Home » What Would Modern Cars Look Like If America Still Only Allowed Two Kinds Of Headlights?

What Would Modern Cars Look Like If America Still Only Allowed Two Kinds Of Headlights?

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This next one might seem strange to you, until I mention that it’s part of a homework assignment for Professor Torch; then it will seem perfectly fine. It’s sort of like when people look at a Citroen 2CV Van or a Renault Avantime and scratch their heads until someone says “it’s from France.” After that, they just relax and nod in understanding. It’s about headlights, specifically old-school sealed beam headlights that only came round or rectangular, and what the automotive landscape would look like if that’s still all anyone could use. Would it be grim or wonderful? Let’s find out.

Jason has written about this next thing before, often from a cost perspective, but now he’d like me to look at an alternate, improbably visual reality. Because of course he does.

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2512504 35844 1982 Chrysler Lebaron

source: Gocars

Let’s go back to what we are now calling part of the “Malaise Era,” the early 1980s. There were many issues that were bothering Americans from the Iran hostage crisis and poison Tylenol to absurd inflation and fifteen percent interest rates. However, as a junior high student I really didn’t give a shit about any of that. I was concerned with far more important things…like the fact that composite headlights were still banned in the United States…even though I couldn’t drive yet or own a car.

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It might seem hard to believe to anyone under the age of forty, but before the 1984 model year any vehicle sold in the United States was required to use off-the-shelf, standard sized headlamps called sealed beams, either round or rectangular units of set dimensions (either two or four units each..larger ones were allowed when using just a pair).

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source: rvheadlights.com

Headlights that formed to the shape of the car itself, even if they used standardized bulbs like they do today, were strictly forbidden. The results of this law really came into play when manufacturers of European and Japanese cars designed with these custom-shaped lights – commonly known as composite light fixtures – wanted to import them into America.

These lovely, aerodynamic, design-conscious headlamps would need to be ditched and replaced by some form of unit that incorporated the approved rectangular or round sealed beams (or simply have hidden or pop-up headlamps, as was often the case in low-nosed sports cars). There are many, many examples of this switch, but this Audi 100/5000 illustrates it perfectly:

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sources: German Cars For Sale and Wikipedia

Even the American manufacturers seemed to be stifled by these regulations, as seen of this Mustang SVO that is DYING to get full composite lights, which it eventually did after the law was FINALLY changed for the 1984 model year.

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sources: silodrome and mustangspecs

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Ah, but this is The Bishop, so you just KNOW that my boss Torch is going make me take this off the rails into an alternate reality, right? What if, in 1983, lobbyists for Sylvania or some other proponent of standard sealed beam…let’s call it the PUMASS (Pop Up Motor and Sealed Systems) group… had successfully bribed congress and the NHTSA to keep the ban on composite headlights…and did so for four more decades? What would cars look like today?

Exposing The Beams

Here are some crudely modified possible examples of popular modern cars:

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sources: The Bishop, Chevrolet, Ford, Nissan

That’s with off-the-shelf rectangular lights, and here’s the same cars modified with round sealed beams:

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Whoa! Much of me hates these sealed beam mash ups. Just like back in the 1980s, the boxy shapes of the lights are at odds with the sculptural form of the car, and they violate the aerodynamics of the nose (remember, American regulations even banned clear covers over sealed beams). Still, at the same time, I can’t help but think that these mandated sealed beam lights seem to be adding more personality to these rather generic-looking cars. What is going on here?

Jason thinks it might be a nostalgia thing for old-ass people like ourselves. He could be right, but if I had to guess I would say that the common size of sealed beam lights is, in some way, akin to the fact that the eyes on all human beings are similar in size and in location…so sealed beam cars always had a ‘face’.

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What we are seeing is essentially anthropomorophism…applying human characteristics to inanimate objects (in these cases at least the eyes are at least in the CORRECT position as opposed to the Cars movies which our man Jason has complained about before). Conversely, by forming to the shape of the body, today’s composite lights blend in and become just another piece of trim on the front of a car, and not the ‘windows to the soul’– so most modern cars do not have a traditional “face.” Either that, or the face is hard to decipher.  Look at the vehicle below…which ones are the “eyes?”

Mitsubishi Outlander 2022

source: Auto Trends

Damn…listen to that shit…I’ve been hanging around Torch too long, haven’t I?

Say ‘Yes” To Pop Ups

Back in the old days, sports cars were most affected by the mandatory sealed beam laws. Retractable lights were essentially on these vehicles and would continue to be required if the composite light ban was never lifted.

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However, pop ups on current cars might not be as bad as we would at first fear. Sure, they’re an aerodynamic nightmare when open, but when retracted doesn’t it allow for a truly clean look? Is it possible that more sheet metal/body color on the nose is letting the basic shape of the car be more visible and uncluttered?  Does it help to differentiate between sports cars and run-of-the-mill sedans? Even the thinnest LED fixture today can’t be as small as no light fixture visible in the daytime at all, and there are still headlight height regulations in all states.

Let’s look at an affordable sports vehicle first in our alternate reality:

Subaru Brz Limited 2020 1

source: US News and The Bishop

This Lotus starts to look like a competition or concept car with pop ups down:

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Lotus Evora 400 Png Isolated Photo

source: png mart

Even a Ferrari could work with retractable lights; now the intake vents on the tops of front and rear fenders seem similar, and the car seems lower and leaner than before. Not to mention that despite how expensive any other parts on the car will be, the headlights themselves you could still pick up at AutoZone.

Ferrari F8 Tributo 2019 2021 1606211087.0765967

source: wheel size.com

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So maybe if the sealed beam lobby had held, it could have inadvertently added more personality to today’s cars.  However, if every one of them had sealed beam headlights, car facades could still end up generic, just bland in a way different form… a sort of transmogrification of the Late Post War Car Face.  Remember when Homer Simpson designed a car?  He wanted to put an orange ball on EVERY antenna to help him find his vehicle in the parking lot. Same issues here.

Overall, I’m a bit torn.  I don’t regret being all about the composites back in the day…but the blank stares that you get from truly faceless vehicles today has me questioning what I wanted.  Is it a case being careful what you wish for?

 

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Martin Ibert
Martin Ibert
1 year ago

Yes, I sometimes think longingly back to the days when headlights were part of the front face of the car. If you look at a reasonably modern car today, you will see that the headlight assembly is more like part of the side of the car: it is longer front-to-back than it is wide edge-to-centre.
BTW you should look for your PUMASS lobby elsewhere, IMHO: it must have been horrible for car lighting manufacturers to be reduced to manufacture only a set of commodity items that are more or less all the same, and hence comparable and always in intense competition. It must be much more lucrative to design and sell one specific sell-your-arse-expensive specially designed unit for every fucking car model.
BTW Alec from Technology Connections made a video on the topic just the other day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2J91UG6Fn8 –worth seeing as all of Alec’s stuff is.

M K
M K
1 year ago

This is a great thought experiment Bishop. Would you mind drawing a modern Dodge Challenger and Jeep Wrangler with sealed beam lights? I’m having trouble picturing what they would look like.

Sundance
Sundance
1 year ago

Maybe the sealed beam technology was horrible, but when I have a look at the modified Explorer – it looks much better with defined lights, square or round doesn’t matter.

Or am I too oldschool?

Paul B
Paul B
1 year ago

I liked not having to pull the engine to replace a burnt light

Aceto Balsamico
Aceto Balsamico
1 year ago

ALL YOUR BEAMS ARE BELONG TO US

SLIDTossedPissedinto BleuCHSaladwCroutons
SLIDTossedPissedinto BleuCHSaladwCroutons
1 year ago

This is going to sound… unweidly to read, but Im going to try to make it palatable.

I flat out dont get the whole.. squinty front lighting bit. Sure, aero is key in lighting. Sure doing more with less is also eh… But stringing a set of LEDs in where a nice large sealed beam used to go.. and I wonder what kind of light can you get from that? Then ya run into cost with one of the Hummer rear lighting pieces cost BIG MONEY.

It goes from simple sealed beam.. to LEDs, to halogens or some sort of lighting used now.. and ya walk around with this thin strip of shit that ya worry someone is going to stop short and ya gonna smack them.

I understand how important aero is to lighting.. but theres coming from a set of sealed beams, to a cover over sealed beams, to projectors, to a strip of LEDs now. Ya got headlights that ya cant identify anymore. Tail lights I cant recognize… (I used to be able to tell the make, model and yr of the car behind me at night.) Now everything has the same odd pattern. A strip of LEDs on an angle and then a flat section. BMWs lost their angel eyes.. Honda bulbs dont have their dual-repeaters anymore. Its just getting crazy. Ya cant identify stuff anymore.. cause its so damn boring.

Im sorry…
I dont want this shit in my car. I shouldnt pay 2500LOONIES for a damn headlight!

Wolfpack57
Wolfpack57
1 year ago

I’d be interested to see an alternative deep dive for standardized projector beam headlights.

Also, you can still find sealed beams on modern severe-duty trucks, like the
International HV (https://www.internationaltrucks.com/trucks/hv-series)
and Freightliner SD series (https://freightliner.com/trucks/108sd-plus/)

I think those International illustrates really well what a 2000s or early 2010s headlight would look like.

Andrew Wyman
Andrew Wyman
1 year ago

I love that Ferrari. It reminds me of a Hammerhead shark with the beams way out on the side. It gave me a chuckle.

Donald Petersen
Donald Petersen
1 year ago

I am pleasantly surprised to discover that I actually prefer the looks of ALL these examples with sealed beams. I knew that I didn’t love a lot of the composite shapes, but honestly I really do prefer the sealed beams or pop-ups to all of the composite examples. I think the big 2-bulb rectangular ones are the only ones I’ve never liked in the sealed beam realm (you generally only saw those on ugly Volvos, in my experience).

Boulevard_Yachtsman
Boulevard_Yachtsman
1 year ago

Í don’t find these anywhere near as horrible as I would’ve guessed. I never paid much attention to the original differences between what we had here in the US and what was available elsewhere until I went through a bit of a Mercedes phase a number of years ago. What a difference just the headlights make on those cars, especially in cases where they’re stacked. Take something like a 1970 300 SEL. With Euro lights, it’s a stately, gorgeous car – a notch above everything else on the road. With American sealed-beams, it looks… fine, but maybe a little disappointed you didn’t spring for premium on the last fill-up.

Michael Beranek
Michael Beranek
1 year ago

Sealed beams were great because when you changed one, you got a brand-new lens too. Way easier than spending two days with a drill and a cavalcade of sandpaper discs.

GreatFallsGreen
GreatFallsGreen
1 year ago

Pre-facelift Chevy Sonic would have been so ready.

Beyond just pop up lights, we might have seen more concealed headlamps again to still achieve some smoother/aero styling too, especially for cars with retro themes like Camaros or over at Dodge. Interesting too to think if pedestrian safety rules would have still progressed and put an end to pop up lights, so sports cars would have to accommodate.

Maymar
Maymar
1 year ago

I was going to say, the round sealed beam Malibu was giving me serious Sonic vibes around the headlights.

Balloondoggle
Balloondoggle
1 year ago

“Which ones are the eyes?”

This image looks like Dirk Dastardly with his squinty eyes over a handlebar moustache.

BetterThanAverageJoe
BetterThanAverageJoe
1 year ago

I think they all look awesome with the round sealed beams. They look like (and could be) modern projector lamps. Works well with all of them.

Live2ski
Live2ski
1 year ago

I like the Malibu with the round sealed beams!

LTDScott
LTDScott
1 year ago

As a kid of the ’80s I actually like some of these with sealed beams. Kinda reminds me of some American cars which had composite headlights at home, but export models in Europe had to be retrofitted with sealed beams to meet local lighting regulations – ironically the same thing that European car manufacturers had to do in the American market. This Beretta is one example:

https://bestcarmagz.net/sites/default/files/chevrolet-beretta-1300689-5934180.jpg

I don’t understand why the Mustang SVO didn’t get composite headlights in ’84. Ford led the charge to get composite headlights approved by the DOT with the ’84 Lincoln Mark VII and succeeded. I wonder how they were able to get away with flush headlights on the Lincoln, but the SVO didn’t get them until midway through the ’85 model year?

Chris Stevenson
Chris Stevenson
1 year ago
Reply to  LTDScott

I’d have to guess that Ford wanted to give the Mark VII some exclusivity as the only composite headlight car in America.

LTDScott
LTDScott
1 year ago

Perhaps, but the SVO was Ford’s “halo” car at the time that they pushed as being very “European” influenced, and it was clearly designed with composite headlights in mind to distinguish it from the rest of the “four eyed” Mustangs.

Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
1 year ago
Reply to  LTDScott

Ford was really, really trying to get upwardly mobile Audi and BMW buying Baby Boomers to start noticing the Mark VII as a viable competitor, I could see them wanting a “euro” feature to highlight – besides the optional BMW diesel, of course.

Probably just one part of Ford’s multiyear quest to get a viable competitor to the German luxury brands – they actually tried to mount a hostile takeover of BMW in the mid ’80s, but were blocked by the Quandts, then tried the Merkur thing, then tried to buy Rover Group, but the British government sold it to BAe instead (under pressure to keep it domestic), then finally bought Jaguar – which never worked out the way they expected

Citrus
Citrus
1 year ago
Reply to  LTDScott

If I remember right the SVO launched late and had a complicated development so they might have had to use the originally planned lights in order to justify some tooling or existing parts.

EricTheViking
EricTheViking
1 year ago
Reply to  LTDScott

Simple answer: Ford wasn’t even sure whether NHTSA would approve the form-fitting composite headlamps and if NHTSA would approve it in time for the introduction of Lincoln Mark VII in late 1983. Ford reportedly spent at least one million dollars on each version: one with composition headlamps and one with quad headlamp capsules and bumper-mounted front turn signal indicators.

I have seen the photos of Mark VII prototype with headlamp capsules. A pre-production Mark VII with headlamp capsules made a very brief appearance on the TV serial (I couldn’t recall which serial: it could be either Falcon Crest or Dallas).

My burning question: why did Ford seem to “botch” the composite headlamp design for Mustang SVO? The composite headlamps jut about quarter inch out between the turn signal indicators, making it look like ill-fitted instead of smooth fit.

Nlpnt
Nlpnt
1 year ago

That nose! The “Bunkie Beak” named after “Bunkie” Knudsen who was headhunted from Pontiac to Ford but went back to GM after just a few years.

Drew
Drew
1 year ago

I think that sticking with sealed beams would have necessarily changed the evolution of car design further than keeping pop-ups on sports cars. We might have seen more ways to mask them, but the shapes of the front ends of vehicles would have been different to accommodate them. Assuming we started mandating DRLs, it would be interesting to explore how that would then change the face of a sealed beam setup.

Drew
Drew
1 year ago
Reply to  Drew

I think the 90’s bubble looks would have probably been different and we would have seen a lot of round headlights with curves to match. And probably a see more square beams as we started trying to make things look aggressive, since the round ones would be associated with friendly 90’s curves.
The really interesting thing, to me, would be how it would affect the retro vehicles. I think it might be a little more difficult to pull off faux retro with mandatory sealed beams on everything, since your headlights wouldn’t look any more or less retro than anything else. But maybe we would not have even done the faux retro.

Drew
Drew
1 year ago
Reply to  The Bishop

Sorry, I was a bit imprecise here. I absolutely agree that sports cars would have kept pop-ups. I meant that we would have seen normal sedans and SUVs trying to do things to differentiate their faces around the beams. Different hood shapes, different grill setups, and probably some attempts to change the headlight placement enough to differentiate.
I just think it would be interesting to see how things would have evolved differently in/for the US market. I also wonder if we would have seen fewer import models, simply because of the cost of localized designs. Alternatively, would we have seen European and Asian models get several updates in their markets while maintaining a slower-evolving American version? Or would they design around the need for American localization?
I don’t know if you’d want to do further explorations of how sealed beam headlights would have changed design, but I know I would read them if you do.

Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
1 year ago
Reply to  The Bishop

That’s because the first phase of FMVSS in 1968 outlawed any aerodynamic glass covers over headlights, there were a few imported sports cars that had them before that.

IF the DOT had decided to really dig their heals in and die on the hill of sealed beams, I could see them maybe rolling back that “no covers” rule at some point in the 1980s – maybe 90s – whenever the EPA got loud enough and annoying enough for NHTSA to just groan and say, OK fine, you can glass covers again.

Maymar
Maymar
1 year ago
Reply to  The Bishop

Canada for sure had DRL’s mandated since MY1990 (I believe a few northern European nations did it a few years earlier, since it’s unlikely Canada lead the way on just about anything). Definitely a few years of overlap though, where some vehicles equipped with sealed beams were still available (mostly trucks by that point) that would have had to run DRL’s

Since I was 3 when the changeover occurred, I’m at the point where a car without DRL’s looks unnatural.

M K
M K
1 year ago
Reply to  Maymar

Interesting fact. I owned a 1990 Mitsubishi GSX with sealed beam pop-up headlights. When the lights were down they were off in the US market, but in Canada, the low beams could shine through the clear lens below the headlight for DRL. This was a popular mod in the US to separate the pop-up and headlight functions.

8th--Note
8th--Note
1 year ago

I work in the trucking industry and a few months back our mechanics were cleaning out an old store room in the shop (company has been in the same office/shop space since early 80s). They found a pair of 80s NOS Sylvania sealed beams still in the packaging. I kept them and everyone mocked me. But You never know when you’ll need a sealed beam headlight (and when you do need it and dont have it, you’ll really wish you had one). Thats my thinking anyway.

Justin Grady
Justin Grady
1 year ago

The YouTube channel Technology Connections (great guy and owns a Nissan Figaro), just did a deep dive on why sealed beams were a thing, the regulations and history, and the change to allow form fitting lights in 1984. Get out the popcorn Torch! It’s a great one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2J91UG6Fn8&t=529s

Chris Stevenson
Chris Stevenson
1 year ago

Inspired by this week’s Technology Connections? https://youtu.be/c2J91UG6Fn8

Sam Gross
Sam Gross
1 year ago

There’s no way this wasn’t.

Erik Waiss
Erik Waiss
1 year ago

First thing I thought of, too. Glad I’m not the only one who sat riveted to my seat for that 25 minutes of sealed-beam love. . .

Dave Horchak
Dave Horchak
1 year ago

The rare sticks out. But I don’t like pop ups on geese modern takes it look bland.

Andy Individual
Andy Individual
1 year ago

This ties in very well with my question. What if we still had bumpers we could bump?

As for the headlights, that’s just a plot by Big Poly-carbonate to fog us over.

V10omous
V10omous
1 year ago

I sentence anyone who claims pop-up headlights are awesome to an eternity of suffering through GM plastic geared units in icy weather.

Citrus
Citrus
1 year ago
Reply to  V10omous

Sure, but an ’80s-90s GM product would get you to swear off a lot of things.

I always assume that everyone who lobbies against cars as a concept has extensive experience with a J-body or something.

Dsa Lkjh
Dsa Lkjh
1 year ago
Reply to  V10omous

I used to leave the headlights up in icy weather (like it says in the manual) when I had my three MR2s, two RX7s, 200SX, Sylvia and NA MX5. Pretty much all my driving was in the dark during winter anyway.

I’m not sure whether I really miss pop-ups or just really miss those particular cars.

Jack Trade
Jack Trade
1 year ago

As a Gen-Xer, you really got me at popups.

But it’s been said here before, but it’s intriguing to me that the round lights look good on certain current vehicle designs, add some needed contrasting visual interest.

But we almost never get them IRL b/c seemingly now that headlights can be any shape, designers refuse to use a previously-mandated one maybe.

Drew
Drew
1 year ago
Reply to  Jack Trade

I find it really interesting that Bentleys look so distinct with the round headlights while so many others avoid the look.

Jack Trade
Jack Trade
1 year ago
Reply to  Drew

Oh good call, I hadn’t thought of Bentleys!

Yesterday, I was sitting waiting in a parking lot, and scanning the other cars around me, I saw a well-maintained early S197 Mustang.

The round main lights in the squared off housing combined with the round inboard driving lights really go nicely with the modern softened blockiness of the front end. It definitely stood out next to the various squinty-light vehicles around it.

Cool Dave
Cool Dave
1 year ago
Reply to  Jack Trade

I love my S197, the general design of it I think will go down as one of the better Mustangs. The newer ones and the disaster that is the S650 lost a lot of that simple clean design to lines, creases and as you said, the squinty lights.

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