I bought my first new car in 1981. From a local new car dealership, same as you’d find in cities in many (most?) parts of the United States.
Oh, and it had 3 “eyes*.”
What model car did I own? (I know the answer)
*A third headlight
A Suburu of some sort?
I would hope so.
Obviously the Tucker.
OK. maybe not in 1981…
I recently read a post on Jalopnik about that feature on old Subarus, so that is my guess as well.
That didn’t take long. Perhaps this can turn into a thread about cars that had (or have) particularly novel features.
At any rate, at the press of a button on the dash of my 4WD GL hatchback the logo in the front grill would flip up and expose a third headlight (meant to aid in off-roading).
The GIF above is a little creepy. Alien almost…
We just got rid of a dead 1984-ish 4WD GL Coupe. It was just too used up and I couldn’t justify restoring it. But that was the best damned snow car I’ve ever driven. I don’t think it had the third eye though.
Our first Subaru was an '81 Legacy wagon and it did not have that feature.
I do remember some Dodge vehicles having a passing lamp. Don’t remember the year though.
I don’t recall the third center light being called or marketed as a “passing light.” (What does that even mean?)
My memory could be faulty but my understanding has always been that its purpose was for extra visibility when you were off road. I thought it was only a feature with their 4WD cars.
I was a toddler when that car came out, so I have no memory at all of them, but I did a little research and found a scanned copy of the 1981 Subaru brochure. On pages 10-11 there’s a diagram of the dashboard, with a reference to the “passing lamp switch”.
As to what it means, I think in Europe it’s customary to flash your lights to indicate you want to overtake someone, so I assume it has something to do with that.
Interesting. I can say with certainty that there was no way to flash it. As I remember it didn’t open/ turn on very quickly.
I hope someone else comments on this.
I mean, I can think of three off the top of my head that were interesting, if not truly novel.
- We had a 1968 Cougar whose headlights were hidden until you clicked the button, and then like a James Bond vehicle the covers flipped up.
- I had a 1974 Cutlass whose bucket seats swiveled, so you could rotate 90° to get out. Of course, my vague memory is that the door wouldn’t close until you returned it to position, so that was less cool.
- My friend had a Subaru Brat. Most of you know the one. It had seats in the back, so that when he went four wheeling across the empty, muddy fields that eventually became the University of Texas at Dallas, we would have to strap in and hang on for dear life.
Early Mercury Cougar with sequential turn signals:
After you buy a Rolls-Royce, you’ll never accept a car without a door umbrella:
My wife ad a '69 Chevy Caprice with the hidden headlights. The doors swung open to the left/right to uncover the lights. Also had a nozzle to “wash” the headlights if you held the windshield washer button down.
They ditched the rear seats the final year they were sold in the U.S. when I bought mine.
It did have a removable T-top. Kinda uncommon.
A Tucker?
One of my sisters owned an Opel GT when I was in kindergarten. Most cars with hidden headlights either lift the headlights or the headlight covers; the GT’s headlights rotate.
Challenge accepted! I used to have a 1980 Dodge Colt RS (made by Mitsubishi) with the 4-speed split gearbox, with a High and Low range. I mastered some pretty fast moves that made for some good acceleration for a little econobox. And it was always fun grabbing a second reverse gear for the J turns. I’d love to have that car (well, one that wasn’t trashed) again.