What Makes A Classic Car

Classic cars are never bought for practical, sensible reasons. Which is why some unreliable and impractical cars are highly collectable. The main purpose of a car is to get from A to B, which if it fails to do so, it fails its primary purpose. But classic or cult cars are loved not for their reliability but how the look or feel taking you from point A and hopefully on to point B.

These cars can be ingrained into a child’s mind to create a fond memory, such as going on holiday or a parent coming home. Even commercial vehicles can spark a memory, my Dad was a builder and every time I see a Mk1 Transit drop side or Bedford CF I think of him.

If the child turns into a petrolhead like me, then the fondness for these older cars can defy logic and turn into an obsession usually only limited by budget. Not everyone can buy the dream car they had as a poster when growing up (I’m thinking of you Testarossa), but the cars they had in their youth or their parents had are more affordable.

Cars in films and TV

Cars featured in films or TV programs can have a cult following just by association. If Mini’s were not used in the Italian Job would they have the same following? Or sporty Fords in crime dramas, such as The Professionals RS2000 and Capri, or even Spender’s Cosworth.

Most people were unaware of a short lived production car called a DeLorean until one became a time machine in Back to the future films. People of a certain age (including me) will know what a Knight Industries 2000 is, but might not know what a Pontiac Trans Am looks like even though they are almost the same car.

They were better back then – emotion connection to classic cars

When people say ‘they were better back then’ they are wrong and based on emotion – I know that’s controversial and I’ll probably get my assed kicked at the next car show I go to. Modern cars may seem boring, but they are more reliable, quicker, more economical and safer – all the things cars should be. If it looks good too, then that’s a bonus.

Tighter restrictions on safety has an impact on design, such as day time running lights and tighter emissions have created the need for alternative power such as electric, hybrid and hydrogen. These current boring, all look the same cars will in turn become desirable too, like their predecessors.

What makes a car a classic officially

The official view from the UK HMRC is if the vehicle was built or first registered more than 40 years ago are now classed as an historic vehicle. Historic vehicles aged over 40 years can be exempt from paying road tax and having an annual MOT, however the vehicle must be in roadworthy condition.

Future classics

Right now you can buy a car that will be a future classic and sort after by many people, but what is it? Right now, no one knows. You can best guess and look at previous sort after classic cars and see what their present day version is, although with more manufacturers going the SUV route that’s getting harder to do. Maybe a Nissan Qashqai will be a future classic, then again maybe not. Sporty or limited editions are a good start and definitely something that was desirable when new.

Whatever your definition of a classic car is, as long as you enjoy driving it or just looking at it, it doesn’t really matter.