There was a time when a glowing digital clock or a talking voice assistant in your car felt like pure science fiction. In the 1980s, automakers raced to show off the future with dashboards packed full of lights, buttons, and space-age flair.
These weren’t just control panels, they were status symbols, bold expressions of technology that promised a smarter, cooler way to drive. You basically had the future at your hands.
From digital speedometers to futuristic graphics and onboard computers, these dashboards made drivers feel like they were behind the wheel of something extraordinary.
Take a look back at the 80s car dashboards that once felt incredibly advanced. You’ll be missing them now for sure.
1
1989 Pontiac Grand Prix SE
A Tron-inspired dash packed with graphs, grids, and glowing green.
2
1989 Toyota Soarer Aerocabin
A retractable hardtop, because the future needed flair.
3
1983 Pontiac Trans Am Type K Concept
What the 80s thought the future of driving could look like.
4
1976 Bertone Autobianchi Runabout
Italy brought the fun, straight out of a video game.
5
1980 Lancia Sibilo Concept
It looked like something out of Blade Runner.
6
1980 Citroën Xenia
The TV-like screen was your entire dashboard.
7
1984 Citroën Karin Concept
A triangle steering wheel, brown velour, and a keypad.
8
1972 Fiat 128 Coupe "Moretti"
Button overload, Italian style.
9
1980 Lancia Medusa Concept
Lancia imagined a clean, digital tomorrow.
10
1976 Audi Urbansphere
Audi went full sci-fi with rotating tubes instead of a traditional dashboard.
11
1985 Nissan 300ZX
It felt like driving an arcade machine at 70 mph.
12
1986 Mitsubishi HSR Concept
Analog needles on the outside, computer core in the center.
13
1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme
Like Miami Vice in dashboard form.
14
1984 Pontiac Grand Prix Brougham
The “Digital Cluster” era in full bloom.
15
1980 Citroën Karin Concept
No shortage of 80s attitude.
16
1986 Isuzu Piazza Nero
The dashboard looked like it was ripped from a cyberpunk fever dream.
17
1983 Pontiac Trans Sport Concept
A sci-fi pit on wheels.
18
1987 Buick Wildcat Concept
Dashboards didn’t get more space-age than this.
19
1984 Aston Martin Lagonda
One of the earliest full-digital dashboards, as ambitious as it was glitchy.
20
1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme
One of the earliest onboard GPS systems.
