One detail you didn't mention: The Lamborghini Miura was the first car with Louvres. It used them because the engine overheated with a traditional rear hood, but they also needed some degree of rear visibility. Unlike the louvres that came on other cars later, the Miura's louvres don't have anything beneath them. Underneath is simply the engine bay.
Yep half the irocs and transams had them and they was real metal with hinges they were practical not just for looks. I got a iroc z when i was 15 and took them off and threw them away. Im 32 now amd still have that iroc z
I remember when custom shops were selling and installing those. Most cheap louvers were pita to install securely so they stayed in place. A lot of them just got brittle in the sun and broke away. Tinting solved those problems but brought many new ones.
Next video essay suggestion: odometers. From the spinning inception (gotta mention winding backwards from Ferris Bueller) to now with them being digital and "magically" not being reset when battery is removed
Both my uncle and I have Celica liftbacks with louvers. I have a set of period but not factory louvers on my 81 Celica and he has the factory Toyota louver on his 83 Celica GTS. They are super effective at keeping the cars bearably cool in the summer and look great.
Wonderful! I was lucky to pick up my '82 Celica hatchback with 'factory' louvers intact. They were actually an aftermarket manufactured item, but installed prior to sale at toyota dealerships!
I put the quarter window louvers and a hatch shade on my MK3 Supra. It's really expensive when you buy unpainted fiberglass ones and have to finish them, but they look absolutely amazing on the car. Always been a fan of them on coupe/hatch cars.
From what I've seen of Australian cars, louvers were very popular down there too, only they were inside the car like blinds to block out the intense sun. Australian cars until a few years ago were like the US if the muscle car era never died. Big RWD V8 sedans and coupes and utes and even wagons were popular for decades.
We’re paying between $1.80 and $2 per litre for fuel here in Australia, but people still choose to drive V8s. Both Ford & GM Holden ran scared from the late 70s oil crisis. It was one factor that killed the local Ford V8 in 1983, and despite the Ford V8 returning in the early 90s, they still lost a generation of fans. Holden were no better. They did keep the V8, but restricted the 308/5L to luxury models, the SS (and Police cars) from 1978-1984, only allowing the 253/4.2L in the lower trim levels. They also introduced a 1.9L inline 4 into the same Commodore family car (which previously had a choice of inline 6s and V8s up to 5L). Fortunately in ‘84 they saw the light and allowed the 5L to be ordered on all trim levels. There was a threat of then dropping the V8 too, but the “V8 til 98” campaign took hold in ‘84, and despite 2 short hiatuses, for 10 months in ‘86 an again in ‘88/89 for 8 months, they kept their promise of offering the Aussie 5L V8 until ‘98, when it was replaced with the LS1. This cemented a huge legion of GM Holden fans. Ford offered some fantastic performance engines in the last 2 decades, notably the turbo DOHC 24 valve 4.0L inline 6 (aka the Aussie RB or 1J/2J), and the local Miami (supercharged coyote). It’s still common to see these on the road. My wife’s daily is a 6.0L Calais. You can’t buy an equivalent car anymore. She loves it, and I do too. Despite the fuel prices 6 out of my 7 cars are V8s, and the other is a 4L inline 6…….
We had a choice of Venetian blinds to go inside the window, or the plastic exterior louvres. Both were popular in the 80s. The downside to internal Venetian blinds is they were often black, absorbing the heat from the sun whilst parked, and radiating it back onto the passengers inside the car. The exterior ones were well made from durable plastic that could handle the UV exposure in the hot Aussie summer sun. They were a pain to take off to clean the glass underneath though. Aunger were a popular brand who made them for all locally produced models from the early 80s to the late 90s, and they also had a good range for popular imported models too.
My sweet lil 1980 Mazda Capella was a disposable economy sedan in these United States... but in Australia, many more of 'em were sold and many of 'em survived! You could have louvers aftermarket down-under... even on a Fordor. I'm contemplating importing a set, but I'm not sure if I like the shape... My buddy's Pontiac Phoenix has 'em. He's got a 5-door hatchback and is probably the last man on this continent with louvers on his 5-door X-Body. Unlike my Aussie colleague's Capella sets, these look badass, and would be great to review, which is another reason why y'all should come out west again!!
Louvres that were plastic on the exterior of cars were just an adaptation of Venetian blinds which were metal & located on the inside. These go much further back than the late 60’s-70’s muscle car era. They still work better than tint, but definitely an era specific item like vinyl roofs.
I've been fixing a 83 280ZX that has louvers. Those and the digital dashboard make the thing scream "I AM FROM THE 80'S". I'd never driven anything with them installed and wow, they really don't hurt rear visibility.
My dad had a ‘79 280zx and he had louvers installed for the heat. They were great but the struts in the hatch couldn’t take the weight after a while and wedging the old umbrella kept the hatch up when needed.
I have a 2006 Infiniti G35 coupe.. it has one of those big old school rear windows but I was considering getting louvre's for it., Still am. Amazon has them and they look pretty nice and it would make my car stand out so still thinking about it.
My first car had louvers. It was an 85 Mercury Lynx in black with silver rocker stripes that was originally my moms. I also think that on some cars it was as much about keeping rain off the rear window as sun. My Lynx had no rear wiper so having the louvers helped with rear visibility.
I had black aluminum louvers on my Nissan 200sx. They kept the car cooler but the bolts caused the metal around the window to rust. I don't see how people see out of tinted windows.
I would argue that they have gone away. As a matter of fact they made a brief comeback thanks to cars like Chargers, Camaros, Mustangs, and even on car's such as Honda Accords and Civics.
Louvers were never popular in Europe, except on a very limited number of models. However, inside "jalousies" were very often mounted on the inside of the rear windows to sort of blocking the sun rays, aka heat. I say sort of because they were not very effective at that. Moreover, the shade was rattling, not easy to install, making window cleaning impossible, in one word, very inconvenient. Back to your previous item regarding window tinting, the European legislator has fixed the tinting % so that the occupants of the front seat of the vehicle can be easily identified by police officers and even a speed radar. The tinting % of the other windows is not limited. Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge and research work.
Rear window louvers are great, as long as they're metal and properly attached to the car.... but if they're plastic and held on my 3M tape... they rattle if you go fast.
1986 Camaro. Had the louvers over the massive rear hatch window. Also ripped them right off (while speeding) going down I-15 outside of LA. Pissed off the driver of that cab over behind me.
Louvers make the back window a pain in the butt to clean. Also Louvers will cause more wind turbulence causing MORE dirt to accumulate between the louvers. Also louvers play havoc with the aerodynamics and reduce MPG.
Louvers! Im an 80's baby so i remember these. My first car was a black on black manual Prelude Si and i had a black bra on the front...yea remember those. It looked sick tho cause i had some sweet 5 spoke alloy's put on w/ low profile tires. I got so much ass in that car. 🤣😈 In fact one time a cop knocked on the glass. 😳 Then said if i were 18 he would have cited me for sexual predation...I'm like um... we are all into it here. You are the only one who doesn't like it. Hahaha he didn't like that and gave me a huff. I was 16 wth!
I have an LC500 now which has a rear glass to take it but ... i don't see me putting that on my beloved. And yes i still get ass in that car too! Hahah
There's another thing that was kind of in style 30+ years ago there is no longer seen today and that is a bra on the nose of the car. I had that on my 1984 Fox body Mercury Capri. Don't know why people did it but it existed
