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!
Admit it: This was just an excuse to dump on the Citroen. Which deserves it. You have no idea how sad I was when I found out the swiveling headlights I read and dreamed about as a kid weren’t on the US models (I was a strange kid, but I’ve owned an unusual number of cars since with some form of headlight aiming).
Suggested honorary mention: C3 corvettes look *terrible* with their headlights open. Like some kind of surprised crab. Maybe if they’d had more than round sealed beams they could have done better.
Hot take: The BMW and Mercedes look better in US spec.
I concur. Though I agree it ruins the Citroen.
Yep; the author nailed it re: my top 2 (SM and 2000CS). But I’m actually not so bothered by the appearance of the USA-spec W113 (the inferior lighting performance of unshielded transverse dual-filament sealed beams is another story, of course). I would have said W123 or W116 (even though they also put the ugly 4 x round setup on entry-level ROW-spec W123 trim levels, just to be dicks—maybe that’s why the author excluded it here), or Citroën DS (post-facelift, obviously), or Peugeot 504 or 505, or coffin-hood Volvo 240 in my #3 spot.
1970s/80s us spec Mercedes stand out the most to me. Truly violated a great design on the R107 SL convertible(along with those huge bumpers) The w116 with 4 beady eyes is pretty rough as well, it looks so much more serious with the proper euro spec glass lamps. Early w126 sedans and the cocaine coupe(c126??) also look hideous. I can see why people did the euro grey market import thing back in the day, us regulations really bastardized some great design.
I bought a set of Euro headlights for my w123 the day I brought it home.
I’m widely known to be biased in this regard, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind all of Autopia of one absolute tragedy that resulted from the move to composite lights and away from sealed beams: This change represented the beginning of the end for popup headlights.
Sure, one could argue that the apex of retracting headlight culture came after the 1984 change to the regulation, while the new lighting technology was trickling down from the Lincoln Mk VII to more common models. I speak of course of the 1989 Honda Accord. For this one and only year, a model with popup headlights was the best-selling car in America.
Future historians will likely consider this the peak of automotive culture, and possibly of human civilization as a whole. Let us remember.
Counterpoint: some maintain that the Model A was the pinnacle of human technology, and that it’s been downhill ever since.
-ironically typed on a tablet smaller than a village phone book back in the day
How do you edit here?
So what has changed today? Now many headlights are blindly bright and dangerous in that regard. If there is a standard today, it stinks. It’s almost as if we’ve gone from too much regulation to too little. However, inform us of the more recent history.
if aimed correctly headlights are fine. though 2020 Accords do have a glare issue. The issue is no one in the US takes aiming headlights seriously.
Stacked rectangular headlights were the nadir of headlight design. Maybe OK on the most utilitarian of trucks, but that’s about it.
On cars yes, agree stacked rectangular lights suck. Monte Carlo, Cordoba, 70’s Fords(Ranchero), all of them were hideous compared to the round headlight versions.
But on trucks, the squarebody Chevrolet looked great with the stacked squares. Also super easy way to tell if you were a cheapskate custom deluxe man or were driving the cowbody Cadillac Silverado with such heathenistic features like shag carpet, velour, a/c and power windows.
Also the Dodge van did stacked squares for a few years in the 80s. Looked better than the 2 big rounds that came before and the ugly two big squares that replaced them.
America got what it deserved.
Evergreen comment.
Now let’s discuss how many cars were ruined by the 5mph bumpers
How about that tiny wing on the nose of certain Countaches? That was a bumper thing too.
Goggomobil T and TS. The original has little rounds which are super cute, but to federalize it they get turned into huge bug eyes. Similar with US market Fiat 500. US version: https://bringatrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/1960_goggomobil_t400_img_3190-2-83440.jpg
I’m a little surprised BMW couldn’t come up with a better looking setup. The 2000 sedan used similar lights in Europe and the US models got essentially a 4 headlight version of a 2002 grille.
Oddly in the modern era there is a demand for US market sealed beam headlight assemblies because they take modern LED lights with better performance than 70s halogen units. Mercedes W123 units are popular and also Peugeot 504 units with 4 lights (the pickups got single round lights).
I’m gonna chime in and say neither SM headlight solution looked good. It’s like if eyes needed braces, especially on the Euro spec.
I will nominate the Peugeot 504/505. The conversion could have been worse, but deleting the Euro lights is a crime against the humanities.
Came here to say this.
“Cars? I’ve owned a few” said it earlier about the 504, but I missed it. He said it better than I could have.
Here’s my worst:
Rolls Royce Silver Spirit/Silver Spur
The rectangular headlamps in that oversized housing are just nasty.
I would argue that the round sealed beams on the concurrent Bentley Mulsanne/Eight/Brooklands looked much better than even the euro headlamps.
As the former driver of the family 75 Monte Carlo, I can say that the switch from roundies to the 4 rectangular headlights up front was an abomination.
Had a ’78 LTD2 in high school, the earlier Ford Elite roundies looked better.
The SM is truly terrible (although I hope at least a couple of cars are preserved with that look), but I actually think I prefer the BMW in US form! The Merc is quite OK in US form, but the Euro is definitely better.
This is the correct take…that BMW with it’s dingy covers looks terrible comparably and the Merc isn’t bad at all
Not sealed beam-related, but there is one good reverse case: the Alfa 4C. The American headlights are way better than those spider-things that Europe got.
https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/amv-prod-cad-assets/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/2014-Alfa-Romeo-4C-PLACEMENT-626×382.jpg
those look like prepoduction lamps. ew
The first US car with composite headlamps was the 1984 Lincoln Mark VII. Motorweek was there with a quick primer on the new lights: https://youtu.be/wZ9Vnh8cLF4?si=PGrNF4Ch1u0BvLSU&t=437
Ford wasn’t sure whether glacially slow NHTSA would approve the form-fitting composite headlamps with HB4 bulbs in time for August 1983 introduction of Mark VII. So, Ford spent two million dollars to develop both versions: one with rectangular sealed-beam headlamp capsules and other with composite headlamps.
Ford was relieved when NHTSA did approve a few months ahead of the introduction.
Car and Driver has the spy photos of Mark VII with four rectangular headlamp capsules. One of the TV soap shows showed the pre-production Mark VII with those headlamps (I cannot recall which show be it Falcon Crest, Dallas, or something: IMCDB did not show any results earlier than 1986).
I wonder if The Bishop can come up with a feature on how modern cars would look like if the regulations did not change.
The Hyundai Tucson, for example, would be intriguing to imagine.
Well you’d probably have more that popped up.
He did that a few years ago
https://www.theautopian.com/what-would-modern-cars-look-like-if-america-still-only-allowed-two-kinds-of-headlights/
Although, I expect that if NHTSA really had dug their heels in and refused to permit anything other than sealed beams, they would have probably had to eventually re-authorize aerodynamic transparent covers for them as a compromise with the EPA. If that happened, the stylistic differences might not have been hugly noticeable, since you could have still had shaped covers integrated into the bodywork with the headlights under them, as some sports cars had before 1968
Blimey.
Thanks for that!
Pininfarina did a wonderful job with the headlights of the Peugeot 504 and 505, those trapezoidal units that followed the lines of the body and the hood with astounding elegance.
What was done in US is a testament to regulatory idiocy.
German subaru SVX had lhd headlights in glass while America had plastic. So low, highbeam, and fog loved to fade as the headlights became cloudy. Mind everything is so low pavement was made of blackholes as you drove. Not sure why it had fogs the same level as the lows.
NHTSA had an initial concern about the yellowing of the Lexan plastic and insisted on treating them with UV protection. Ford screamed like Scream Queens about the “cost burden” (actually 15 cents or something per unit) and invoked the “1972 Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Saving Act” (the silliest law ever passed), forcing NHTSA to prove that the “safety regulation” would not blah-blah. So, NHTSA backed off.
Europeans were sceptical about the plastic lenses and didn’t approve them until 1992.
Legacy, as well. People who sourced them reported they weren’t really any better, just resilient to environmental degradation. The expectation of better performance was down to the ECE different light beam pattern, but I think the optics and bulbs just weren’t good enough for that to matter and there probably wasn’t a lot of optimizing of the designs at that point.
Standard sealed beams are highly underrated. Sure, designs are limited, and cars originally designed without them can look strange when retrofitted, but that doesn’t decrease the fact that they are highly functional and consumer-friendly.
The ability to easily swap out a headlight has become a nightmare of complex specifications, delicate bulbs, and/or insanely expensive integrated headlight assemblies. The cost of fixing a damaged headlight due to an accident, stone chip, or just yellowing with age are all consequences of leaving sealed beams behind.
Sealed beams were better at 99% of what we need headlights to do, and modern LED versions could be just as good (if more expensive) as almost any custom OEM design headlight.
And you could ID a car by its light signature from quite a distance away. Now, I can’t tell which giant gas ball is behind me.
Yeah, I tend to agree with this. Also, the 1950s and 60s were probably the most artistically creative and exuberant decades for auto design, producing some of the most distinctive and iconic vehicles in history, and the fact that that they all shared the same headlights didn’t seem to have had any negative impact on that.
I’ll offer as counterpoint the Euro-market Chevrolet Corsica, which for some reason swapped out its composite headlamps for … four sealed beams. https://www.flickr.com/photos/harry_nl/15643932799
Edit: Also, am I a wet sock, or does this make the Corsica look better?
Different and nice in its own way, but I’m not sure if I’d go all the way over to “better”. It reminds me a lot of the ’83 Thunderbird’s application of aero curves but maintaining the then-mandatory sealed beams. It’s kind of reminiscent of the Oldsmobile designs with the smaller sealed-beam units. Personally, I prefer the very clean and minimalist look of the aero headlights.
Information on export models of the L-body cars (Beretta/Corsica) seems pretty thin. Odd that it has that kind lighting option in a part of the world where aero lighting is more popular, unless it was a low-cost option. Also note the black plastic wheel arch trim that was never seen in North America.
Fun fact: On my Corsica, there were three small pre-punched and slightly flanged holes in the metal portion of the driver’s side wheel well. They were in exactly the correct spot to locate a pair of Euro-spec air horns and their little electric pump. The included self-tapping screws fit perfectly. So, at some point, support for Euro-specific options or accessories was built into the platform.
I have a Fat Jack modified aero body T-bird, and I can confirm the body was far more slippery than it looked, as delivered.
The grille was done in body color and the headlights left rectangular.
That works.
It was felt the large air opening would be required for the turbo V8.
With the aero body, it is minimal.
One off custom body pieces were subtle and limited.
The export version of Corsica/Beretta was done by one of the grey importers in the Netherlands as GM wasn’t inclined to invest in the export version to be sold in small numbers.
Same with Pontiac Trans Sport: the first year had the Corsica headlamp capsules and bezels while the taillamps were all red like in the US and the amber-coloured side running lamps and retroreflex markers were left intact even though they weren’t legal in Europe (yet). When the demand increased for the Pontiac Trans Sport, GM developed the “official” export version with form-fitting T84 export headlamps, taillamps with amber turn signal indicators, etc.
When Pontiac redesigned and truncated the nose of Trans Sport in 1994, it didn’t want to recertify the new front end and headlamps for the European market so it used the Oldsmobile Silhouette instead. Ironically, Pontiac did develop and certify the T84 export headlamps for Bonneville, which would fit on 1994–1996 Trans Sport.
Same thing happened to the Mercury Grand Marquis in the ’90s, Dutch grey market importer had to fit them with rectangular lights- those weren’t actually sealed beams, they just happened to look pretty much exactly like sealed beams. The rules meant they had to find an existing, off the shelf, headlamp with European type approval that could be somehow made to fit into the holes
This one?
That’s the one
That looks awesome!
I have a States version Pontiac with OEM headlamps that appear to be modified Bosch euro lamps in glass. 1990s I think
If I remember correctly (and I’m too lazy to search up verification of my hazy memory of a book or magazine reference from around 1980 or so), the 1940 standardized sealed-beam requirement was a protectionist requirement for the benefit and at the behest of giant headlight manufacturer GE.
And I’m resigned to all of these permutations, as it’s quite obvious to every connoisseur of automotive design and engineering that all lighting has been shit since acetylene gas lamps were tossed in the fire in favor of electric units.
Highly unlikely. The regulation was mostly driven by the massive proliferation of different headlight designs in the 1920s and 30s that had widely varying effectiveness and widely varying durability from manufacturer to manufacturer and used literally a dozen different bulb types that were difficult for small parts retailers to stock in totality. Add in the large numbers of smaller automakers that went out of business during that time, stranding their owners with proprietary headlights that were impossible to replace easily if damaged, and the 1930s fad for Woodlites, which were stylish, but dangerously ineffective, and you had the push for some sort of standardization
Sealed beams solved the durability problem, because you got an entirely new headlight every time one burned out, no worries about corrosion, flaking, or oxidation on the mirror reflectors inside the housing, and they were guaranteed to perform at a universal baseline standard, and with a single configuration used by all automakers throughout the industry, you were always guaranteed to be able to find a replacement
Good reply. and several lines longer than the brief attribution I think I remember reading when I was around 10.
It’s not just Euro headlights you guys ruined. Look at a US spec mk1 CRX.
I’ll wait.
Now go look at the one the rest of the world got.