I’m an American. I’m proud to be an American, usually, and while this wonderful, messy, ridiculous, often stupid and fascinating country has many things I’m proud of (JPL, Dock Ellis’ no-hitter on LSD), there are things that cause me to cringe in shame and regret. Like our absurd and over-long obsession with sealed-beam headlights. I’m not against sealed-beams – I think they absolutely have their place and their ubiquity and affordability makes them attractive options even today – but Federal Motor Vehicle Standards made them the only option for far too long. And those rules ended up doing some terrible things to some very good cars.
Starting in 1940, all cars that would be sold in America were required to have a pair of round, 7″ sealed-beam headlamps, a dual-filament design providing for both low- and high-beams. In 1957, quad headlamps became legal, allowing for four 5.75″ lamps, with all four illuminated for high beams.
These remained the only headlight options – two big round or four slightly smaller round – until 1975, when rectangular headlights became federalized. As with the roundies, you could have two larger or four smaller ones.
But that was it! In Europe, custom-to-the-car headlamps of almost any shape, with replaceable bulbs, were quite common, and allowed designers a great deal more flexibility in design. America finally approved these sorts of composite lamps (even with plastic lenses) in 1986, but by then many lovely European car headlamps had been debased by the cruel federal regulations.
There are many examples of lovely Euro lights being clumsily replaced with clunky sealed beams, but I think there are three examples that are the most tragic – not because the carmakers didn’t try to do their best to work within the American rules, but because they did try, and try hard. And yet, despite their best efforts, the result was a far cry from the original Euro lights they were designed with.
It’s tragic yes, but if we don’t confront these painful moments, we could be doomed to repeat them. So off we go.
BMW 2000CS
The 1965-1969 BMW 2000CS was the sporty coupé variant of the Neue Klasse, and differed from its other Neue Klasse siblings in the design of the front end, which reduced the grille to just the two trademark kidneys (and some slots hiding behind the bumper), along with some wide, shaped headlamps that hugged the lower edge of the hood.
The look was pretty controversial at the time, but it was interesting, and a big part of what made it interesting were those novel, shaped lights, flush with the body and having a compelling depth to them.
When these came to America, there really wasn’t much that could be done; the volume of the headlamps were filled in with a ribbed aluminum, and quad round sealed beams were jammed in. The car doesn’t look terrible with the sealed beams, but it makes the already polarizing front end look, as the kids say, a bit derpy, especially when compared with the purposeful look of the original.
Mercedes-Benz 280SL (W113) Pagoda
The 1963-1971 W113 Pagoda was a genuinely elegant and lovely car, and a lot of what made it so striking was the lighting design. The Bosch-sourced headlamp units were designed to follow and finish the line and shape of the fenders, and incorporated a headlamp, indicator, and foglamp under one large, domed chunk of fluted glass.
These are really striking-looking units and help give the front end a lot of its elegance with their jewelry-like presence. The US market version doesn’t actually look bas at all, and the round sealed beams and large indicator lens do fill the area well, requiring only a minimum of ribbed clear plastic filler, but its just not the same as the original custom Bosch units.
They’re a hell of a lot cheaper to replace, though.
Citroën SM
Out of all of these luminary federalized debasements, this one is by far the worst. It’s the worst not just because the USDM face looks so much worse, but because changing the lights loses one of the most exciting and functional details of the original car: the headlamps that self-leveled and turned with the steering wheel.
Here, look at them in action on this partially-disassembled SM:
The original SM’s headlight treatment broke more than one federal lighting standard: not only were the lamps themselves not approved sealed-beam sizes or shapes, but they were set behind a panel of shaped glass, which was also against Uncle Sam’s strangely strict lighting rules, for some reason.
The original SM’s lights are an absolute triumph of headlight design and execution: they fit the overall swanky-spaceship look of the SM, they added genuine safety benefits, and they just made the car cooler.
The US market version, on the other hand, looks faintly ridiculous. The four round headlamps are set strangely far apart from one another, inset into plastic alcoves trimmed in chrome. The result is strange and awkward, and ruins the otherwise dramatic look of the car’s front end.
These were, ironically, dark times for headlights, and I pity the designers that had to try and debase these fantastic bits of lighting design to meet our strange, probably Puritan-inspired standards. I respect their attempts, despite their sometimes lackluster results.
Are there other examples that should be mentioned? Let’s discuss, at length, loudly, until they kick us out!
We have many US imported R107s (erhm, 1972-89 Mercedes-Benz SLs to regular people…) over here, and they are pretty bad, with the dual sealed beams sticking ot into the corner blinkers, ruining the lines. Usually with really ugly big black park bench bumpers and very thirsty 450 engines in them too.
But the SM is the worst one ever, I agree.
It’s 11:30pm on Hella Boulevard, closing time at The Sealed Beam bar and grille. Torchinsky had been in earlier in the evening, wisely leaving before sunset but not before triggering a heated debate over which had the best headlight covers. The spirited discussion had started pleasantly enough with broad appreciation of the 1965 Buick Riviera clamshells, but rapidly descended into a full-on brawl between rival factions arguing for the 1972 Mercury Marquis Brougham and 1979 Ford Thunderbird. Now that the last of the regulars had driven out onto the halogen highway, the owner was ready to lock up.
‘At least it won’t cost much to replace the mood lighting,’ muttered Ford to himself as he swept up the last of the broken glass from the floor, though he was sad to see a couple of poorly placed side-marker lamps had fallen victim to the melee.
With a weary yank on the lever behind the bar, the vacuum-pump driven shutters slide into place over the front door, and the dim yellow lights over the sidewalk fade to a faint orange glow as the burning filaments cool.
Meanwhile, across the street, things are just getting started at the Europop nightclub. A strobing neon light bar streaks across the front of the building, luring middle class businessmen into the luxurious interior, like moths drawn to a flickering amber flame.
Having shed their business attire, the Audi and BMW crowd at Europop race across the dancefloor, their movements as unpredictable as their sporadic use of signature lightsticks. Citroën & Renault sit comfortably in a booth on the back wall, illuminating all around them with their charismatic charm, directional headlamps, and glowing cigarettes.
The hate for US market SLs over the model years surprises me. I like my R107 far better with the dual roundies than the euro spec headlights. And that pagoda looks almost the same as the Euro version, so I don’t see how it’s in the top three given what they did to the SM.
I had a 80 or so SAAB 900 turbo 5 door. Great chairs and decent performance that was a bit too much for its fragile 5 speed gearbox. The us version came w/ single rectangular lights that were cozily nestled in crappy argent (gray) surrounds. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1980-saab-900-turbo/
The Euro version had big old glass blocks w/H4 lamps.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_Automobile
The E-Code Europe lamps were night & day better than the 3 fireflies in a jug that were the crappy seals beams. After I put the euros in, my wife was waiting at a red light when the local 50 pulled up alongside her. She had the windows rolled down and the cop looked at the front of the car and said “nice lights”, then just drove off.
Anybody else think the 2000CS looks better with the sealed beams?
No?
Just me?
Okay, then.
Not at all – I’m here for you, buddy. I also think the US version of the Pagoda looked better. That Citroën, though? Uggggggh.
The OG BMW New Class 2000 sedan (1966) had arguably sleeker rectangular Euro headlamps than the 2000 coupe. When the sedan was federalized for the US with 4 sealed beams, it took on the appearance of your friends in junior high who got orthodontic gear.
By the time the E9 (2800 CS) was introduced in 1968, BMW had figured out how to make quad round headlamps look sleek and aggressive, with the same styling for the Euro and US versions.
You guys know that there are Europeans who like to swap in American headlamps?
‘Grass is greener over there’ effect
Most of these look pretty similar
Now euro tail lights and bumpers are a legitimate upgrade!
In the 1970s, the Europeans associated the four round headlamps as “powerful” or sporty since they were often used in the races.
Case in point: the first generation Scirocco had two different headlamp systems. The versions with puny engines had rectangular headlamps while the powerful or sportier versions had four round headlamps. It was common for the Scirocco owners to upgrade theirs to “sportier versions” as to hide their cheapstake-ness.
BMW and Mercedes from the 80s and 90s all took a hit when they came to the US, and by conforming to the USDOT standards, the lights completely ruined every car’s look. The W123 with the Euro style lights looked awesome, until we slapped on the double rounds, which looked dorky. The E30 with integrated parking lights on the low beam, beautiful. How about we ruin them by making them non-projection halogens? Now it looks like a cheap GM product until the projector beams were approved from
1987 on.
I’m with you, Torch. The European standards are a lot more strigent and way more comprehensive than ours, why not adapt to their standards and have a better system all around? The non-amber rear turn signals suck, and not having a rear facing fog light…Are you kidding me?! That’s one of the best attributes from Europe, and everyone should adopt it!
In most situations you don’t need the rear fog light and it’s more than annoying having unaware drivers putting it on in non-fog conditions
Blinding drivers behind you is a feature, not a bug. More USDM cars being able to flash the dumbass lifted truck behind them with high beams blaring into their mirror would solve so many problems.
Many cars now reset the rear fog light on key-off, and even when you are following a car with its rear fog light on it’s no brighter than a brake light, and has to be legally positioned far enough from the actual brake lights that you can’t mix them up.
In my experience you’ll see a few cars with their rear fog light on for a couple of days after fog. It’s not a problem.
However, in fog the improvement in visibility is huge. It’s like cars without fogs might as well have no lights on at all.
I modified the headlight switch on my E93 BMW to have the rear fog light. Makes me feel better driving in the foothills when the fog rolls in.
Absolutely! Of course, people have to know how to use one correctly so they don’t act like dickheads and put them on for no reason. But we should start using them here. Btw, I did the “Lego mod” on my E90 for the rear fogs as well.
US finally allowed the ECE headlamps in 1991 for the passenger vehicles despite the fact that US allowed them on the motorcycles for decades. However, the H4 bulbs were “specifically built with tighter tolerance” and renamed as HB2 in the US.
Citroen scared the shit out of Detroit, so they had to be banned. They would’ve absolutely freaked the fuck out had Citroen still been here when the CX was released!
The SM is *the* definitive answer here. Nothing else comes close to how ridiculous that one was.
I wouldn’t say “scared the shit” out of them. As the adage goes, the French copy nobody, and nobody copies the French. It’s just a lot of “standards” are that. Though SAE and NHTSA had/have some maybe silly rules in retrospect, they were firm in their beliefs that using these standards makes a safe(ish) car. Obviously over time these have been relaxed, but this was in the early stages of safety standards from all markets, and so there was going to be a lot of consternation regarding relaxing/adjusting these basically brand new standards. An immediate relaxation for a foreign company would’ve undermined the authority of a fledgling government entity that had JUST published their first set of rules. (NHTSA coming about in 1970)
From an engineering standpoint: Looks be damned! Build a safe car for our people! (even though later we’ll be like…whoops those were sweet and actually probably better because we underestimated the durability of headlamps and illuminating in the specific direction of travel is advantageous. Sorry Tucker. [shrug])
Yeah, they were so scared of Citroen that they continued enforcing the exact same lighting regulations that had been in place for 30+ years
I’d say the Pagoda Mercedes is one of the most successful conversions. The US sealed beams don’t look nearly as good as the Euro design, but the round lamps and large indicators fit the overall design better than your other two examples.
The unpleasant federalization of the Neue Klasse sedans and coupes arguably influenced BMW design language to this day. The E3 and E9 both had quad headlights which avoided any major federal overhauls, as have most BMW’s made since.
The headlights didn’t change the fact that the 2000CS was ugly.
Oh! 🙁 I think it’s kind of lovely. Takes all kinds I suppose. 🙂
The “kind of” is doing a lot of the work here.
The Ferrari Daytona 365 GTB/4 the one really sticks in my head are variations for the US market prior to the disappearing headlight covers. I tried to search out examples of the US weirdness both innies and outies, but history seems to have fixed itself. Anyway IIRC Euro was plastic covered and the US versions were bug eye or recessed.
They were pop up headlights and they arguably looked better, though I liked them both for different reasons.
Not that simple although it was the best solution. IIRC the pop-up lights were 1971 vintage.
The four fixed bug eye lights were quickly introduced in 1968 as I quess they didn’t pay much attention to new US laws, which controlled covered lenses and beam height. They were body colored to make them look worse. They didn’t survive to regular production. I think the follow up fixed lights were less bug eye and silver.
Great work Jason! 😀
I happen to really like sealed-beam headlights, mainly because they’re cheap and usually easy to replace. TBH, it doesn’t hurt that I don’t drive at night nearly as much as I used to, but even if I did, I’d be damned, tarred-and-feathered, and a monkey’s uncle before I’d ever willingly own a car w/super-expensive fancy headlights like my neighbor’s BMW 5-series Gran Coupe (or whatever TF it’s called) where replacing a single headlight cost him well over $2,000. And the car’s barely a decade old!
I also like it when cars with sealed beams have a plastic cover (maybe it’s lexan?) over them for aerodynamics and/or aesthetics. I’m sure there are better examples, but every time I see a late 1960s/early 1970s Citroen DS at the “Best of France and Italy” car show at Woodley Park https://www.franceanditaly.com and I behold the grace and practicality of its faired-in headlights (I assume the plastic covers aren’t original, since they’re clear, rather than cloudy and yellowed) I’m re-smitten. Of course, I’m pre-smitten due to the plethora of Citroens to begin with. 😉
I’ve also always loved the vertically oriented headlights on the W113 Mercedes, either in their original Euro form, or their admittedly compromised US version. I only drove a W113 once, like almost 30 years ago, and it was no sports car despite the diminutive size and lithe appearance, but boy, it put a smile on my face to tug at its big, thin steering wheel and see the world go by through that tall, unobstructed greenhouse. 🙂
Those covers were often glass and they were outlawed in ’68.
I’ll discreetly tap on it next time I see a DS. 😉
Sealed beam fans ended up having the last laugh, with so many DOT legal LED retrofit options in that size range now, you can make any sealed beam classic car have good modern lighting.
While the halogen headlamps are really just stuck with standard bulbs because no one has been able to design a truly road legal LED bulb that works in reflector housing headlights
I actually like the round headlights on the VW Golf
Oh, me too! I remember feeling torn about whether or not to spend $$ converting my Rabbit GTI to the round lights and grill from the Euro version. I wound up spending the money on a set of adjustable Tokiko shocks instead (which of course I barely ever bothered to adjust).
Oh, fuf. I’ve just never seen these headlight compliance issues as any big deal.
Now, on the other hand, let’s talk about those 5-mph bumpers.
AH! The Euro bumpers was ANOTHER popular conversion item for A1 VWs! Never did that one either, despite the aluminum US-spec bumpers (on my ’84 GTI) being a lot weaker than they looked.
Yeah, it used to be such a nightmare not having a $2,000 repair bill every time someone lightly tapped you while parallel parking, thank God those days are over.
Also, I am really loving the fact that any broken or burned out headlight can no longer be replaced at any supermarket or gas station for $20
One example I would like to talk about is the Rover SD1. The European version is a very sharp and modern (for the times) design. It is rather quite sleek and aerodynamic looking.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/1980_Rover_2600_mk_1_in_blue_at_SD1_Club_Day.jpg
Then you have the USDM version. The replacement of the lights with four sealed beams, along with the addition of the 5 mph crash bumper and different grill intake, really makes the car look derpy.
https://hips.hearstapps.com/autoweek/assets/s3fs-public/130729937.jpg
I honestly don’t know why they didn’t go for the rectangle sealed beams rather than the round ones. They were legal at the time and probably would have fit the design far better. Luckily seeing one is going to be a rare occurrence, since Rover only sold 1,100 of these in the US back in 1980-81.
OH NO, what did they do to that poor thing.
That said, as a piece of engineering, that Rover wasn’t England’s finest, so it’s just as well they didn’t sell many here.
Inexplicably, Rover chose the weirdest route with the US headlamps for its SD1: the US headlamp brackets were welded to the body. If one wants to install the ECE headlamps on the US version, the brackets must be cut away and new brackets for ECE headlamps welded on.
Rover could have switched to rectangular headlamps prior to the US introduction in 1979. However, Rover was very cash-strapped and couldn’t even afford to make some changes to the rectangular headlamps (not just engineering cost but complicance cost).
Interestingly, I think the Canadian SM was spared the ignominy of the American version, at least going by the one on display at the Western Development Museum in North Battleford, SK. That, or someone just imported one from Europe before it broke so hard he donated it to a museum.
For the longnose SAAB 95 and 96 there are strong opinions in both directions. Some people really like the oval-headlight version:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51374040596_c20f059488_c.jpg
and others are equally fond of the round-headlight version:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51362370129_090c990e2a_c.jpg
It’s pretty easy to convert from one to the other as the entire front panel that holds the headlights and grille can be taken off with just a couple of bolts. I’ve heard of people shipping these back and forth between the US and Europe to accommodate personal preferences. I don’t think I’d ever go to this much trouble with mine, although the version with headlight wipers is tempting:
https://live.staticflickr.com/1169/1407353348_7107b993fd_c.jpg
The XJ40 era of Jaguar XJs had a fairly awful-looking set of US-spec lights when those finally made it to the US in the late-80s/early-90s, as compared to the UK/Euro/ROW lights.
And while the Series-era XJ didn’t have composite lamps outside of the US, they used a 7″ outer and 5.75″ inner lamp. But the US rules didn’t allow that mix, so it became two 5.75″ lamps per side, with the outer lamp’s trim ring growing to fill the gap. It’s not terrible, but once you’ve seen the intended configuration, the US setup just doesn’t look right. A great many owners have remedied this issue on their own.
The BMW E28 suffered the same lighting fate (getting rid of the two different sized lamps) when it came to the US.
Same with E23 as well.
If we are talking Jag headlights then the XJS needs to be included in the conversation.
The S-class W126, with the rectangular headlamp and fog light recessed instead of flush, like the European version. Pretty much the rest of the Benz lineup of that era had ugly US headlights.
You know this is probably where I think BMW wins out the 80s era.
Yeah the non-euro Merc lights were not great, but all BMW needed to do was replace the sealed beams with halogen H4 units, which I did on my E30 318IS when I had it. Wasn’t too big a difference.
THIS. Although Euro Smilies would have been nice to have on my 318iS (or 325iS).
Check out the Peugeot 504’s headlights vs what they got federalized to. A crime against humanity and aesthetics. And pretty much any late 70s/80s Mercedes.
Even the international versions of the late-80s Honda Accord’s headlights looked so much cooler. Yes, the US versions were pop-ups that were fun. I had one, and neither motor entrusted with that task failed, but I saw some that did, and it was sad.
OTH, the halogens on the earlier 80s Volvo 2-series reminded me of Celestial Goldfish eyes and made me a little nauseous. But I am not sure the sealed beams looked better.
I’m lucky I have a garage and the Lexan (or whatever) lenses of my last couple of cars have not gotten UV-fogged. And the LED headlights of the ’17 MDX I used to co-own were amazeballs.
Depends on the type of 504 you want?
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TvB0LjtbOZc/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEhCK4FEIIDSFryq4qpAxMIARUAAAAAGAElAADIQj0AgKJD&rs=AOn4CLA34akIxB0s45TjuWmjpTIfaXP-fw
Me the sealed-beam look was more rally-spec vs road car.
Well, I had never seen that treatment before. So, thank you for sharing that! Mine was a ’71 with the quad sealed beams and the kinda cat-eye-ish halogens looked cooler to me.
People say there were certain models of Mercedes that were over-engineered, but the 504 was right up there. Not as luxurious, but incredibly sturdy.
From the article below:
The 504 was noted for its robust body structure, long suspension travel, high ground clearance, large wheels and torque tube driveshaft – enclosed in a rigid tube attached at each end to the gearbox housing and differential casing, relieving drivetrain torque reactions. The 504 ultimately achieved widespread popularity in far-flung rough-terrain countries – including Latin America and much of Africa.[8]
Peugeot 504 – Wikipedia
Mine, bought used with 60K miles (for $1,500), gave me 90K more miles with minimal maintenance.
It was not a high-performance vehicle, but it was incredibly durable. And I miss it in a nostalgic way.
Hard disagree, as someone with two of those maligned MBs.
I do agree some models looked better in Euro spec, but certainly not all of them. I don’t think I’d even own an R107 if it had the Euro headlights and bumpers.
Having a couple of misbehaving MBs makes me sad. A misboughten Bavaria and marrying into an X5, I definitely feel your pain.
Perhaps I misunderstood your post. Bottom line, I almost always liked the Euro spec headlights better than what we got here.
I’d like to see you, The Bishop or Adrian rework the front ends of some classic American iron if US manufacturers had been allowed the freedom to incorporate light shapes adapted to car design versus designs that had to work around standard sealed beam lamps.
They used rectangular Cibie units on concept cars as early as the mid 60s, and there are cars like the Opel Rekord C that hint of what might have been.
Then you have times where the sealed-beam round lights nuked the looks of the halogen bulb set-up. Off the top of my head I think of the 242GT. It was that sort of “We have X amount of time at the rally repair stage and 4 screws is better than micro managing a halogen bulb.”
Also I do love Technology Connection’s video on the US’s use of sealed beam headlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2J91UG6Fn8
One of the weird, but I would a bought it if I had the cash: An 1984 Lincoln Conti Mark VII with the BMW-Diesel 4 and 5-speed. Blue with tan interior. Hopefully anybody who bought it in the Reno, NV Area wave their hands!
I’ll argue against the Mercedes W113 – and any Mercedes with vertically oriented headlights. I prefer the versions with round headlights, although I would replace the sealed-beams with what we used to call “E-codes”. The European headlights look too bulky to me.
The W123 is another Mercedes that I think looks better with US headlights, adds more visual interest to the front end. Actually, that one wasn’t totally US-specific, the lower trim European market cars had them, too
The “tombstone” headlamps found on W118/W119, W113, and W100 had somewhat poor light output. So, some owners would swap them for the US version with four round headlamps, using the ECE headlamp capsules with H4 and H1 bulbs. Even Mercedes-Benz gradually switched to the US version for the W118/W119 sold in European and international markets during the late 1960s.