Classic Cars

Pop-up headlights: A great automotive idea or a fashion-driven waste of time? In truth, it’s probably a bit of both.Pop-up headlight have been around for many decades, but they really became popular in the late 1970s and, particularly, the 1980s. This could suggest that they’re a fashion item, but it’s worth remembering this was also a time when fuel economy and emissions became more important to carmakers than they had ever been.And that’s the point, because, in most cases, there was an aerodynamic consideration when cars were designed with pop-up headlights. And that’s probably their greatest advantage; they can make a car’s frontal area smaller and, therefore, potentially improve a car’s fuel efficiency. When they’re shut anyway.Other advantages include the fact that a headlight hidden by a metal or plastic shield is less likely to be damaged by a flying rock or piece of road debris. Oh, and on the right make and model, cars with flip-up headlights could look super-cool. Not all cars, however, as some just never pulled it off style-wise.Disadvantages? Plenty. For a start, a pop-up headlight assembly is inevitably heavier than the headlight unit on its own. And by the time you’ve added the mechanism that opens and closes the pop-up aspect, and the wiring to operate it, there’s definitely a mass penalty to pay.They’re expensive to engineer and make, too. Anything that moves requires something to move it and in the case of a pop-up headlight, that’s usually an electric motor and a range of linkages and connections to make both lights emerge at the same time.In some cases, the pop-up party trick is achieved with hydraulics or even vacuum from the engine. The list of things that could go wrong was a pretty long one. Other cars used hydraulics. Same same.So why else did pop-up headlights go away? A couple of reasons, but mostly because carmakers figured out ways of making cars just as slippery aerodynamically without resorting to hiding the headlights.As our understanding of aerodynamics improved, it turns out small frontal area is not the only concern, and an overall aerodynamic pure shape is far more important.The concept of covering a headlight with a sleek Perspex or glass cover – something carmakers like Ferrari and Jaguar were using in the 1960s – re-emerged.Also, as lighting technology started to embrace physically smaller LED light units, there was less physical headlight to hide in the first place.Put simply, modern cars with LED lights don’t need pop-ups. Throw in the weight and cost penalty, and you can see why modern cars often don’t bother with this tech.Back in the day, the US carmakers were obsessed with pop-up headlights, although they weren’t always pop-ups (even if a lot were, like the C3 Corvette, to name one well known model).Instead, cars like various Lincolns and Cadillacs (and the 1968/69 dodge Charger of Dukes of Hazzard fame) used covers over the headlights.These covers retracted or folded away to expose the light, so it wasn’t a true pop-up light. It was also mainly for show as the idea of aerodynamic efficiency in a Cadillac the size of a small house never really entered into things.Plenty of Japanese cars embraced pop-up lights, too. For a while there, heaps of JDM cars had them, and makers like Mazda and Toyota were very keen on the concept. Nissan was in on the act at the same time, too, with various SX coupe models, the Z21 300ZX and even the tiny little EXA all pop-up headlight cars.In Europe, the trend caught on to, with notable examples being the BMW 8-Series (and the earlier M1, of course).Ferrari had a few models with this tech and even Porsche got in on it with the 924, 944 and 968 sporting pop-ups as well as the weird combination of a pop-up headlight that didn’t live behind a cover of any sort in the 928.Instead the 928’s lights laid back in their cubby holes, staring at the sky, until the driver switched on the lights, at which point the headlights rolled up into position like a pair of frog’s eyes.Pop-up lights are, to this day, one of the most memorable things about this generation of Japanese cars, and the MX-5 or Miata pop-up headlights continue to define the design in a visual sense.That means you don’t need to buy something exotic to get this groovy feature. In fact, there are plenty of cheap cars with pop up headlights now, just make sure they work properly as part of the inspection of any second-hand car for sale.Remember, too, old cars with technology like this won’t be affordable cars if anything serious goes wrong.In Australia, we didn’t escape the trend, either. The 1990s Ford Capri, designed primarily as an export to the North American market, had pop-ups, and so did the Holden VL Calais, in an attempt to differentiate it from the less expensive Commodore and Berlina models.Even then, the Calais wasn’t a standard pop-up system and, instead, left the lower half of the headlight glass exposed while using a lifting eyebrow to expose the full lens when the lights were switched on.Our favourite pop-up headlight car? Let’s hear it for the Opel GT, built between 1968 and 1973 and sold mainly in Europe. This looked like a scaled-down C3 Corvette, so the covered headlights looked right.But instead of a motor or hydraulics or vacuum opening them, the GT had a simple, mechanical linkage with a lever next to the centre console.When the driver yanked on that, the headlights didn’t pop-up, but instead rolled over through 180 degrees to reveal their lenses to the world. Brilliant.

Imagine you’re living in another dimension where General Motors decided to keep the Holden brand alive in Australia and the Opel Insignia-based ZB Commodore is still in market.Now take a look at the pictures accompanying this story and that’s more than likely the car that would currently be gracing Holden showrooms across the country.That’s because, despite GM’s sale of Opel to PSA Group in 2017 and the German brand’s transition to Stellantis four years later (in the PSA - Fiat Chrysler Automobiles merger), the Insignia-based car lives on as the Buick Regal in China.And that inter-dimensional Commodore has just received what would surely have been the evergreen Holden’s final facelift.SAIC General Motors is enjoying ongoing success with the Buick brand in the Chinese domestic market with the Regal serving as “a mid-to-high-end car with super driving value”.A 2024 facelift introduced a new grille and bumper treatment to freshen up the car’s look, although its 2018 origins are still clear.But headline news is this month’s introduction of a GS ‘Gran Sport’ high-performance version of the four-door, five-seater.However, rather than the up to 7.5-litre (455ci) V8 engines powering Buick GS muscle cars of the 1960s and early ‘70s, the new Regal offers a 176kW/350Nm version of the ‘Ecotec’ 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-petrol engine driving the front wheels through a nine-speed auto transmission.Externally the GS sports an ‘Obsidian Black’ grille with cells arranged “in a three-dimensional matrix” and a "fang blade” across its centre. There’s also a black “Tail Wing” spoiler across the boot lid and GS badging front and rear.Underneath the skin the Regal GS’s suspension has been given “European-style sports chassis tuning” and upgraded Brembo brakes are standard, but there are no changes to the interior.Interestingly, owners of 2024 and onwards model Regals will be able to retrofit their car with a GS upgrade kit.SAIC GM says it has sold more than 1.8 million Buick Regals in China over multiple generations and more than two decades on sale. But Holden devotees can only dream of the Holden Commodore GS that could have been.

Holden’s first big blunder, launched 60 years ago, was serious enough to reverberate right through to the very end in 2020. And beyond.

I just had my 05' Holden VZ Commodore One Tonner serviced.At 20 years and 225,000km old, it has seen a lot of change in this world, including the end of the Holden brand itself.But despite its age, it still serves its purpose. “Keep the oil changes regular and you shouldn’t have any issues,” my mechanic told me.It's got two seats, a vinyl dashboard, a droopy headliner, a bullbar and a 2.5m metre steel tray that has moved everything from soil to scrap metal to countless friend's and family member’s furniture.The VZ has paid itself off in a million ways more than one and its endurance is a testament to the Holden brand and the 3.6-litre Alloytec engine that powers it (so long as you keep it up to date on maintenance).As its third owner, I can’t help but think what the first owner might have thought if I told them way back in June 2005, when they bought it from Epsom Holden in Bendigo, that 20 years later it would still be chugging along, now amongst electric cars.And who knows, potentially one day (if I keep up those oil changes) self-driving cars.See, that’s the thing about cars with combustion engines, especially older ones, that makes them so special.An invention like the electric car isn’t like what the smartphone was to the flip phone or Netflix was to the DVD; it can’t simply send old cars like mine to the trash heap.No, a good combustion-engine car is built to last. It might demand regular attention and maintenance, but look after it, and it will last generations.And that makes me wonder, can EVs, which are still in their relative infancy on the mainstream market, provide the same level of longevity?Frankly, we don’t know, and the reality is we aren’t likely to know for some time.In Australia, the average age of a car is 10.4 years, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Car census, which is far longer than most electric cars have even been on sale.Take Australia’s best-selling electric car for example, the Tesla Model Y, which has only been on sale here since 2022.Some clues, however, can be found in the original EV models that do surpass that age bracket. Namely, the Nissan Leaf, BMW i3, Tesla Model S and Mitsubishi i:MiEV, which all landed here between 2012 and 2014.A small volume of second-hand listings of those cars on Autotrader, Gumtree Cars, CarsGuide and competitor’s websites show the vast majority of those models with less than 100,000km on the odometer, which, in fairness, is likely a product of them being city cars.The Model S, on the other hand, has a couple of notable exceptions exceeding 200,000km, despite most sitting comfortably under.Using Telematics company GEOTAB’s recent findings that lithium-ion batteries deplete at a rate of about 1.8 per cent per year under moderate conditions, that means most of those cars would have spent about 18 to 21.6 per cent of their battery capacity.However, that depreciation figure assumes they are being charged at a rate of between 20 to 80 per cent, abstaining from DC fast-charging charging and limiting exposure to extreme heat, which is not always possible in Australia.For argument's sake, though, let's just say all of those conditions have been adhered to. On a mid-range Tesla Model S 85, that might mean you only have 412km of the 502km worth of range left from when you bought it, which is less than what I yield out of a 70-litre tank in the VZ.In theory, however, you would only be able to use 80 per cent of that amount, meaning real range is about 329km, which isn’t shocking, but it certainly isn’t great either.Thankfully, EVs have come a long way since their early days and range is gradually ticking upwards. So are warranties, which is a direct result of a brand’s growing confidence in their products.Tesla currently offers a Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty of four-years/80,000km, which covers everything aside from the battery and drive unit.Those are covered by a much better eight-year/160,000km battery warranty, or 192,000km on its Long Range and Performance variants, along with a 70 per cent battery retention guarantee over that period.Despite the relatively low Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty, overall it is hard to deny it is pretty impressive, especially when compared to the original warranty of my VZ, which was a paltry three-years/100,000km.Keep in mind too that Tesla is on the lower end of the warranty spectrum.MG offers a whopping 10-years/250,000km battery warranty on its electric cars such as the MG4 and ZS EV, which is the same deal it offers on its petrol cars.That ought to give EV owners a sense of security that their car won’t all the sudden lose tremendous amounts of range or require a new battery after a short period of time.But whether they prove as reliable as my trusty One Tonner, only time will tell.

It’s often said by car enthusiasts that you’re not a real car guy until you’ve owned an Alfa Romeo. Perhaps, but there’s an Australian variation on that theme: You can’t be a proper car bloke (or gal) until you’ve owned a V8.

What have been the most significant Australian cars since January 1, 2000 so far? With the first 25 years of the 21st century now out of the way, we rate the 10 most important models that left their mark, or came into their own afterwards.

Growing up, my parents went through a phase of buying well-used P4 Rovers as family cars. A (mainly) 1950s British icon with top-notch leather, proper wood trim and luxuriously thick carpet. But these hulking sedans are also cumbersome, fugly and painfully slow.

What’s a car without a name? It’s an object that may function superbly well. It might even look impressively tough or beautifully sleek.

The first Holden small car in history turns 60 – and it's not what you think it is!

Not all Holden models disappeared when we thought they did. During the brand’s 72-year lifespan as “Australia’s Own”, a handful continued to exist elsewhere, even after their Australian-market production ceased. That's why we're highlighting the Holdens that were engineered and/or made in Australia at some point, but later continued on in other countries for a little longer.