Delving into dashboard design
From a simple plank to a high-tech information centre, the dash has come a long way

In the past 100 years the automotive dashboard has evolved from a simple plank borrowed from horse-drawn carriages where it was used to keep mud and 'emissions' off the occupants, into a technology-packed information centre that can talk to satellites and accept verbal commands from the driver.

In its horse-drawn days, the most complicated gadget on a dashboard was the holder for the 'engine management system' or as it was better known, the buggy whip. And by the time the first series production cars were arriving on the scene it hadn't progressed much further. The handsomely curved dashboard that gave Ransom Eli Olds' first successful effort in 1901 its name - the Curved Dash Oldsmobile - was devoid of any features, although optional oil coach lamps could be fixed to each side.

Two factors brought the humble dashboard into the limelight. One was the growing complexity of the vehicles, and the second was the increasing speed that could be attained.

More complex and powerful engines saw the car evolve from a novelty to impress the neighbours and scare their horses, into a vehicle that could be used on a daily basis and for longer trips. Soon there were a number of systems that required monitoring and a profusion of new controls, and the dashboard was the obvious place to mount them.

Coolant temperature was first monitored by a thermometer incorporated in the radiator cap, but this soon migrated to the dash, joining such things as oil pressure and fuel pressure gauges (fuel in early cars was often delivered to the carburetor by pressurizing the tank with a little dash-mounted pump) and an increasing number of electrical switches. Later, such things as clocks, compasses, altimeters, revolution counters (tachometers), inclinometers (on 4x4s to indicate angle of lean), turbo and supercharger boost gauges, oil temperature, oil level, charging system and fuel level gauges appeared.

These were usually scattered about the dashboard or instrument panel as it was becoming known, but in the 1930s began to be consolidated in clusters, first centred in the dash and then mounted ahead of the driver in his or her line of sight.

Warning lights were soon another instrument panel feature and in the late 1930s radios began to appear. The dash material itself changed, in mass production cars at least, from wood to metal, sometimes padded as a form of crash protection. Wood veneer was, and still is, considered essential for luxury cars - fake wood for those aspiring to luxury.

Cars of the 1950s, particularly American designs, brought the dashboard to the pinnacle of its visual fame with extravagant chrome bedecked creations that rivaled soda-fountain Wurlitzers.

The device that came to dominate the dash is the speedometer. Measuring speed wasn't much of an issue up until the arrival of steam trains in the early 1800s, although Leonardo DaVinci apparently designed a speed measuring device. Even early motorists weren't too interested, except for sporty types who wanted to see what speeds their mounts could attain. But as performance increased, a speedometer became a useful gadget to help the driver determine safe driving limits. With increased traffic density the authorities also began to set speed limits, which required the driver have a speedometer to obey the law. They began to become standard equipment before 1920.

The first speedometers were clockwork-based 'chronometric' devices. These are the kind with slim needles that flick around in such delightful fashion while measuring speed and engine revs on old British sports cars. One of my favourites is the impressive 300 mm-plus diameter tachometer that sits to the left of the wheel of the early '30s MG KC Magnette. Many of those early dashes presented marvelous displays of the instrument maker's art.

Today's instrument panel can be complex (but never as classy looking as in the past) with a profusion of information displays or very simple with all the information you require presented by warning LEDs and symbols or even text displays. New features include digital displays for climate control and entertainment systems, and screens that can display information about various in-car systems, plus navigation information.

Some experts call for plenty of gauges to involve the driver, the others say make it easy with warning symbols, since people don't read or react to the gauges anyway. Although electronic rev limiters are used by most cars to protect their engines, the tachometer is still a popular dashboard instrument with most drivers. Look for more touch-panel-type 'switches' in the future and more electronic displays, plus better ways to deal with the information overload that many are becoming concerned about.

But style will still play a role. After determining that putting information in the driver's line of sight to reduce the times he or she isn't looking at the road was a good idea, we're seeing instrument clusters now moving back to the centre of the dashboard in some modern cars.