480 featured Renault 1.7 or 2.0-litre engines, the former coming in Turbo form. A prototype convertible - with marker lights strongly suggesting the US market was what was in mind - was unveiled in 1990, but sadly the project came to nothing.

French company Venturi had started out in 1984 as MVS (Manufactures des Voitures de Sport), with a prototype called the Ventury. By the time the production model made its debut in late 1986, it had become the Venturi 260, with a 260bhp turbocharged 2.8-litre V6 engine. That car had pop-up headlights, just like the facelifted version which arrived in 1994. Now called the Venturi Atlantique 300, there was much more rounded bodywork and a 3.0-litre V6.

When Buick unveiled its Reatta two-seater in 1988 it talked of 20,000 examples being sold each year, but when production was axed three years later just 21,000 had been built. Initially offered only as a coupé, by 1990 there was also a convertible, with all Reattas getting a 3.8-litre V6 engine that drove the front wheels via a four-speed automatic transmission.

Ford built no fewer than five different concepts called Probe, but this was the production car of the same name; a rather stylish sporting coupé that came with a range of four-cylinder and V6 engines. For 1992 there was an all-new Probe that was longer and wider and based on the Mazda MX-6, but you could be forgiven for thinking that it was merely a facelift, as it looked so similar. But then why change a good thing?

A luxurious and pricey grand tourer powered by either V8 or V12 engines, the E31 8 Series is starting to become highly collectible. Fast, refined and luxurious, the 8 Series was only the second production car from BMW to feature pop-up headlights; the first was the limited-production M1. Although production ran from 1990 until 1999, little more than 30,000 8 Series were sold.

It was initially intended to be an affordable mid-engined sports car with a 1.6-litre Fiesta XR2 engine – then Toyota unveiled the MR2, forcing Panther to rethink. The result was a much more expensive car with Cosworth 2.0-litre turbo power and four-wheel drive. The Solo bombed; the MR2 didn't.

Inspired by the original Lotus Elan, the MX-5 is still going strong after almost 30 years, now without pop-up headlights, of course. When it arrived in 1989 the MX-5 put the cat among the pigeons because here was an affordable sports car that was fabulous to drive, looked brilliant and was utterly reliable. Although time has proved that MX-5s aren't great at resisting rust, sadly.

The Vector story is more than worthy of a film, so many and varied are the plot twists and turns. Formed in 1978 by Gerry Wiegert, Vector Aeromotive's first product was the W2 but it wouldn't enter production until 1989, as the W8. Just 14 or so examples were built before the company was taken over by Lamborghini owner Megatech which then created the V12-powered M12.

The Honda NSX was nothing less than a turning point in the evolution of the supercar. It ushered in a new era of reliability, usability and agility too, the latter thanks to its pioneering use of aluminium construction. Initially powered by a mid-mounted 3.0-litre V6, later would come a 3.2-litre unit along with an automatic transmission, a targa top option – and fixed headlights in place of the pop-up items shown here.

The Reliant Scimitar SS1 was the last car to be designed by Giovanni Michelotti before his death, and it wasn't a great swan song with its awkward styling. But in 1990 the car was updated to become the SST, with conventional pop-up headlights in place of the previous flip-forward items. Later would come another facelift in the form of the Sabre, which looked even better.

Alpine had started out as an independent car maker that used Renault running gear; by the time the A610 arrived it had long been part of the Renault empire. With its rear-mounted turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 the A610 was quick and looked superb, but it didn't have the build quality to take on Porsche, which was its deadliest rival.

Conceived in the late 1980s when there was plenty of money around and a surfeit of wealthy enthusiasts keen to buy the most extreme supercar they could lay their hands on, the Cizeta featured a transversely mounted V16 engine that was essentially a pair of 3.0-litre V8s stitched together. The result was 560bhp and a top speed of around 200mph. Never mind the engine though; just look at those stacked flip-up headlights.

Until the McLaren F1 spoiled things, for a short time the Jaguar XJ220 was the world's fastest production car, with a top speed of 212.3mph, courtesy of a mid-mounted twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6. Designed by a team led by Keith Helfet, the XJ220 features drop-down panels to reveal the headlights, rather than pop-up items – and this is still a car that looks gorgeous from every angle.

GM's Saturn project got under way in 1982 but the first cars didn't go on sale until 1990. By 2010 the division had been closed down as it just couldn't turn a profit. The SC shown here was one of the few lookers in the S-Series range that arrived in 1990; the facelifted cars were a disaster stylistically, from every angle, not least of all because fixed headlights were fitted instead of pop-up items.

Just when we thought that the pop-up headlight had been consigned to history, Ares Design introduced the first in a new series of reimagined classics. Called Progetto Uno, this 21st century De Tomaso Pantera used a 650bhp 5.2-litre V10 engine sourced from the Lamborghini Huracan to give a 201mph top speed. By building no more than 21 examples of the Progetto Uno, Ares Design doesn't have to comply with regulations that prevent mainstream production cars from now featuring pop-up lights.