Encyclopedia Hoonatica: Hidden Headlights

A few days ago, we asked you about retractable, or “pop-up” headlights, that bastion of dated automotive culture that shot upwards like a star in the 70s and 80s before plummeting back to Earth, joining landau roofs, whitewall tires, and vannin’ in the bin of tired automotive fads. The last car to use them was the last-generation Corvette in 2004, because not even tradition (albeit a tradition only defined 10 years into its lifespan) could outwit pedestrian ratings and aerodynamics.

But there’s a difference between headlights mounted on the hood that pop upwards as “air brakes,” and hidden headlights that protrude forwards from behind a shadowy grille. Yesterday’s Mercury Cougar featured these masked denizens of the night, for example. As did the Dodge Charger, which goes a long way to explain its legendary menace, favored by cads, rapscallions and scoundrels alike. The big, boxy, inherently menacing cars of the 1960s featured these in droves, as a way to mix up an otherwise dull slab of chrome grille. But it’s possible that more than just B-Bodies sported these trick lights. And if there’s anybody that could name some, it’s, well…who else?

DIFFICULTY: with muscle cars, like baking a birthday cake. Sans muscle cars, like baking a birthday cake for Eugénie Blanchard, in the dark, atop Mt. Rainier.

I'm a dynamiter, I'm a prizefighter.

[Image sources: Allpar, The Passionate Pursuit of Awesome]

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