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Remember what they took from us
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this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2025
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Cars - For Car Enthusiasts
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Man, I miss those pop-up lights in cars. I heard they broke down often and were pretty trouble prone though...
The pop-up headlights were a stopgap solution to a problem that no longer exists. They're a result of the DOT at the time flat out requiring that all cars sold in the US must use the same handful of dorky looking sealed beam headlamps, bar none, without exception. None of them were very attractive and certainly not aerodynamic, especially considering that they must be positioned with their massive flat faces perpendicular to the road in order to actually work.
Have you ever wondered why every car in the '70s and '80s seemed to have this same doofy Clark-Griswold's-station-wagon lookin' square (and sometimes, circular) headlight design?
It's because they had to, by law. Up until 1983 they didn't have a choice.
Are the circular DOT headlights actually a newer regulation than the rectangular ones? I would've guessed that circular ones came first, if anything, considering the sorts of lights on VW Beetles and other cars designed in the 1930s and earlier.
I could have it the other way 'round. I wasn't paying close attention at the time.
Edit: Actually, you are right. The rectangular ones were permitted in 1974, so I did have that backwards. Corrected!