When does your own car become a "classic car"

[a8hex]

An interesting question occurred to me while responding to LotusOmega375D in the "is it dead yet" thread.

LotusOmega375D said:

I bailed out of classic ownership last year and spent the proceeds on a brand new sports car.
----------------8<--------------
Maybe when the kids have grown up and cleared off I will return to the fold and buy another classic, but by then my latest car might be considered a classic anyway!

So if you own a car for ages, when does it become a "classic car"
No one seems able to agree on a definition of what a "classic car" really is. Most years around this quiet time someone decides to rekindle that argument.
When you think "I've always fancied one of those" about an older car and head off to buy one as a toy, then at the very least, to you, it's a classic. And after all who else's opinion really matters. But when you've had a car for a long time, maybe since new or nearly new, when does it become a classic.

It's coming up to 20 years now since I bought my X300. Certainly for the first 10 years I just viewed it as my new car. Then I bought a car old enough to be classed as classic in almost anyone's eyes, so I thought of them as the old Jag and the new Jag (which could be confusing depending on context and whether it meant in terms of age or acquisition). Eventually a couple of years back I realised that I was tending to treat the XJ more as a classic car. LadyB8's car had always been the workhorse in the family.

So when does it change? Is it just a matter of perception and the way you use and treat it?

[Slidingpillar]

As there is no UK definition of 'Classic Car', it could be at any age. And to complicate matters, what you consider a 'classic' could be just a slightly old car to your neighbour.

20 years seems to be the minimum normally applied, but even with events for classics, quite a few will consider some makes/models classics at a much younger age. Most Morgans for example are considered classics by some the same year that they are made.

[galro]

Most people here in Norway tend to see anything older than 30 years as classic cars as they are given reduced road tax and other perks associated with classic cars. Personally however I have hard time seeing anything from the "post chrome"-era as classics. I just see cars from the '80s as old cars and not something I think I will ever have any interest in.

[Russwhitehouse]

I tend to agree with our Norwegian friend on this one.

[550M]

The older you get, the older they have to be(!) It's quite frightening to consider that a car registered in 1999 is now 17 years old! When I were a lad fresh behind the wheel, a 17 year old car would cover early Healey 3000's and E-Types, which were absoltely considered classics by then. Not sure whether a 1999 XK8 is quite there yet though?

[restoman]

I think the answer is simple:

If you have to ask whether your car is a classic then it probably isn't.

[Rot box]

Any car which hits it rock bottom value then goes up again as it becomes rare and desireable again is worthy of being called a classic, even if it is only desireable to a very limited number of people.

[Evangelion]

In my experience, they only become classics after I sell them!

[Slidingpillar]

I must admit I regret not buying an Audi Quatro Short Sport when I came across it virtually at the bottom of its price. Would have cost me a fortune later though, as I never would able to resist not using it for competition. Still about the fastest thing with a tax disc up a hillclimb.

[Nik da Greek]

I think there's a big difference between an old car and a classic... and also between a car that has become rare and a classic. I hesitate to use the word, but I think it's a status thing.

I'd better explain that one quickly, lol. By way of example, there used to be a Ford Sierra on every street corner, often more than one. Now you never see them. They've gone back to the soil, fallen prey to that humorous Ford electrical system self-devouring syndrome (you know, first symptoms are the brake lights flashing on and off in time to the indicators, before you know it it's become full-on automotive ebola), whatever. Does this make the few that have survived classics? No, I'd say not. It makes them interesting simply as a survivor, nothing more. However, the special versions - obviously the Cossie in various flavours, to a lesser extent XR4x4s and so on - now, that's different. I'd say they are classics and even in their day were recognised as classics-in-waiting. They had the important elements that set them apart, such as superior engineering irrespective of cost, higher price, lower production numbers and suchlike. Status, if you will

I think a car needs more than just age to gain classic status. It needs to have been a premium product even in its day. It needs to have some uniqueness about it in terms of styling or engineering, or at least be an uprated version of a bogstock model. It needs a degree of rarity, even in these days of mass-production. And more ephemerally, it needs to engender some degree of affection and emotion in people, preferably beyond the immediate circle of car aficionados. I guess left long enough even the Morris Marina* will become classic, but maybe give it another hundred years or so...


* for fear of Top Gear-style Marina OC reprisals I'd just like to make it clear I love Marinas. The most reliable car I ever owned was a Marina, and it's not everyone who can say that. Fastback coupe in BRG, mind, none of your Johnny-come-lately Ital rubbish

[JagerT]

See if you can insure it on a classic car policy ?

[anonymous-user]

In Malaysia a Classic car is 25 years old and in original condition, and owned by some one who has two modern cars registered taxed and insured. My lotus Carlton is just off for its government inspection, next month, they check engine number etc, and if original I get the road tax reduced to 25% (from the grand I pay now).
My old 635 M was refused classic status because it had after market a magnesium wheels, took it back with a set of BBS spiders bolted on from a friends jag, lucky everything else was OK andn the guy just looked at the wheels from his desk on the back of the tow truck as they didn't actually turn.

[Mr. Magoo]

I don't believe it is an age specific definition. Probably more to do with values bottoming out and starting to rise due to increased interest and demand. There is plenty of sh*t automobilia from the 70's/80's/90's that people label classics because of their age or because they grew up with one but they are nigh on worthless (think any number of BL output of said era).

There are some cars still in production or just out of production which are 'classic' (think Gallardo/Murcielago) because they are hugely desirable, second hand prices are rising because demand outstretches supply. These are classic.

You can usually find true classics ticking most if not all of the following:

notable manufacturer/lineage
racing provenance
rarity
engineering significance
epoch defining

[a8hex]

Well if it's defined by the value going down (depreciation) and then going back up, then my previous car would have been a classic when not very old. Before becoming a Jaguar bore I had a Toyota Celica GT4 the ST185 version. When Toyota replaced this with the ST204 version the price of the new model was significantly higher than the model it replaced which had the effect that second hand values shot up. Yippee lucky me, I got a very nice deposit on a nearly new XJ6. I think the Celica was about 5 years old at the time.

As to classic car insurance, I was offered that on the XJ6 years ago, one difference was that for the XJ they wouldn't give me business use coverage on the classic policy whereas the same company (Heritage) gave me business use cover for free on the XK150. The conversation when something along the lines of
Me: Can I use it for work occasionally
Insurance company (IC): Hang on a moment, I'll ask the underwriter
pause...
IC: He said "That sounds nice, I'd do that too if I had one", so yeah no problem and no cost either