pop-up head lights they're one of the
coolest design features to ever come on
any car ever you guys know I love them I
talk about them all the time I wrote a
freaking song about it in this video I'm
gonna run down 13 of the most important
cars in the history of pop-up headlights
we've got the car which started the
whole thing the last car that ever had
pop-up headlights and a whole bunch of
really really cool cars in between this
is an episode I'm very excited about
because it features this number 13 the
Mitsubishi Starion I'm just gonna put
this out there I'm gonna say it right
off the bat I think that the Mississippi
she starred on is one of the best
looking cars on this entire list it's
like a Gundam and I would also bet that
is one of the most underrated its
muscular but supple boxy but smooth its
star II on now you may know the story on
as the Dodge R Plymouth conquest but
honestly who cares what the badge said
that wasn't even close to being the best
thing on this car's front end that
accolade of quois went to its wonderful
beautiful original pop-up headlights the
star Aeons headlights start on the hood
and then finished down by the front
fender which is a move now the star Eon
is a great Street car but it was a
fantastic racecar winning three SCCA
endurance championships in 1984 through
1987 the team they didn't even remove
the headlights despite the fact that
they technically slowed the car down at
night you know because a little thing
called
dynamics now that is a true testament
not only how great the headlights looked
but to how rad these racing teams are
because what good is winning if you
don't look good doing it
number 12 the cord 810 now it wouldn't
be right to talk about pop-up headlights
without paying homage to the granddaddy
of pop-up headlights the
pop pop of popups hidden headlamps as
they were known back then first appeared
on the court 810 way back in the year of
1936 it was also the first American car
to be made in front-wheel drive with
independent suspension and the reason
the cord got hidden headlamps was
aerodynamics it made a blistering 125
her Spurs from its 4.8 liter v8 and the
idea was that having the headlights
stored within the fenders cut back on
drag and would help achieve higher
speeds it's a great idea it's a genius
concept and in 1937 they even made it
with the frickin super superchargers are
honestly my top five things that I liked
the most number one my family obviously
number two my dog who's also my family
number three pop-up headlights number
four turbochargers number five
superchargers go ahead and hit the
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Toyota ae86 cheer up cheer up dude it's
no surprise that this car made it on the
list it's an icon I feel like I've
talked about it a million times if you
want to learn more about it check out my
episode of up-to-speed I'll put the link
in the description if you guys are
anything like me and if you're watching
these videos I assume that you are very
much like me this might be one of the
most vivid memories you have of pop-up
headlights
now the eight-six was the fifth
generation Corolla released in 1983 it
represents pretty much everything that's
good about our culture here you got a
car I mean this is a Toyota Corolla but
people are so excited to see him and
they are so fun to drive just so simple
and then at night you get to have
yourselves a pop up trip party this
isn't the only Toyota on the list
Toyota's actually kind of the king of
pop up headlights turns out don't
believe me I want to quote my good
friend DJ Khaled when I say we the best
number 10 Toyota Celica the Toyota
Celica was first produced in 1970 it was
a huge part of why Japanese cars are so
popular in America but it wasn't until
the third generation arrived in 1981
that we finally got it with pop-up
headlights now the reason for this was a
bunch of newly introduced rules that
decided that headlights had to be
a certain height away from the ground
now this kind of sucked for a lot of car
designers of the day who are constantly
trying to make their cars as low slung
good-looking and aerodynamic as possible
now the practical fix was to add
headlamps which are retracted the
majority of the time allowing for the
car to maintain its low sleek profile
and aerodynamicist
it's a word check it out and then they
pop up and meet all the safety laws
required the Celica would keep its
iconic pop-up headlights until 1994 when
the six gen reverted back to normal
inboard
fixed position headlamps that didn't
even pop up or down or nothing that's
actually when a lot of cars got rid of
pop-up headlights which I'll get into in
a second but for now I want to round out
the Toyota triplets and get into number
nine the Toyota Supra the third gen the
third gen was where the Supra really
became the super quite literally because
it was this generation that the Supra
and Celica which had originally shared a
platform he used to be the Supra Celica
were separated into two distinctly
different models but now with the Celica
changing to front-wheel drive the super
was free to be what everyone knew in
their hearts that it had the potential
to be a rowdy but Japanese sports car it
also introduced us to the 1jz GTE max 1j
sounds number eight the BMW m1 oh this
is one of the best-looking cars ever
made in my opinion of course they're
good-looking they're designed by
Giorgetto Giugiaro jjeoreo GG r GG r
Giorgetto Giugiaro this man is one of
the most celebrated car designers of all
time and beginning in the 70s he went
through a period as all artists do of
dreaming up wedge-shaped sports cars
which would change the way that we think
about cars forever one perfect example
of this design ethos is the BMW m1 now
they made it from 1979 to 1981 in order
to be homologated for racing and the
inclusion of pop-up lights
allowed him to get the tip of the nose
to a very fine point and as close to the
road as possible ironically the m1 ended
up having a drag coefficient of point
four zero with the lights down which
isn't very good just for context this is
a 2005 honda odyssey and its drag rating
is 0.3
0 but we got a BMW with pop-up
headlights so I'm not man I love this
car I love this thing good-looking bird
number 7 the Lamborghini Diablo
Lamborghini has a great history of using
pop-up headlights in there there's no
other way to put this era defining cars
starting with the Miura which a lot of
people say is the most beautiful car
ever
and a lot more people say is the first
supercar ever the Countach would also
prominently feature pop-up headlights
mmm beautiful but both of those iconic
cars were leading to this the poster car
Lamborghini for many of us children of
the 90s produced from 1990 to 2001 this
car was the first Lamborghini that broke
200 miles per hour and it did so with
pop-up headlights dude one of my
ultimate dreams is just be driving a
Lamborghini Diablo and I got my buddies
over there
no one's over there driver Laney Diablo
Jeremias over there driving a
Lamborghini Diablo and they got Joey in
the back
Zac drove over there driving Diablos and
they're all just neon we're just like
screaming on the highway listening to
cyntha wave number 6 the Porsche 928 a
Porsche was no stranger to pop-up
headlights it became a styling cue for
all of their front engine water cooled
cars of the 70s and 80s first they were
on the homologated 924 and then on the
944 Porsche even offered the 911 930
with pop-up headlights as part of their
slant nose variant for me though Porsche
98 is the Porsche that deserves to be on
this list and the reason is simple yet
significant they rounded the back of the
headlights can you imagine sitting
behind the wheel of a v8 powered Porsche
nine to eight thinking oh where's the
Sun go it's getting dark I better put on
the headlights and then seeing these
beautiful little bulbous beauties facing
you technically they're kind of reverse
pop-ups because when they're retracted
they go back and down and then the
lights are like flush max thinks they're
the ugliest lights on this list I think
they're phenomenal design I don't care
what max says
this next car makes the list just
because it's such a weird car with such
a weird story
way back in the year of 1986 Volvo made
their first move into the compact market
with this the Volvo 480 it was their
first car to feature front-wheel drive
and was pretty much entirely developed
with American consumers in mind to
improve Volvo's presence in the US it
was given pop-up headlights to adhere to
our annoying height requirements for
headlights on American roads but despite
the fact that was pretty much entirely
developed for the US after they went
through all that trouble
they didn't even release the car in
America in 1988 the exchange rate was so
high that the 480 would have cost over
$30,000 the same price as that year's
Corvette and it was an economy car I
think they look really cool number four
the nissan 180sx the Nissen 180sx was
sold in 1989 through 1998 as the sister
model to the already successful Nissen
silvia the s13 silvia in my humble
opinion is one of the best looking cars
ever and one of the only cars that I can
kind of draw and the chassis was so good
that Nissen decided to make a hatchback
version of the car with a totally
different name and a set of pop-up ass
headlights they called it the 180sx
and it was so popular that even after
they changed the silvia to the newer s14
generation they kept making the 180 for
six more years that's unheard of now we
got a version of the Sylvia and the
180sx
here in the states with the 240sx
notchback and fastback respectively both
of them had pop-up headlights and I also
am not really including the 240 on this
list because it's basically a Sylvia or
180sx with a truck motor which truck
find out on next
week's episode of the d-list number
three the Aston Martin Lagonda the Aston
Martin Lagonda is one of the coolest
cars to ever come out of Britain and a
lot of really cool cars have come out of
Britain I mean TVR exists but this car
is so cool that literally a trad would
no less than six donut employees stopped
in our tracks and had to take a picture
of this car in pictures it's cool and
weird looking in all the right ways but
in person it's legitimately breathtaking
and I don't say that about a lot of cars
only 645 were produced in the 14 years
that it was made and it was given some
of the most luxurious features and
fittings of the time including touch
sensitive buttons replacing practically
all of the dials and an early form of
digital display the thing that really
cemented this car is inclusion on this
list was the fact that it has not two
but four pop-up headlights all in all
the lagonda had ten lights comprising
the headlight setup number two Mazda
rx-7 now a lot of you guys were upset
that the rx-7 didn't make it on last
week's list about yellow cars well
hopefully I'm gonna make it up for you
right now because this is the only car
on this list where every generation is
represented every single round of rx-7
has
at night and every generation of this
car looks awesome
the first chin it's like sharp the
second gen has the turbo - it's like
boxy and like ultimate 80s got hood
scoop from the factory and then oh we
get to own this one's the best the FD
that's the third gen just like it's like
if Japan made a Corvette the rx-7 and
it's cute little pop-ups actually
predate the ones fitted on the Miata by
over 20 years and that's why the Miata
is not on this list don't at me honestly
sometimes Miata isn't the answer
what if you got to go to Home Depot
finally the number one car ever with
pop-up headlights but before we get into
that I just want to give a quick
honorable mention to every single car
ever that ever came with pop-up
headlights because every single one of
them is a beautiful winner just like
every single one of you say it to me
right now say I am a beautiful beautiful
winner Pontiac Firebird Ford Capri
Nissan Pulsar Ferrari dodged a -
Maserati
super XT that's all I can remember off
the top of my head now if you have
somehow kept track of every single car
on this list you might have noticed that
there is one very distinct car that is
missing in my opinion the most
influential car to ever be fitted with
pop-up headlights and number one the
Chevy Corvette that Chevrolet Corvette
has been produced continuously from 1953
to the present day and we were lucky
enough to see the inclusion of pop-up
lights from 1963 SC to right up until
the end of the c5 run in 2004 that is
the longest continuous run of any car
with pop-up headlights so much of what
made the Corvette great has to do with
its hidden headlamps the muscular
undisputed fender lines of the c2
Stingray the wing-like quarter panels of
the c3 the long needle tip front end of
the c-4 and finally on July 2nd 2004
after putting up one hell of a fight to
keep them Chevrolet finally had to give
in to automotive safety standards and
ditch pop-up headlights making it the
final car to ever be fitted with them so
that is why the Corvette is number one I
hope you don't want to fight me in the
comments but if you do want to fight me
I'll be in the comments for the first
hour after this video is released and
I'll be in the comments every first hour
after every video is released
Pablo headlights are like a design icon
that were weird they didn't really make
a lot of sense they actually came from a
restriction or limitation and I think
they're like a perfect representation of
everything that I love and I think a lot
of you guys love about cars and so I'm
happy that I got to make a whole video
about them we make a new video every
single day on donut I'm not exaggerating
we got seven a week to make sure you
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james Pumphrey I'm excited that I'm able
to still make videos for you guys for
my garage and I really just from the
bottom of my heart thanks for making
this my job and I love you