I think it's inevitable that screens in new cars will fail at some point. It'll be even worse since car makers insist on putting a screen in every square inch of new cars.

I suggest doing an essay on the history of the ECU/ OBD. It's quite the interesting subject and is full of surprises.

The digital guage cluster on my 1984 Corvette is one of the main reasons I bought it, absolutely love the retro futurism vibes!

It is unfortunate that you did not mention Buick's Riviera/Reatta and Oldsmobile's Toronado which featured both digital instrument clusters as well as touch screen control centers.

S2000 still has my favorite digital gauge cluster.

I can't count how many of the 300zx clusters I have repaired. Also the only models that Nissan had that used the analog voice box (record type) were the 1982-1983 280zx and 810 Maxima from the same years. The z31 and 200sx had a digital unit. I have both English and Japanese language versions of these.

For a video essay episode, how about the evolution of car windows? (manual crank, smoker’s windows, power windows, etc.)

Those digital displays of the 80s and 90s are so cool!

My 1st car a 1989 Buick Riveria was a masterpiece of digital gauges. Everything was digital in the vehicle and it included a screen that most vehicles didn’t get until the 2010s decade. What an awesome technological boulevard cruiser it was for its time.

I personally still prefer analog gauges as they are pretty much foolproof but also has the 3 dimensional look that screens just cannot mimic Do like the Fox body throwback in the new Mustang though, that’s a nice touch, but still will pick the “old fashioned” analog gauges any time I can (On that same token I will pick an actual tactile real button over a touchscreen every day of the week as well. Can use them without having to look at them and at least to my eye looks so much better than a cheap tacky screen)

I loved the digital dash in my 300ZX. I did a lot of road trips and dual trip odometers were very useful before GPS. Also, the countdown fuel gauge let you make full use out of the large fuel tank it had. In some ways that car had the best driving ergonomics of any car I've had. The digi dash broke once, and it was a quick fix with a soldering iron.

I also loved how the ls400 dash was projected looked 3D

On the Toyota Corolla, they only offer digital gauges on the high trim, while the lower trims get analog gauges whereas Honda likes to use digital gauges on all trims

The 80s Corvette clusters are so iconic!

It's funny how I remember the cars of the 80s and early 90s that had digital gauges (oftentimes luxury cars, like the Buick), and then they kinda disappeared it seemed for a long time. Now I'm driving a 2013 Civic with a digital speedometer and it feels like a very refined system, I prefer it much more to analog, easier to keep track of your specific speed.

Personally I've found LCD screens to be pretty bulletproof. I have some old LCD monitors from 2012-ish or thereabouts that still work just fine today. The more likely thing to die in a modern car would be the controller board for the LCD.

In Australia we got 2 very nice VFD displays - both launched in 1984. The Holden Calais one only lasted 2 years in production, and followed GM USA’s ‘system check’ gimmicks. Interestingly it used a 16 pulse speed sensor (vs the normal 10) as an easy way to run mph electronics at km/h. The other was the Australian 1984-1988 Ford Falcon/Fairmont/Fairlane/LTD models. Top line trim levels got a full VFD that was very neat, and IMO looked way nicer than any of the examples shown. Lower models still got a partial display - some of the ancillary gauges were VFD, paired with an analog speedo & tach. Ford Australia teamed with Mazda back in the day for tech like this, so it was pretty reliable, but the 1988 model update saw them shift to backlit LCD, and odd digi/analog combos. By 1993 they were back to full analog - the remains of digital instrumentation stuck firmly within the boundaries of the trip computer and odometer. VDO Australia made all of those clusters too - but clearly borrowed global technology.

This is a great video! Among the many vehicles over the decades, I've owned three S2Ks, a C-Class, and a TTS with the Virtual Cockpit (one of my current rides). The designs, quality, interiors, and driving dynamics are among the few things that drew me to those cars and the digital dashes were simply the cherries on top for me. When I was a kid in the 80s and 90s, I was always fascinated with the cars of my relatives that had digital dashes. I also grew up watching Knight Rider and I'm pretty sure that left quite the mark on me as well. One of my aunts had a Chrysler New Yorker that talked (e.g., "Your door is ajar.") and I just thought that was super cool. The first car that I owned that I could actually talk to was my 2000 Acura 3.2 TL. It was also my first car with xenon headlamps and a built-in navigation system (goodbye Garmin StreetPilot, haha). To piggyback to the subject, Back to the Future was the first movie I ever saw in a theater and I loved the digital addition to the DeLorean DMC-12's dashboard as well. Don't get me wrong, I definitely appreciate a nice analog dash; there's enough love for both styles, haha. Keep up the good work, good sir, and thanks again. Memory lane is a nice place to go to. 🙂

I remember the Opel Kadett GSI 1990 that had the digital dash. Later there were also other European brands having them like Renault with its Twingo and so on. The sun could be a real problem that time. Here goes my like. Just keep it up.

I really love digital gauges I start loving even more once i start owning a kadett GSi That gauge is WONDERFUL

The Toyota Echo also had an optional digital cluster in some regions. Looks very 80s (even though it's early 2000s) with the VFD display. Probably the last of its kind

Left out the 80's C4 clusters, they were LCD screens, with polymer film to make the information readable, they were still quite faulty but batee, a company that supports these clusters, restore them with much newer technology, and well as LED backlighting to replace the halogen that would often damage system boards, I got lucky when I bought my 85 C4 that my cluster was rebuilt, but with halogen bulbs, after a year of ownership I swapped them to the LED's, and thanks to the matte film on the screens, they are perfectly viewable in complete daylight with the sun beating on them.

The first big car mod I ever did was back in the early 2000's, when I swapped the analogue clocks from my Vauxhall Nova with the digital dashboard from an Astra GTE. Those are still my favorite clocks to this day!

Commercial vehicles had LCD screens for their gauges. I worked as a bus operator for a number of transit systems and a lot of buses had a full color LCD, and some had needle gauges that would also show the digital readout in 7 segment LED. The LCD gauge clusters were pretty well thought out, even for 2012. They would dim automatically and change colour to green/amber at night. Yet the modern buses I see are getting their needle gauges back

This is why a JZX100 Chaser with a digital dash is my dream car. Also AE86 digital dash is sexy af too. Problem with modern digital displays is their delay and refresh rate is horrendous, and they look ugly af with barely any customization.

Love your videos mate. Short and to the point, little sweet morsels of car history. What's the song at 1:43?

Digital gauges were huge back in the 80s and 90s and many designs and colors are very iconic. And tbh, I dont think they were as unreliable as you mention, or hard to source used, at least as far as GM makes are concerned. There was a lady who use to give us rides to church as a kid. And she had an 86 or 88 Buick of some kind. Not only had digital gauges but also a full touch screen computer on the dash that would give diagnostic readings with everything on the car. A feature that was yes 30-40 years ahead of its time. Its downfall was that the computer was not Y2K compliant.

I was always mesmerized by those digital speedometers since I was young. My uncle used to drive a top trim level Toyota Cresta, and it was freaking cool. I dearly miss it.

I truly wish the 80s style instrument panels stay in style and never fade away

My first car with a fully electronic display was a 1985 Lincoln Mark VII LSC. It used a VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Display). It was still bright and clear when I sold it in 1992. My 2011 Nissan Leaf has an all LCD display and it is still working like new.

I love digital gauges, so modern and so minimalistic when turned off.

My 2000 Grand Marquis has a working LCD screen from factory. Its fully loaded too. It hasnt gone out, but our community has figured out how to even make them multi colored!

Zach, let’s take it up a notch let’s talk about turbos, and when they were introduced into the market and how they’ve advanced over the years

My 87 Dodge Daytona does have an electronic cluster and using it I'm really really surprised they died after that came out. It's still way more than bright enough to use comfortably in the daytime, and is absolutely the most 80s thing I've ever used. My cluster came from a Lebanon of the same model year and works beautifully.

My 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee has a vacuum display, VIC(Vehicle Information Center) it shows the time, date, doors open, low fluid, and even some engine codes. It's extremely rare to have one that hasn't failed *yet* unless they'd been rebuilt. People say it's the solder joints because of the lead free solder, but after taking a few apart at the pull yards I found the power side of the board had traces burnt out. I followed the traces and remade the connections with actual wires and bam, I have a rare, working VIC

New subscriber who has loved watching your videos on these topics. Would love to see you do a video on the first HUD ever and how they have transformed over the years as well as also making a comeback like digital gauges. When my grandparents got their brand new 2013 Acadia, I remember my grandpa letting me take it for a drive and I fell in love with the HUD. Had no idea it was even in there and I found it just so cool. Later my dad told me that HUDs had actually been used in cars back in the day starting with the Cutlass Supreme. Hope you do more of these types of videos especially if you do any on Pontiacs. I have a 2004 Grand Am GT and I have been in total love with the Pontiacs of the early 2000s. The only other car that stole my heart like that was my SRT4 Neon...not sure why but it just did haha

Had a 87 Buick with a digital tachometer. Had a 92 S-10 Blazer with digital guages. Didn't know that guages were in the process of failing when I bought it. One month later the speedometer stopped working, then the blinker indicator. (Both are the best parts) Drove without a speedometer for years.

I love the old green LCD or LED or VFD digi-dashes. They're very readable yet still futuristic looking even today. Modern screens are too bright and busy. Old digi-dashes were perfect as long as they worked. The first car I saw a full digital dashboard in was a second-gen Prius and it blew my mind being able to read the exact speed at a glance. If a car has a digital and analog speedometer I don't even look at the analog. Imagine if Ford or BMW or whoever starts offering alternate gauge clusters as DLC. If you have a popular classic car or truck you can get LCD/LED replacement clusters that either work with the existing sensors or connect to the ECU if the engine is ODBII compliant.

I remember a friend of mine having a second hand Fiat Tipo with a digital instruments back in 1998... How jealous we all were... It was so cool, even if bit old school style. But it was so much different from anything we had... And than I got my Citroen C6 in 2013... And that was a great digital instrument cluster honestly... Now having Volvo S80 with digital speedometer... And well, it's kind of boring...

I think my favorite digital dashboard and gauges is on the Buick Reatta

these are the PERFECT vehicles for any kind of factory or mill maintenance. They can haul everything a technician needs to do a job , fit anywhere, and are easy to maintain.

its why i love my 2017 Mazda 3 GT, it came with Dashboard B and that is fully digital except the RPM guage which sits in the middle. everything else, is 80s digital look, it even tells you which gear to be in like the GT games

3:57 what???!!!! I'm love it.... That florescent green with Helvetica Nuer-esqe font..... cannot wait for 180 mph readout version....

the main reason that car manufacturers use lcd displays is simply because its cheap. developing and building physical gauges is just much more expensive rather than just buying a screen from some brand and build a frame around it.

The thing to think about is LCD screens are much cheaper now than they used to be, but have a bunch of needles and stuff built into what is still a circuit board is pretty complex, so dont be shocked that replacing a needle screen will get more costly than a LCD screen. Both types of clusters to run on a circuit board.

I love my insight’s digital cluster, late 90s EVs and Hybrids went absolutely wild with digital dash designs

Another great video! I used to love seeing vehicles with the optional digital dash back in the 80’s. I remember being at church and walking the long way through the parking lot…I would always quickly glance to see if said car had the optional digital dash…ie. Maxima, 200SX, Cressida, Camry, 300zx, New Yorker, Lincoln and on and on, didnt take a lot to entertain me 😆 Those were the days.

My mom had a talking k car and then later on we had Oldsmobile toronado trofeo with the VIC center. That car was like knight rider to me.

You pretty much nailed my two issues with digital clusters. I've been driving a Lincoln Town Car with digital gauges the last month or so, and the brightness is an issue. It dims into a night mode when you turn on the headlights, which I do a lot during the day this time of year due to gloomy overcast weather. This makes it hard to read, so I crank the night mode brightness. Problem is when actual night comes around, then it's too bright, so I have to adjust it again. It's fairly annoying (epically since the brightness adjustment isn't a quick dial turn, it's an up-down switch that you have to tap repeatedly or hold and wait for it to slowly change). One thing I _do_ like is the information center with various info about the car that's only practical because of the digital display. As far as modern cars go, when those screens start to fail, it's going to be completely detrimental to the continued function of the car, because they control _so much_ often including critical items like the climate control. Modern cars may be designed in such a way that they can mechanically outlast old cars with less maintenance, but all the electronics are going to make "classics" a thing of the past. Their life expectancy will be shortened more by _time_ than by _miles._ Right now you can easily keep a 50-year-old car on the road if you're so inclined because everything is mechanical, simple, and easy to fix with basic tools. Fifty years from now, good luck keeping a 2023 anything operational. The electronics will be worn out and faulty at that point, replacements will likely not be available, and part fabrication for critical system computers/controls will be close to (if not completely) impossible. Plus, even a fairly basic service than can be done now will be impossible in the future when the specialized equipment is no longer anywhere to be found. That actually happened to me with an early electronic fuel-injection Cadillac. The ECU wigged out (preventing the car form running) and required a specialized computer to diagnose it. The car was so old, that no one had that special tool anymore, rendering the car useless and unable to be worked on without fairly involved modifications.

I went out of my way to get the digi dash for my van when I learned it existed, got another van just for the digi dash. Absolutely love the digi dash myself, especially the one in the Subaru xt (orange one is my favorite)

2:47 Man, I love those 80s Nissan chimes. My Grandfather had an '86 Nissan Pulsar NX. I'm still sad that the Illinois winters rushed it to nothing in the late 90s.

Very few (if any) digital gauge clusters from the 80s were CRT like you had indicated at 4:28. They were LCD. I've disassembled and repaired digital clusters from G.M., Audi and Ford from the 80s and 90s and every one of them was an LCD display.

More precient than LCD screens in the cluster failing is the trend of auto manufacturers removing buttons and making it all interactive through a touch screen infotainment system. Not only can these proprietary screens fail leaving you with an expensive replacement or going without HVAC, it also removes the ability to upgrade the stereo by ripping the old one out - or makes it prohibitively expensive.

They went away for a short time but also not some cars still had it. But they are back now. Some people think this is a new thing now. 😁

80s digital clusters are the most beautiful to my eye.

My first car which was a 1986 Mazda 929 coupe had 2 of the coolest features you've done a video on, digital dash and pop up headlights. The gauge cluster had a combination of the row of LEDs for the revs and a fake digital speedometer like what was shown on that Chevrolet S10 in your video. It was also very wedge shaped and it's headlights were actually quad rectangles like the Delorean but popped up. This thing was basically the Mazda version of the Nissan Silvia - a rwd 4 cylinder luxury coupe that also had a turbo rotary in Japan when it was sold as the Cosmo. I also had a 1991 JDM Toyota Soarer V8 which was the same as the Lexus sc400 but had a full digital dash and a CRT touch screen in the centre - sadly the CD rom based Japanese GPS didn't work anymore and the TV option wasn't fitted so the screen was pretty useless.

1986, A record below the dash for voice warnings, that a bit old school? In 1983 in the UK the produced a digital voice warning for the MG Maestro. This car was planned to be announced as the first mass produced car with a digital dash. However, Renault was the first beating the MG by only a month.

I remembered when I saw the first ever digital dashboard on a Honda Accord back in the 80s and I was so mesmerized....

My first and only digital dash was in my Mazda 626... Loved "Ol Sparky" but hated that dash cluster. She was slow car fast, and that didn't work with the lag on the speedo. Got real messed up on gear changes. Especially when I was giving her the beans.

My Grandfathers 91 Sonoma has a digital dashboard and it's amazing looking. I also love the Nissan 300zx we had with it.

My neighbors 1990 Toyota Cressida GLI had one, as a 5 year old kid I was amazed at how futuristic it looked

I had digital gauges from opel kadett e installed in my daewoo nexia back in 2012. good times. loved it.

Our first car in the family was rwd sports coupe Mazda 929 with a futuristic digital gauge. When grew up, I bought a 1994 toyota Chaser jzx91 with even more impressive digital gauge that looked like it was deep mounted with the help of mirrors

I remember the Ford Thunderbird from the mid-80's. They used a LCD speedometer with analog gauges. I can see why they chose LCD over the previous VFD because it was probably more reliable. However the speedometer was barely readable on really cold days due to the nature of LCD's until the backlight warmed it up enough to function.

My '88 GTA has the optional digital dash and the service check such as the one at 2:14. Cool to know some history about it.

I recognised the dash type from my 1984 Mazda 626 Limited (New Zealand) in the video. It was very cool but the fuel gauge would often malfunction and just flash which was a bit of an issue!

How about a video on the development of side and rear view mirrors? From beginning to electric mirrors, power folding ones and today's cameras, safety sensors etc?

Well LCDs made in the early 2010s had a tendency to delaminate from heat stress or moisture or even just because they're old I don't know if they fixed that technical hurdle in modern LCD screens we'll just have to see

I like the 1987 ford thunderbird video about its digital cluster, it is unlike any other digital cluster, its a wierd floresent green that is back lite by little tiny bulbs you can replace, I think it was in the taurus and most of the lincolns too

Loved the digital dash in our '86 Ford aerostar when I was a kid.

I love to see the old digital gauge in my Opel Kadett. It's always a pleasure to drive

Most beautiful and reliable digital dash had the german build Opel Kadett GSi. ❤️

You need to check out the 88 Buick Rivera! My dad had one of these vehicles. It had a touch screen in it and a digital dash! Everybody in the neighborhood was amazed how futuristic his car was!

I love the look of those old digital gauges

When I got my '21 Escape, I was surprised to see the 12in instrument display as I was lead to believe those were reserved for the Hybrids but since mine was produced toward the end of the '21 run (August) a dealer told me they were able to include them with the 360 package. Love it, but my biggest disappointment is that it seems it should be able to do something more like access to some OBD info or something since no part of the screen is dedicated like an older LCD with all it's icons jammed onto the panel. The only thing that's mildly "cool" is that it changes theme with the driving mode. BUT the collision warning notice is more distracting than the hazard ahead.

I had a digital gauge cluster in my ‘89 Chev S-10 fail and I remember being quoted close to $1000 to get it replaced. When you’re only making $4/hr that was a massive expense.

So i have a 14 Grand cherokee with the rpm digital cluster in the middle, still working great!

Go fing a beautiful exemple of pure 80's digital tech design: the french Citroen BX "DIGIT". its dashboard IS Amazing, satellites commodos, digital screen, etc... I love this car !!

I had a 1991 Cutlass supreme digital dashboard. I didn't really think much of it at the time but it was pretty cool.

With as good modern screen technology has come, I'm sure a modern digital gauge will easily last as long as the car assuming they weren't using cheap low-quality components. And since you can easily make the gauge cluster to whatever you want in software, I'm sure they'll just be more and more common.

My Mothers 2004 Toyota Yaris's LCD display is still working flawlessly all these years later, the Yaris had a digital display as early as 1999, and I'm not aware of them being plagued with issues, so at least Toyota has had the problem solved for the last 23 years.

The thing is: Producing a somewhat "large" LCD is way cheaper than producing a speedo with little motors and needles and moving parts, but they are sold for less money than full digital clusters, that is something i find amusing.

i love the digtal gauge in my 1st gen Yaris/Vitz, really makes the car unique.

I love this series of yours!

My 1985 Gemballa Mercedes had digital gauges and they kinda worked, also had steering wheel audio controls, pretty rare for that time

I have a 99 mercury grand marquis with all digital gauges, feels like a spaceship I love it

Love it !!! Thanks Zach 👍

I have a Opel Kadett E 2L GSI (Vauxhall Astra Mk2) with a digital cluster, it looks so cool and is still functioning properly more than 30 years later :)

Most of the 80's displays used Vacuum Florescent Displays (VFDs) with a few using LCD displays. Very few used CRT screens, though both CRT and VFD work on a very similar principal.

Great video! I have a GCC spec 1992 Toyota Mark II, it has a digital gauge!

They're so cool, I'm making a lil screen dashboard out of a raspberry pi and am absolutely copying that 300zx's moving RPM graph

Nice one! More than a decade ago I had a friend whose uncle had a 1990's OPEL with a Digital Speedometer which was quite bigger than the ones shown here. One thing I remember is that in case of high acceleration or high deceleration the Speedometer would somehow "lag" behind. At that moment I decided to never have a digital speedometer in my car.

I bought a car with digital speedometer and I'm not 100% used to it, nearly 3 years later... The main issue? With "classic" speedometers, after a while you get to understand its scale and the position of the hand. So, you get to train yourself to know how fast you are going by using your peripherical vision, just based on the position of the hand. Basically, you see your speed without even looking into speedometer. With this thing, it is nearly impossible. You MUST look at it and read your speed... Which I find annoying up to this day...

Come to think of it, an episode on big block engines is deserved, after all they are borderline extinct and the only modern one left is the ford 7.3 gas

Always love seeing these videos man, should do a video on different rims or something, I have “salad spinners” on my ‘96 Z31 300zx.

My 8th gen civic hatchback had a digital speedometer which was ontop of the dashboard. It failed while under warranty. where the numbers would fade or just display 888. It was a very intermittent issue. Had to use my phone to take pictures while driving on an empty street to get photos which I then used to get it fixed under warranty.

love the digital dash in my 2001 toyota yaris verso it's one of the reasons i bought the car, i have a thing for retro digital dashboards

Over about the last 15 years the mechanical design of LCD panels has become a lot simpler - this was mostly done to reduce manufacturing costs, but has had the benefit of designing out a lot of common failure points. For example, an older display panel would have several levels of interconnect - a PCB on the back of the panel, and multiple flex PCB transition boards with the driver chips on them that connected between the main PCB and the glass. A more modern panel has the drivers integrated into the glass and the controller IC (that used to be on the main PCB) also mounted on the glass in "flip chip" style where the bumps on the chip directly connect to the electrodes on the glass - the only flex PCB is the one that goes to the host system, and that's generally entirely passive with possibly a couple of caps for supply filtering. So it looks like it SHOULD be a lot more reliable, and the results of accelerated life testing match this - but although life testing is generally a pretty good match for reality it's far from 100%.

I’ve driven an 02 runabout! A buddy’s dad is a collector and let me drive it around the neighborhood. What a ride 🤣

2:20 Yes, my mom had a 1985 Nissan Maxima and it had that digital design language going on, despite analog gauges. They had to have a computer grid everywhere. It seems like if you wanted things to look more futuristic in the 1980s, add wireframe graphics. I thought that in the 1990s, we were going to have wireframe graphics headsets and see through walls with them. It never happened.