Dazzling dashboards of the 70s and 80s

From distinct smells to various textures, dashboards from these times can bring back memories, sometimes from decades that one’s never lived through. There are plenty to choose from, but here’s our pick of the ones that struck a chord.

Rather than giving us a car with a beautiful exterior but a flop of an interior, Alfa Romeo provided the full package with the Montreal. The console was raised, the gear shifter short, and a row of six rocker switches sat bang in the centre. Two circular housings sat neatly in the dash and contained a multitude of different dials. Topping off the package: a wood-rimmed three-spoke steering wheel – stupendo!

Why have a radio on the dashboard when you could have it between the seats? Anyway, Citroen must’ve needed space for its handbrake which pulled out of the dashboard like a cup holder. The driver’s speed was portrayed through a large glass blob in the centre while the revs were positioned to the side. In later cars, sadly this was changed in favour of a more modern system with circular dials.

Buick strayed from the norm and gave the third generation a dual concave dash, with chrome panels aplenty to top things off. From 1973 onwards, Buick binned the Riviera’s concave passenger panel for a straight-edged design. The metal panelling on the dash was also swapped for wood.

Wood, leather, chrome and more wood is the recipe for nearly every Rolls-Royce dash, even today. The Corniche’s design is like the Silver Shadow’s but modernised slightly. A cruise control switch was fitted to the dash, as was a rev counter. Sun shining and top down, the Corniche’s chrome switchgear and walnut trim made quite the statement, and it still does.

Countach designer Marcello Gandini originally proposed an all-digital dash, but after testing this was swapped to analogue dials. The eight-dial dashboard sat high towards the windscreen and various aircraft elements remained from Gandini’s original sketch, including blocky multi-coloured warning lights.

Its wedge design, mile-long bonnet with pop-up headlights and 17-foot (5.2 metre) body were just the start of Aston Martin’s madcap ‘70s super-saloon. Inside, the Lagonda was equipped with sensitive touch switches, which allowed the driver to change between mph and kph on the large digital screen — a world first.

There was also an “essentials services only” button for night driving, which showed just the time, speed and fuel level.  It was all rather ahead of its time – too ahead in fact as it was unreliable and many of its standout features were progressively junked during the car’s 14-year production run. But today’s screen-and-touch dashboard world started with this car, for better or worse.

There was just something special about the SD1 with a very avant-garde dash and a protruding instrument panel: six gauges and some clicky buttons by the driver’s door. Directly in front of the passenger was a centralised air vent. Whether you opted for the manual or the auto, a plaque sat beside the centre console air vents to remind you of the gear selection.

This dash had quite a clever cost-cutting purpose behind it: the instrument block could easily be configured on either side of the car to facilitate production of either left-hand or right-hand drive.

From a passenger perspective, the Piazza had an average dashboard. The driver, however, required a PhD in computer science to operate the switches. Two large control panels sat at either side of the steering wheel, operating everything from the windshield wipers to the heater and fan controls. It was outlandish, but it makes our glorious list for that very reason.

The sharp edges and slab-sided panelling of Audi’s four-wheel drive legend continued inside the car, but what’s special was that its interior was madly humble. This was a fast car, but there were no ‘hot’ colours or eccentric switches to prove its point. Instead, the Quattro had a useable dash, and a digital display was fitted from 1984 onwards. Below the radio was a Torsen differential display, volt and oil-temp readouts.

It had the aerodynamics of a stapler, with the office accessory arguably more exciting to look at than the Trevi. Lancia brought in an architect to design its ‘Swiss cheese’ dashboard which caused global controversy. Today, it makes our glorious dashboard list not only because of its oddball layout, but because Lancia, once again, dared to be different.

Instead of flooding the interior with digital displays, Renault went for shape over ambience with its executive 25 model. The dash was oddly shaped and sat high towards the windscreen, and rather than litter it with buttons, Renault placed a few auxiliary controls by the gear lever. From the side, the dash was like a tidal wave, making it easier to see the instrument panels on a warm French summer's day.

Nearly everything was new on the C4: the sleek design kept with modernity, the chassis was fresh, as was the interior. The C4 was the first car to feature a three-display LCD instrument cluster as standard. The dashboard was straight-edged and almost felt industrial in many aspects, something that stood out against other sports cars from the same era.

At first glance, the 90 wasn’t really anything special; it fit in with all the Toyota Carinas and Austin Montegos of the same era. Climb inside, however, and you were faced with a stunningly futuristic instrument panel that yelled jet fighter cockpit. The dashboard consisted of sharp edges and flat panels, and buyers could even spec a suitcase which could be pulled out from the passenger side.

The XT was the turbocharged wedge that time forgot. Its dashboard may have been created with cheap plastic, but what made it so glorious was its switch gear, digital display and three-spoke steering wheel. Mounting switches to the dashboard simply wasn’t good enough for Subaru, so the XT received two wing-like control units that were placed just behind the steering wheel. When switched on, the 3D display was oddly mesmerising with its backlit orange and red colour combination.

It’s quite difficult to tell the difference between a bog-standard Uno and a Turbo guise. The passenger side was still carved out, favouring storage over shape, and large control panels still sat on either side behind the steering wheel. However, the cluster contained a turbo boost gauge and a mightier 150mph/240km/h speedometer. Even today, the Turbo is still considered to have one of the best-looking hot hatch displays.

The BX was quirky enough, but in 1985 Citroen introduced a limited-edition Digit guise. The dash was driver-focussed and included a new digital dash and on-board computer, hence the name. The on-board computer sat just below the removable cassette player. A digital graphics display was positioned centrally in the instrument cluster, plus two screens at either side displayed open door notifications and warning lights.

There was nothing spectacular with the Integrale dash shape; it was all about the display. It’s considered to be one of the most iconic features of the car: yellow script with yellow needles, working perfectly against the darker back panel. The speedo functioned conventionally while the rev counter would swoosh towards the sky when mashing the accelerator. All of this, combined with a glorious soundtrack, was a quick reminder that you were piloting something rather special.

Game consoles, TVs and computers were on the rise in the 1980s and Buick was bringing innovation to four wheels. The Reatta used an all-digital CRT set-up, the same technology that sat inside the massive rear covers of TVs, while a touchscreen was tacked to the dashboard and allowed the driver to access the car’s various sub-menus. The dash itself could be specced in a plethora of different colours.

In a bid to keep its position in the luxury car market, Cadillac came up with a new model called the Allante. Pininfarina was brought in to design the Allanté, and as often the case with anything wearing a Pininfarina badge, it had a bit of fizz. The dash centre had an upright tape deck, there was also a driver information centre and electronic climate control – all featuring digital displays backed with a plethora of buttons. The digital displays showing the speed and rpm looked like compasses, and topping off the coolness was a large two-spoke steering wheel.