Been trolling aorund the various forum's and someone asked when does a car become a classic. I would saw pre 1980 at a pinch, but what do you lot think?
One of the subjects that pisses me off - mainly because people seem to feel the need to stick a label on everything, and no two people agree on the subject anyway!
I have a 1988 Sierra which I don't consider to be classic. I've also got a 1983 Sierra 3-door which I don't really think of as classic (it's my daily driver!) but it seems a lot of people do. Got a 1972 Escort - OK, it's a classic. To me it's a car. I could call it Queen Shirley of Neptune, it's still the same car!
On the other hand show me a 1988 Lancia Delta HF Integrale and I'll probably call it a classic...
Forget labels, enjoy the cars you like, that's what I say!
Classics seem to fall into two catagories.The ones that are old enough to warrant being called a classic.Then theres the ones that seem to cause an impact.ie sierra cosworths,intergrales,ferrari 308's the list goes on,but certain cars that stand out from the crowd seem to achieve the same status.As for chuckys question about a vintage i wqs always lead to believe that pre war was vintage and post was veteran.There thats my own opinion
tailfin wrote:Classics seem to fall into two catagories.The ones that are old enough to warrant being called a classic.Then theres the ones that seem to cause an impact.ie sierra cosworths,intergrales,ferrari 308's the list goes on,but certain cars that stand out from the crowd seem to achieve the same status.As for chuckys question about a vintage i wqs always lead to believe that pre war was vintage and post was veteran.There thats my own opinion
I believe some people call these 1980's iconic type cars "retro". I like Nick's comment about cars that stand out in a crowd.
As for the vintage and veteran name, the number of people that call our 1960 Humber a vintage car Veteran are the really early cars , maybe pre World War 1 and vintage is maybe post WW1 to the mid 1940's.
I'd say the Iconic '80s cars are classic by now (Integrale, 308, Cosworths etc), retro is more all-encompassing. Most people wouldn't label a Nissan Cherry Europe a classic - they were a bit crap! - but it's about 25 years old now. I'd call that retro. Again, Slater's beige, slammed, banded-steel-wheeled, turbo-powered Metro - 26 years old but not many would say "classic".
A lot of it depends on the age of the person looking at the car. Loads of people consider mk1 Metros & Fiestas, Chevettes & mk5 Cortinas to be classics, which is harder for me to accept because they were the old bangers me and my mates used to knock about in when we were 17! Similarly I was talking to my cousin's 16 year old son at the weekend who said "Jeez, when you said you had an old scooter, I was thinking, like, a '91 or '92 or something...."
Yo! Simondo I thought you were intelligent. What is the matter? Couldnt think of anything, mind you I should have known better, what do you expect from an essex ford driver (If you are Gary is Mitch Sharon). HA HA. bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch.
actually according to my insurance company its 10 years! i didn't ask them much after that but i assume a car has to have some sort of pedigree to be accepted. Cant see a 10 year old mondeo getting classic insurance. I've now got it on my 'mid life crisis' car.
SOMEDAY SON ALL THIS WILL BE MINE!!
Veteran are the really early cars , maybe pre World War 1 and vintage is maybe post WW1 to the mid 1940's.
