November 1990

---

Dear Tom and Ray:
I have never seen a man or woman put a band-aid over a diamond ring. Yet every year, some cars come out with their headlights covered. Why hide them?
George

TOM: It's purely a matter of styling, George. Some designers think that by hiding the headlights, they can make a particular car look better during the day.

RAY: And when the headlights pop up at night and make the car look silly, who cares? It's dark, and no one can see how it looks anyway!

TOM: I'm not opposed to the styling, George. What bothers me about hidden headlights is the wind drag they create. The car manufacturers go to such great lengths to make cars aerodynamically perfect (with flush doors, flush glass, flush toilets etc.), then they go and screw it up by having the equivalent of two huge pie plates pop up out of the hood at night!

RAY: The EPA should really have another gas mileage category for cars with hidden headlights. There should be "city," "highway," and "with-pie-tins-deployed."

Back to the November 1990 index

Share this column with a friend.

© 2006 by Tom and Ray Magliozzi and Doug Berman. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

---

---

Auto repairs can be costly! Save money by ordering Tom and Ray's pamphlet: "Ten Ways You May Be Ruining Your Car Without Even Knowing It!" To order, send (check or money order) to Ruin, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. You can also order online.