A collection of digital gauges from retro cars

In the ’80s the future of car interfaces held lime graphics, tinny voices, and blocky LCD gauges. How far we’ve fallen!

Motive has collected several YouTube videos, each shot by casually proud owners of various cars, that showcase the cutting edge of American and Japanese car console displays. There’s lots to learn about what works and what doesn’t, lessons which can still be applied today as more and more cars add touchscreen navigation consoles to their dash, if not entirely digital gauges.

The Euro-tinged voice of the Audi UR-Quattro, embedded above, is alluring.

12 gauge: a look back at a dozen digital dashes [MotiveMag.com via Jalopnik]

Previously • Buick Reatta had a touchscreen interface in the ’80s
• Nissan GT-R Cockpit Display Gets Videogame Touch
• Smart New Speedometer Concept from Johnson Controls

1. [Scuba SM]

   We had an 86 Aerostar with digital gauges. My parents kept it long enough so that I could drive a car as old as I was. We took it on a road trip through Montana when it had the ‘reasonable and prudent’ speed limit, and my dad decided to see just what it could do. Anything above 100mph, and you could watch the (digital) fuel gage drop.

2. [dculberson]

   I think CRTs should make a comeback as the digital dash of choice. Green phosphors, of course.

3. [zuzu]

   “The door is ajar! The door is ajar!”

   But what everyone really hopes for is KITT from Knight Rider.

   (Oh the heady days when industrial espionage made for popular entertainment…)
   

   Knight Rider, a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist. Michael Knight, a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

4. [Various Cool dot Com]

   Thanks for this! I have fond memories of riding in my mom’s old Cougar with a digital display.

5. [Anonymous]

   Awesome. I remember digital gauges were all the rage back then. My parents had an Oldsmobile Delta 88 with full digital gauges. It was pretty bad ass looking. It had a neat blue/green (aqua?) color to it.

   The current generation Honda Civic has a digital speedometer. Maybe digital gauges are making a comeback?

6. [booticon]

   I have a ’93 Nissan NX1600, and it has digital gauges. The display is white-on-black, so if you’re driving away from the sun it’s impossible to see how fast you’re going with the glare.

7. [Anonymous]

   That’s one thing I miss about the ’80s: focus on new/futuristic technologies and styles instead of the inane retro fetish that seems to be going on these days (and yes, I realize the irony of my nostalgia for a forward-minded era).

   I grew up around my grandfather’s Aerostar; the digital display was something that always stuck out for me as unique and progressive. Now I drive a current-gen Civic coupe with its digital speedometer and sharp, wedge-shaped body…go figure.

   I’d definitely love to see these kind of gauges make a comeback, especially with the technology for it being more reliable and refined.