The 5 best dashboards of the muscle-car era

23 August 2023

2023 marks 70 years since the first Corvette rolled off the line in Flint, Michigan. To complement our extensive coverage of America’s sports car, from never-realized prototypes to Barbie partnerships to the future of Corvette Racing, we dug up this 2018 story focusing on interiors and starring the C2 (shown above). Enjoy! — Ed.

When it comes to American performance cars of the 1960s, we tend to focus on style and quarter-mile times. Considering that cars were made to be driven, it is somewhat curious that ergonomics took so long to catch on with designers. Is it any wonder the aftermarket was so successful with accessories like tachometers?

Yet not all performance cars were designed with sweeping needle speedometers and poorly placed tachometers. All it took was one quick glance and vital statistics were easily registered without having to take your eyes off the road.

Who got it right? Here’s a subjective list:

1963–67 Chevrolet Corvette

Chevrolet’s redesigned Corvette was special for several reasons: Split-window style, four-wheel independent suspension, and great weight distribution, among other things. The 1963 Corvette also had “new conveniences [that] blend Sunday-driving ease with sports car function,” thanks to its functional instrument grouping: speedometer, tachometer, ammeter, oil pressure, and fuel and temperature gauges were grouped in a “single smart-looking cluster,” all within easy eyeshot. There were few changes through 1967, and for good reason—it followed a standard that was appropriate for a sports car and set one that should have been emulated by Detroit but rarely was.

1963–64 Studebaker Avanti

1963 Studebaker Avanti steering wheel — 1963 Studebaker Avanti Mecum

The Avanti was a make-or-break model for Studebaker, which at the time was America’s oldest automotive manufacturer. With fiberglass construction and exotic, Euro-inspired style, this 2+2 from South Bend, Indiana, was unique in so many ways. The interior kept the unique which included “aircraft throttle-like controls” and functional instrumentation that included 160-mph speedometer, tachometer, ammeter, oil pressure, water temperature, manifold pressure, gas gauge, and clock. All this was illuminated by red backlighting that seems to have picked up in popularity in recent years.

1966–67 Dodge Charger

1966 Dodge Charger dash — 1966 Dodge Charger Mecum

The 1966 Charger’s “four easy-to-read hooded circles” (150-mph speedometer, 6000-rpm tachometer, alternator, water temperature, oil pressure, and fuel) stood in contrast to the regular Coronet dashboard, which was a generic horizontal needle design with an optional tach only available on the console for the Coronet 500 trim level. While the Charger’s chrome bezels could be prone to glare, the dials themselves were large, legible, and illuminated by nifty electroluminescent lighting. Chrysler had previously used electroluminescence in 1960–62 which, at night, provided a gray-green glow with the added effect of depth as if it was rendered in 3D—something that is mimicked by today’s electronic dashboards.

1967–68 Mercury Cougar XR-7

Only the base Cougar was available when Mercury’s pony car was introduced in the fall of 1966. The Cougar received a boost of European style with the XR-7 model, an upscale trim level introduced in the middle of the model year. Included in the XR-7’s standard features were “supple, glove-soft leathers” combined with vinyl for both front and rear seats, toggle switches, overhead console with dual map lights and warning lights, and map pockets and door assist straps, plus several other features. But it was the simulated walnut instrument panel, complete with “competition-type” gauges consisting of oil pressure, temperature, ammeter, tachometer, and fuel gauge, that gave the XR-7 its characteristic flavor. Add the GT package or, for 1968, the GT-E package, and you’d have yourself an American-style gran turismo.

1969–70 Pontiac Grand Prix

For 1967, buyers had the option to accent the GTO’s wood-grained dashboard with an all-new hood tachometer. When combined with the Rally cluster, the driver could grasp all major vitals while keeping tabs of the engine’s heartbeat without removing his/her eyes from the road. Now imagine that with a “cockpit-style instrument panel that almost lays every gauge, control, and switch in your lap.” That would look like the 1969–70 Grand Prix, a driver’s car with an instrument panel that curved around the driver (shades of the Studebaker Avanti). Sure, the hood tach mechanism didn’t take too kindly to hood-slamming, and the lighting has been described as done by overworked fireflies, but this was Pontiac at the top of its game, especially when equipped with the 428 HO and four-speed.

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Comments

Some good choices and comments. However —- take a look at the 1956-57 Continental MKII instruments. While this was an expensive personal luxury car, four round instrument housing were arranged in a pod on top of the sloping dashboard and it included a TACHOMETER! All elegant, but readable.

Mid year Corvette’s for Best then very close next Charger, Avanti, Cougar and Grand Prix

Kind of partial to the 70-72 Chevelle/Monte Carlo layout.

In all this discussion, I can’t believe that the 1970-71 Dodge Challengers and Plymouth Barracudas haven’t been mentioned. The dash was standard on certain models and optional on most others. All you need to know about your vehicle in four round pods…150MPH speedo, 8K tach, oil pressure water temp ammeter and fuel level in pod #3, and the 12 hour clock that looks like a tach face on the far right side.! Indirect lighting from a “light bar” that mounts on the dash shroud illuminates the cluster from in front of and above the cluster.

70-71 Cyclone

How could you miss the 1972 Trans Am 455HO turned aluminum dashboard? Beautiful to behold! When I joined the Air Force in 1975, I had a choice between the Trans Am and a 1969 Plymouth Super Bird. The Trans Am dashboard styling was just one of many features that swayed me to buy the Firebird.

Can’t ever forget the beautiful dashboard of my 1965 Pontiac Catalina

I agree, Kevin. The whole interior was beautiful. A friend of mine had a ’65 2 plus 2 with white interior. Every part of the inside was gorgeous; dash, door panels, steering wheel, seats – everything!

70 1/2 to 81 Pontiac Trans Am… Hands down! Further… if you’ve ever owned one you will never forget the feel of that Formula steering wheel in your hands. I believe that should also be a requirement or add points to this vote!?

Had a 60 Olds. The speedometer was a cylinder which changes colours as it turned. Green at low speed, yellow as you went faster, orange, and finally red at high speed. 80 and up kept you in the red zone. That car would fly.

The ‘66 Charger I think is a pinnacle of design that one really needs to see at night for a proper appreciation of what Chrysler did.
https://imgur.com/Vx3Qx.jpg

My dad gave the 53 Stude Commander to my brother, sold his 190SL, and bought two 1967 Cougars, both XR-7 models.
One of the best dash boards ever, classy, European looking, good instruments, a tach, and one of the best steering wheels.

I would have to include the 58-62 Corvette. The instrument cluster was an iconic work of art.

How could you have left out the 1968-70 Charger dash (which was also used on the 1970 Plymouth Road Runner and GTX), one of the cleanest, meanest, and most masculine dashboards ever designed by Detroit?

I owned a new Mustang Mach1 in 1969. Loved the dash, but still like the 63-67 Corvette dash better.

ok … i’ll jump in here since no one else has, yet … how about the ’69 -’70 cougar xr7 dashboard ? … huh ? … now that’s a dashboard ! … very similar to the ’69 -’70 mach I, yet, a bit nicer … the ’69 xr7 dashboard is decidedly more european-like, refined, sophisticated, & just downright more attractive than the ’67-’68 xr7 dashboard … compare them side by side … however .. i’ve owned both a ’69 & a ’70 xr7 so i guess i might be just a tad prejudiced … but just a tad 🙂

or … just ask the countessa ‘tracy’ di vicenzo (diana rigg) in james bond’s 1969 “on her majesty’s secret service” … she lead-footed around europe in her bright candy apple red ’69 xr7 vert fitted with the rare 428 cobrajet ram air V8 rated at 335 horsepower

the way she screamed down the coast of portugal in that sucker of hers at the beginning of the movie with the top down, passing james in his aston martin dbs at dawn with ease while blasting her horn at him to just g*d dam move over RIGHT NOW so she could fly by ! … haha ! … now THAT’s a muscle/pony car with authoritative presence … & hearing that 428 scream like a banshee as it tore up the asphalt … what a way to start an action packed movie … & with a dashboard to match 🙂

by the by … diana rigg did all of her own driving in that ’69 movie … seriously … she even learned & performed ALL of the driving skills needed in the heart pounding ice rink demolition derby scenes … her driving instructor said she was a natural … no stunt doubles … & at night time, too … simply amazing

i guess she was channeling her character from her avenger days as emma peel on tv in the ’60’s when she tore up the english countryside in her little opalescent blue lotus elan … my kind of woman … they don’t seem to make them like they used to 🙂

my second pick would be the dashboard of a ’57 thunderbird … a one year wonder … all 5 gauges beautifully clustered together under the padded arched main dah pod … topped off with the gleaming engine-turned metal dash panels that sweep down into the front doors, forming the backdrop for the uh-la-la door arm rests … what a design … sweet … early tbirds always promised & delivered unique dashboards & interiors, far above the norm of the times