7 Of The Best-Looking Dashboards Ever Designed

We've looked at some classic car dashboards we'll never see again, and we've told you about others that seemed far ahead of their time. But what about dashboards that might as well be works of art? Regardless of the era or the car you're driving, there's one universal truth: When you're behind the wheel, you're hopefully only looking at the road and the dashboard. Automakers frequently create dashboards with specific elements which lend a certain feel to the driving experience. Luxury cars use leather, wood, and intricate designs to convey an upscale feeling. Performance-oriented cars often feature prominent, easy-to-read gauges and racing-inspired aesthetics. More ordinary cars have functional, easily-produced dashboards utilizing materials like polypropylene and polyurethane. 

All of these styles can be aesthetically pleasing, though, and there are countless examples of exquisite car dashboards of all shapes and sizes. Compiling a list, therefore, means condensing over a century's worth of automotive excellence into only a few examples. To distill things down a bit, let's take into account two things: timeframe and function. When was the dashboard made, and how did it fit the car's design and intended audience? As such, this list will be divided by decade and will focus on form over function. Some of these dashboards feature remarkable craftsmanship, while others are beautiful in their simplicity. But all of them are timeless, unique, and gorgeous to look at. Let's start with  the 1960s  and work our way forward to the  present day.

This list could be limited to 1960s cars and still be considered a fair assessment; the decade has some truly magnificent designs. From the smooth, intimidating lines of the 1965 Buick Riviera to the brushed aluminum insert in the Series 1 Jaguar E-Type, this era saw an astounding array of gorgeous designs. This diversity naturally led to some truly outstanding creations, including the Toyota 2000GT. The most immediate standout feature of this dashboard design is the gorgeous wood insert, unique to every 2000GT. That's for a good reason: the wood used in the dashboard's construction is the same used by Yamaha to fashion grand pianos. Six-millimeter thick rosewood coated in resin surrounds the entire gauge cluster, center console, and shifter, and is perfectly accented with subtle chrome trim around the gauges. Similar to the Jaguar E-Type, the 2000GT uses several heavy tactile switches and knobs. 

This makes for an aesthetically pleasing design that's a pleasure to operate as well. Nothing about the dashboard is over-designed or obtrusive, either, and it incorporates elements from many other famous vehicles. Some examples are the double-headed layout of American cars such as the late-'50s Corvette and mid-'60s Mustang, the prominent gauge design of European touring cars from the post-World War II era, and the ergonomic focus of contemporary sports cars. From the Yamaha-constructed wooden fascia to the exquisitely detailed trim, this is as close to a perfect and timeless dashboard design as one can realistically achieve in a grand tourer. Little (if any) of this dashboard design would look out of place in a modern car.

The Espada actually dates back to 1968, though the Series III debuted in December 1972 with a totally redesigned wraparound dashboard. These layouts weren't particularly popular at the time, with many automakers adopting a design archetype that was a bit less inspired. But Lamborghini did their own thing, as per usual. Its dashboard reflected no other design architecture that was common at the time, and we're on board for it. It's a unique look to find in an early '70s car, especially with the raised center console and the radio's unusual position within the main instrument cluster. Typical Lamborghini design language of the era called for aircraft-inspired instrumentation, such as that found on the far more popular Countach. 

The Espada Series III is certainly an acquired taste, at least from the outside. The interior layout marked something of a mid-point between the later Countach and the earlier Miura, using the strengths of both to its advantage. It borrowed elements from the Miura's driver-focused layout, particularly the raised center console. With the prominent aluminum or wood inlay, you had a dashboard that came together extremely well. It used a number of fine materials to combined function and form elegantly, and the design architecture is both novel and intuitive. The Espada's dash wouldn't look out of place on more modern vehicles, such as the Toyota Supra Mk4.

If there's a single term that encompasses the majority of 1980s dashboard design, it's "digital." Several cars featured electronic dashboards during this timeframe, including the Aston Martin Lagonda, Audi Quattro, and Chevrolet Corvette C4. Many automakers simply replaced the gauge cluster with a digital version as an optional package, or haphazardly fitted gadgets like CRT monitors into otherwise-dated designs. But a few companies went above and beyond, creating fantastic dashboard layouts without over-designing them. Chief among those was Nissan with its Z31 cars (the 300ZX in the United States and the Fairlady Z in Japan). 

Beginning with model year 1984, the Z31 featured an optional electronic instrument display that was perhaps one of the best-looking digital displays seen before or since. The animated graphic on the tachometer was easy to read and interpret, the auxiliary gauges weren't cluttered, and the digital speedometer was prominent yet unobtrusive to the overall design. The electronic instrumentation replaced the typical Nissan Z's central gauge pods with a digital display for fuel economy, an accelerometer, and a compass readout that resembled a crosshair.

This design positively oozed coolness, effortlessly combining the traditional Z-car layout with fantastic ergonomics and contemporary electronics. The standard analog dashboard was outstanding as well, so this wasn't simply a matter of the digital gauges looking cool (although they certainly do). Z31s also featured an early voice warning system, which was a set of phonograph recordings activated by a solenoid. Few car companies combined the technology of the moment with timeless design this well, let alone in a way that still holds up today.

Perhaps best known for producing cars that lose control at the drop of a hat, TVR created some of the most bombastic and iconic designs of British motoring. Its interiors are no exception. On one extreme we have puzzlingly avant-garde designs such as the Cerbera's dashboard, and on the other end sits the more traditional layout of the Griffith.

First produced as a 1992 model, the TVR Griffith is a low-volume, hand-built roaster featuring a dashboard layout reminiscent of legends of British automotive history like Austin-Healey, MG, and Triumph. The main instrumentation sits in a gorgeous wooden surround, fixed with one of a few different gauge styles to complement the trim. These Griffith's dash included either clockwise or counter-clockwise ascending speedometer and tachometer gauges in dark or light contrasting hues, and the dashboard leather complemented the colors nicely. The gauges themselves look right out of a luxury timepiece and flow beautifully into the center portion of the dash.

The Griffith's dash features a wraparound layout that places all controls within easy reach of the driver. It's fair to say that one doesn't really sit in a cockpit like this; it's more like slipping into a glove. The double-concave design minimizes wasted space from the driver's perspective, so you don't have a huge slab of dashboard on the far end. Instead, it's all functional when you're perched behind the wheel surrounded by gorgeous wood and chrome trim. TVRs remain niche cars, thanks largely to the brand's unique exterior designs and reputation for unforgiving performance. But TVR sure knows how to craft an excellent interior.

The low-volume Dutch manufacturer Spyker handily takes the prize for this decade's finest interior and it's not even close (aside from a few similarly rare vehicles like the Pagani Zonda). First introduced as a 2001 model, the Spyker C8 follows the company's aviation-inspired aesthetic to a T in homage to the original Spyker aviation and automotive company. This motif heavily influenced the design language of their first production model, which had one of the most incredible interiors of any mass-produced automobile in the current century.

First and literally foremost, you have the absurdly awesome steering wheel, which was fashioned to resemble a four-bladed propeller but was replaced with an airbag unit in some models. Behind the wheel rests a prominent turned-aluminum dashboard, the effect accomplished by hand-polishing an aluminum sheet in the style of interwar-era aircraft. This process involves grinding fine metallic shavings into the dash with a cork, producing the unique look. The dials and switches have milled texturing for a beautifully tactile look and feel, and the ignition switch is covered with a red guard like an aircraft's. This aesthetic continues throughout the whole of the interior, right down to the exposed polished shifter linkage running through the cockpit. This was a stunning layout and, frankly, not much has surpassed it since in terms of sheer steampunk beauty. The C8's interior is clearly all handmade and hand-fitted, and its design language remains largely unmatched over 20 years later. And as such, no such list would be complete without it.

Much like the Spyker C8, The Pagani Huayra has an absolutely gorgeous interior. The Huayra debuted in 2011and is the first hypercar on this list. It's also by far the most expensive, easily commanding seven-figure prices. That price is reflected in the design, quality, and finish, with the entire interior completely bespoke right down to each individual switch.

The steering wheel features custom leather trim and paddle shifters to supplement the gated center-mounted shift lever. The main gauge cluster evolves traditional Pagani conceptual styling, combining the Zonda's analog look with electronic displays. The digital pods sit in a retro-futuristic housing, with rounded edges similar to a CRT display. This choice perfectly accents the functional feel of the cockpit. Pagani made wonderful use of color contrast as well — with dark carbons, textured and colored leather, and bright gauges working together to create an absolute feast for the eyes.

Not many interiors — even in the hypercar segment — match what Pagani did with the Huayra's interior design. Even accounting for the utterly absurd cost of the Huayra, its dashboard still stands out as a remarkable marriage of technical and aesthetic design.

Today's dashboard designs feature prominent infotainment displays and large screens, either resembling or literally implementing full-size tablets. However, the art of crafting an aesthetically-pleasing dashboard never escaped the higher-level luxury brands, like Bentley with the beautiful Flying Spur. This exquisitely-crafted dashboard features a dizzying array of personalization options, including a two-tone wood and lacquered paintwork finish across the entire fascia. The vital gauges themselves rest in a customizable all-digital instrument panel behind the steering wheel.

But the real crown jewel rests in the middle of the dashboard: a completely flush, beautifully-integrated infotainment suite that reveals itself when the car starts. At the press of a button, this infotainment display rotates back into the depths of the dashboard to be replaced by three analog gauges. As Bentley describes it, these gauges "reflect a more classic style of instrumentation and a bygone era of grand touring." They include an outside thermometer, a compass, and a stopwatch housed in chrome bezels. Bentley also provides the ability to display no gauges at all, with the third option being a flush veneer panel to match the rest of the dashboard.

This level of seamless integration shows just how beautiful an infotainment panel can be when implemented correctly. With the flush display, beautifully-accented trim, and overall interior design language, Bentley was able to create an understated, beautiful dashboard will full functionality. When coupled with the traditional centrally-mounted clock, tactile buttons, and prominent center console, the Flying Spur sets the benchmark for modern interior design by combining a stunning form with postmodern levels of functionality.