Dashboards

There was a time when a car dashboard consisted of a speedometer, a fuel gauge and perhaps a small red light that illuminated shortly before something expensive happened. Then automotive designers discovered that the space immediately in front of the driver offered almost unlimited opportunities for creative expression, mechanical extravagance and the installation of mysterious switches whose functions would remain unknown until the vehicle was sold.

In Dashboards (1994), David Holland celebrates one of the most overlooked yet fascinating aspects of automotive design: the instrument panel. Published by Phaidon, this wonderfully unusual book explores the visual character, engineering and sheer aesthetic variety of the dashboards that have accompanied generations of motorists on their journeys, from the elegantly restrained to the gloriously overcomplicated.

The dashboard is, after all, the part of a motor car that its owner spends the greatest amount of time looking at, assuming they occasionally glance away from the road. It is the interface between driver and machine, a collection of instruments and controls intended to communicate vital information while simultaneously reassuring the occupant that the manufacturer has employed somebody with an artistic temperament.

Over the decades, dashboards have reflected changing fashions, technological ambitions and national personalities. American manufacturers embraced chrome, elaborate instrumentation and controls resembling those found in a particularly ambitious aircraft cockpit. British designers frequently favoured polished wood, traditional gauges and the comforting impression that the driver was seated inside an expensive grandfather clock. European manufacturers pursued their own distinctive interpretations of functionality, elegance and occasional bewilderment.

Holland’s book treats these extraordinary arrangements as objects worthy of appreciation in their own right, revealing how much automotive history can be understood simply by examining what manufacturers chose to place in front of their drivers. From beautiful analogue dials and intricate switchgear to futuristic experiments in instrumentation, the dashboard tells a remarkable story about design, technology and the evolving relationship between people and their cars.

There is something particularly appealing about the era before enormous touchscreens began replacing physical controls. Once upon a time, adjusting the heating required nothing more complicated than moving a lever. Today, the same operation may involve navigating three menus while attempting not to drive into a hedge. Progress, apparently, is a complicated business.

Condition: Very Good. This is a previously owned copy from 1994, displaying only modest signs of age and handling. Unlike the dashboards of certain classic vehicles, it contains no cracked vinyl, malfunctioning illumination or unidentified rattles emanating from somewhere behind the glove compartment.

Published by Phaidon in 1994. ISBN: 0714831727.

Offered by Crappy Old Books, where we appreciate the peculiar beauty of everyday engineering, especially when it involves enough gauges, switches and warning lights to make an ordinary journey to the shops resemble a minor space mission.

A splendid addition to any collection of automotive design, industrial photography or motoring history. Particularly recommended for classic car enthusiasts, designers and anyone who has ever sat behind the wheel of an unfamiliar vehicle and wondered why its dashboard appears to have been designed by the control-room staff of a nuclear power station.

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