Automobile corporations love hawking “revolutionary” options which might be recycled concepts from many years in the past. The automotive world is affected by sensible improvements that appeared too early, disappeared, then returned years later to huge acclaim. These forgotten pioneers didn’t fail as a result of they had been dangerous concepts—that they had horrible timing, prohibitive prices, or confronted customers who weren’t prepared for the longer term.
11. Aston Martin Lagonda’s Digital Dashboard
The wedge-shaped Aston Martin Lagonda shocked the world with the primary absolutely digital dashboard—a buttonless touch-sensitive show with digital readouts. In 1976. For context, this was the identical yr Apple was based in a storage.
The system was about as dependable as a chocolate teapot, ceaselessly failing and costing greater than a brand new economic system automobile to restore. However the idea—changing analog gauges with customizable digital shows—was exactly what Tesla would make normal 40 years later. The Lagonda was primarily operating Home windows 95 when the world was nonetheless utilizing abacuses.
10. Common Motors EV1
Twenty years earlier than Tesla made electrical vehicles cool, GM built the EV1—a purpose-built electrical car with a 70-100 mile vary, regenerative braking, and an aerodynamic coefficient that also impresses right this moment. The EV1 wasn’t simply forward of its time; it was a fully-realized imaginative and prescient of electrical mobility.
As a substitute of evolving the know-how, GM famously recalled and destroyed most EV1s resulting from restricted battery know-how and strategic issues. The automobile’s cult following and controversial demise impressed the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?“ and arguably laid the groundwork for the present EV revolution. Tesla’s success vindicated the EV1’s core idea twenty years later.
9. Volkswagen Sort 3’s Digital Gas Injection (EFI)
Whereas mechanical gasoline injection existed in restricted purposes, Volkswagen partnered with Bosch to introduce the primary mass-produced digital gasoline injection system on the 1968 Sort 3. This D-Jetronic system used sensors to observe engine circumstances and exactly meter gasoline—know-how that’s normal in each gasoline automobile right this moment.
The system improved gasoline economic system by 15% and decreased emissions considerably in comparison with carburetors. Regardless of these benefits, carburetors remained dominant in mass-market vehicles for an additional 20 years as a result of they had been cheaper and simpler to service. At the moment, you couldn’t give away a automobile with a carburetor when you included free fuel for all times.
8. Cadillac Fleetwood’s Heated Seats
Earlier than heated seats grew to become normal in all the things from Kias to Bentleys, Cadillac provided them within the 1966 Fleetwood. The system used resistive wires embedded within the seat cushions, managed by a easy dial on the dashboard—primarily an identical to right this moment’s know-how.
Cadillac dropped the characteristic after a couple of years resulting from low buyer curiosity. Apparently, individuals within the Nineteen Sixties simply accepted that winter meant a chilly bottom. At the moment, heated seats are so widespread that drivers really feel genuinely disadvantaged with out them. The characteristic that appeared like an pointless luxurious in 1966 grew to become a must-have amenity 40 years later.
7. Honda Prelude’s 4-Wheel Steering (1987)
Whereas luxurious SUVs brag about four-wheel steering prefer it’s cutting-edge tech, Honda quietly perfected it 38 years in the past. The 1987 Prelude’s mechanical 4WS system decreased turning radius from 5.3m to 4.8m—a stable 10% enchancment that made parking zone maneuvers really feel like driving a go-kart.
The system was sensible however advanced—turning the entrance wheels triggered a secondary shaft that adjusted the rear wheels in the other way at low speeds and the identical route at freeway speeds. Honda dropped it after customers balked at paying an additional $1,300 for one thing they couldn’t instantly see. Now, Porsche, Mercedes, and BMW cost hundreds for a similar tech as a premium characteristic.
6. Tucker 48’s Cyclops Eye (1948)
Earlier than Tucker grew to become synonymous with automotive martyrdom, Preston Tucker constructed a automobile with a 3rd headlight within the middle that turned with the steering wheel. This “Cyclops Eye” illuminated corners earlier than you reached them—a characteristic so sensible that it was instantly banned in lots of states with rules requiring precisely two headlights.
Tucker’s adaptive lighting idea hibernated till the early 2000s when luxurious manufacturers reintroduced steering-responsive headlights. The know-how has confirmed to cut back nighttime accidents considerably, vindicating Tucker many years too late. Fashionable methods do precisely what Tucker envisioned, simply with out the distinctive single-center mild.
5. Ford’s Keypad Entry (1980)
Ford launched keyless entry through a door-mounted keypad on the 1980 Thunderbird and Mark VI. This straightforward innovation let drivers unlock their vehicles with out keys—real comfort many years earlier than key fobs grew to become normal.
Whereas different producers deserted mechanical keypads for wi-fi fobs, Ford saved the know-how alongside trendy key fobs as a result of prospects beloved the backup choice. It’s the cockroach of automobile options—surviving each automotive extinction occasion by means of sheer practicality. The truth that Ford nonetheless presents this 43-year-old know-how on new automobiles speaks to how completely it solved a common downside.
4. Citroen DS Hydropneumatic Suspension (1955)
The Citroen DS didn’t simply appear to be a spaceship—it rode like one too. Its hydropneumatic suspension used pressurized nitrogen spheres as an alternative of standard springs, permitting the automobile to self-level, alter journey top, and ship a journey high quality that made Rolls-Royces really feel like lined wagons.
The system was so superior that it may preserve the automobile stage with simply three wheels. Fashionable air suspension methods in luxurious vehicles are solely now approaching what Citroen achieved within the Eisenhower period. The know-how was so forward of its time that Rolls-Royce licensed it from Citroen reasonably than growing their system.
3. Buick Centurion’s Rearview Digicam (1956)
That backup digital camera that grew to become obligatory on all new vehicles in 2018? Buick conceptualized it in 1956. The Centurion idea automobile changed the rearview mirror with a rear-mounted TV digital camera feeding to a display within the dashboard.
The know-how was prohibitively costly for manufacturing, and the black-and-white tube shows of the period had been about as clear as watching Netflix by means of fog. It took 60+ years for cameras and shows to turn out to be low-cost sufficient for mass manufacturing, however Buick’s imaginative and prescient was spot-on. Fashionable backup cameras have reduced backing crashes by 17%, proving the Centurion was addressing an actual downside many years earlier than the know-how caught up.
2. Nissan’s Digital 4-Wheel Steering (1985)
Earlier than Honda’s mechanical system hit the US market, Nissan pioneered digital four-wheel steering within the 1985 Skyline for the Japanese market. Their HICAS (Excessive Capability Actively Managed Suspension) system used laptop controls and hydraulics reasonably than mechanical linkages.
The digital method was extra subtle but additionally dearer and sophisticated than Honda’s mechanical answer. Nissan’s system may alter rear wheel angles primarily based on a number of inputs, together with velocity and steering charge, not simply steering angle. The know-how developed by means of a number of generations and remained out there in Japan by means of 2002, proving digital four-wheel steering’s viability lengthy earlier than luxurious manufacturers rediscovered it.
1. Oldsmobile Rocket V8 Engine (1949)
Oldsmobile’s 1949 Rocket V8 was the primary mass-produced high-compression overhead valve V8—primarily the blueprint for American muscle for the subsequent 70 years. The Rocket V8 delivered 135 horsepower from 303 cubic inches when rivals struggled to hit 100 hp.
It was so revolutionary that sizzling rodders deserted their beloved flathead Fords in droves. The Rocket’s primary structure—with enhancements in supplies and gasoline supply—remained the template for V8 engines till digital gasoline injection and emissions controls pressured redesigns many years later. Each trendy V8 traces its DNA again to this Oldsmobile innovation.
About The Author
