Hidden headlamp

1937 Cord 812 with hidden lights

1967 Ford Thunderbird with hidden lights

Hidden headlights are an automotive styling feature that conceals an automobile's headlights when not in use. Depending on the design, the headlights may rotate to sit flush with the front end (as with the Porsche 928), may retract into the hood and/or fenders (as with the Chevrolet Corvette from 1963 to 2004), or may be concealed behind retractable or rotating grille panels (as on the 1966 Dodge Charger or 1967 Mercury Cougar).

Hidden headlights first appeared on the Cord 810 in 1936. These units had to be manually opened when the headlights needed to be used.

Powered hidden headlights were pioneered in GM's Buick Y-Job concept car of 1938 and were used briefly on the 1942 production DeSoto, but their popularity has waxed and waned during the ensuing decades. While the arrangement was again popular in the 1980s, in large part because the retracted headlamps had less aerodynamic drag, it has fallen out of favor, owing in large part to the added cost, weight, and complexity, and the dubious reliability of the mechanisms in older cars.