What is a Classic Car??

kluivert

Can someone tell me what makes a car a Classic Car.

I am thinking of buying a MX5 '94 1.8, would this be considered a classic for classic insurance. It would not be a daily driver.

mike65

er nope thats not a classic - yet! 20 years is the cut-off I belive for insurance purposes.

Mike.

DubTony

Classic means it's very old.
Classic does not mean it's bleedin' deadly.

ds20prefecture

DubTony wrote:

Classic means it's very old.
Classic does not mean it's bleedin' deadly.

Hhhmmm. That would make the Morris Marina,Hillman Avenger and Chrysler Alpine classic cars. I would have thought the opposite - classic means it's bleedin' deadly AND very old. For insurance purposes, though, classic just means over 20 years old.

Redrocket

so classic tax is 30 years old and classic insurance is 20?
30 is a government thing so thats a definate, but does classic car insurance change from company to company?

alastair

Some insurance companies will treat younger exotica as classics, but it's a moveable feast. A '94 MX5 might be borderline for some companies, but I doubt it.

That would make the Morris Marina,Hillman Avenger and Chrysler Alpine classic cars.

I thought they had snuck in recently. The Avenger has certainly been profiled in Practical Classics, and sure isn't the Marina just a Morris Minor in newer clothes?

ds20prefecture

alastair wrote:

That would make the Morris Marina,Hillman Avenger and Chrysler Alpine classic cars.

I thought they had snuck in recently. The Avenger has certainly been profiled in Practical Classics, and sure isn't the Marina just a Morris Minor in newer clothes?

Unfortunately for me, one of the first cars I ever drove was a purple marina estate, a 1.8 automatic. Truly dreadful, with elastoplast seats that were actively painful if you were wearing shorts. I don't think there were any Minor bits in the Marina. We also had a white 1.3 Marina saloon - hang on, I think I'm gonna throw up.......

There, that's better. No wait, I remember getting a ride to school in my neighbour's orange Avenger .... blughRalfburp

My older brother had a beige Hillman Hunter - strangely it didn't elicit the retch reaction like the avenger did. He went on to own a number of Lancia Betas (a 1600 and a 2000, if memory serves). Beautiful cars, and so fragile they have to be super-rare now.

I reckon the idea of a true "classic" is a car that changed the motoring landscape in some reasonably significant way.
MGB - small affordable style.
2CV - motorised a post war nation
Beetle - motorised the world (crap car, though)
XJ6 - the first "sports saloon"?
EType - first affordable supercar
Fiat 500 - first usable microcar, and a masterpiece of design
DS - Imagination run wild
Morris Marina - .....
Hillman Avenger - ......

Lots of old crap has a loyal following. I believe one of the largest clubs in the UK is the Austin Allegro club. Tragic.

gs39t

alastair wrote:

The Avenger has certainly been profiled in Practical Classics, and sure isn't the Marina just a Morris Minor in newer clothes?

That magazine should be just called "Old Sh*te from the 80's" :rolleyes:

alastair

ds20prefecture wrote:

I don't think there were any Minor bits in the Marina.

There were quite a few bits in common:

Charged with rejuvenating the Austin-Morris range, Harry Webster formulated a plan that initially centred around a comprehensive re-body of the Morris Minor – a car that unlike the later front-wheel-drive ADO16 and ADO17 was regarded to be tough and most importantly, reliable. So although, the running gear dated back to 1948, it was very much a known quantity and facilitated an accelerated development programme for the new car.

What about the new car, itself? Well, Harry Webster envisaged that using this basic Morris Minor componentry and a new body, it would be possible to develop an effective Ford Escort/Vauxhall Viva rival. Obviously, there would need to be a 10 inch stretch of wheelbase in order to go Escort-chasing, but with the anticipated range, which encompassed 1100cc, 1300cc and 1500cc versions, a favourable and company car-friendly specification was taking shape. Webster also felt confident enough at this stage of development to put it to the BL board that the car should be priced at a premium of about £20 over the Escort, stating that the new car would offer more.

http://www.austin-rover.co.uk/index.htm?ado28storyf.htm

I'm no fan of marinas, vivas, avengers, cortinas, or even BMC landcrabs etc, but clearly they do represent, for better or worse, the mainstream of the era and the end of the british saloon car industry, and so, with the passing of time should be considered classics.

ds20prefecture

alastair wrote:

There were quite a few bits in common

I stand corrected.

I'm no fan of marinas, vivas, avengers, cortinas, or even BMC landcrabs etc, but clearly they do represent, for better or worse, the mainstream of the era and the end of the british saloon car industry, and so, with the passing of time should be considered classics.

I suppose here we must disagree. For me Rover and Jaguar still represented the British saloon car industry long after Morris and Austin had passed.

Also, because something represented the last of something and some time has passed does not confer it classic status in my eyes. It just makes them old. Nobody bemoans the eradication of smallpox

These cars died in the market place because they were crap cars made down to a price and were comprehensively whipped by their more innovative rivals. Hardly surprising, given that they were competing with the contemporaries like the Citroen GS, Renault 16, Fiat 124 and later the VW Golf.

alastair

What defines a classic car is entirely subjective of course, but if collectors consider them classic, and they've enough years on them, then they are a classic to someone. No-one is forced to collect Allegros, or Fuegos, or Datsun Cherrys, so clearly there's a genuine enthuiasm for collecting less glamorous or innovative cars of a certain era.

At the end of the day it's down to which aspects of motoring heritage appeals to you - some travel the well worn path, some veer off into the briars you wouldn't go near.

Time does impart a whole bunch of desirability on the most mundane of cars, if only because of rarity interest.

jozi

Does a Golf mk2 gti fall into the classic catagory?

scuba steve

A classic is 30years old i think and maybe 20years for insurance

stratos

A car is a vehicle that moves you from a to b.
A flash car is a car that you feel proud to own, but really you wanted the better spec one.
A vintage car is any car over 30 years old.
A classic car, is one that makes you feel fuzzy in your heart, when you open the garage doors, and it has collected many dna samples from you, on it's oily bits.
So to my mind, it's a personal thing.

camarobill

and it has collected many dna samples from you, its true iv no knuckles left :rolleyes: