Is the MX-5 a classic?
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Discussion

Itsallicanafford

Original Poster:

2,939 posts

188 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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The Mk1 MX-5 is a common sight on the roads, but with it now 25 years old, can it be afforded 'classic' status?

nadger

1,413 posts

169 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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Well you Can get Classic indurance on it, so yes i'd say!

woodytype S

691 posts

266 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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Just because a car is old it don't make a classic.

peteA

2,759 posts

263 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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woodytype S said:
Just because a car is old it don't make a classic.
I agree with this statement but I also think a mk1 mx5 is a classic now. What's the difference between it and a 25 year old mg or triumph sports car?

jason61c

5,978 posts

203 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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peteA said:
woodytype S said:
Just because a car is old it don't make a classic.
I agree with this statement but I also think a mk1 mx5 is a classic now. What's the difference between it and a 25 year old mg or triumph sports car?
About 50 years in development terms wink

mike9009

10,787 posts

272 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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peteA said:
woodytype S said:
Just because a car is old it don't make a classic.
I agree with this statement but I also think a mk1 mx5 is a classic now. What's the difference between it and a 25 year old mg or triumph sports car?
25 year old triumph sports cars are quite rare though.....

I consider the original mx5 a classic now. It is a personal thing as there is no set definition of a classic (age, value, rareity, condition - I don't know)

Mike

ClassicMotorNut

2,438 posts

167 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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peteA said:
I agree with this statement but I also think a mk1 mx5 is a classic now. What's the difference between it and a 25 year old mg or triumph sports car?
The MX5 exists.

Personally I wouldn't call the MX5 a classic because it doesn't have any one of the qualities that I think are required, e.g. lots of chrome, round headlights, a leather and walnut interior, a well-defined shape, loveable unreliability or being handbuilt by men who wear tweed hats and smoke pipes.

For a non-classic it is very nice, though.

andyps

7,819 posts

311 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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ClassicMotorNut said:
The MX5 exists.

Personally I wouldn't call the MX5 a classic because it doesn't have any one of the qualities that I think are required, e.g. lots of chrome, round headlights, a leather and walnut interior, a well-defined shape, loveable unreliability or being handbuilt by men who wear tweed hats and smoke pipes.

For a non-classic it is very nice, though.
Surely it has round headlights and the fact they are pop-up adds to the classic credibility! The shape is pretty well defined too. Not sure all the others are requirements for classic status wink

It depends upon a personal definition of classic but I think I would put it down as one now.

peteA

2,759 posts

263 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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I meant at the time or relatively...if you know what I mean!

My first car wa a triumph spitfire - in the late eighties it was less than 25 years old yet widely considered a classic?

I know what is meant in that's its difficult to look at relatively modern, mass produced cars and think classic but in the case of the mx5 how is it different to an mg midget or triumph spitfire? Just different decades and the early ones are old enough now to be classics in my book.

I agree there's no formula for a classic though.

I've just renewed the insurance on my 2002 TVR Tamora....on a classic policy!

Rockettvr

2,011 posts

172 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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ClassicMotorNut said:
The MX5 exists.

Personally I wouldn't call the MX5 a classic because it doesn't have any one of the qualities that I think are required, e.g. lots of chrome, round headlights, a leather and walnut interior, a well-defined shape, loveable unreliability or being handbuilt by men who wear tweed hats and smoke pipes.

For a non-classic it is very nice, though.
Working to that criteria anything built after 1980 is never going to achieve classic status then !! biggrin

ClassicMotorNut

2,438 posts

167 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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Rockettvr said:
Working to that criteria anything built after 1980 is never going to achieve classic status then !! biggrin
I don't mean it has to conform to all of them, just a few of them!

dbdb

5,179 posts

202 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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I consider the original MX5 to be a classic.

Quite a lot of classic car enthusiasts seem to want there to be a cutoff point for classic cars, with any car made after about 1980 never able to attain the mystical "Classic Status". It is as if the whole scene has become stuck in 1995. I don't understand why this has happened, but it is sad.

Escy

4,129 posts

178 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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It's not a classic in my opinion, although the early ones are old enough, they aren't rare enough.

A900ss

3,314 posts

181 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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I think this is such a grey area it's untrue. What one person considers a classic, another doesn't.

Who cares really?

As long as you like you car and it's its old (ish) and you want to call it a classic, fine.

PS - I don't call my 17 year old car a classic yet (even though it's on classic insurance) but I may well do when it hits 20 smile

iva cosworth

44,044 posts

192 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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Escy said:
they aren't rare enough.
This.

Because Mazda did such a good job ,they sold zillions of them.

I'm a bit on the fence of yay or nay.

Is my Barchetta classic ?

Made in 1997, lots made,maybe 50,000 if I read Vin number list correctly.

I think it's classic in UK due to rarity here.

I may be biased.......yes

Hooli

32,278 posts

229 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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Rockettvr said:
ClassicMotorNut said:
The MX5 exists.

Personally I wouldn't call the MX5 a classic because it doesn't have any one of the qualities that I think are required, e.g. lots of chrome, round headlights, a leather and walnut interior, a well-defined shape, loveable unreliability or being handbuilt by men who wear tweed hats and smoke pipes.

For a non-classic it is very nice, though.
Working to that criteria anything built after 1980 is never going to achieve classic status then !! biggrin
That makes sense in my head. It's probably an age thing but to me classics are older than the everyday cars I remember. To me a MX-5 is still a new car, it's just an old new car if that makes any sense. I think the same about my '93 Jag, that's an old new car too.

A900ss

3,314 posts

181 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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Cars are getting a shorter and shorter serviceable life

When I was a kid I remember seeing plenty of 20 plus year old cars on the road. Now a 10 year old car is old.


80quattro

1,820 posts

224 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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A900ss said:
Cars are getting a shorter and shorter serviceable life

When I was a kid I remember seeing plenty of 20 plus year old cars on the road. Now a 10 year old car is old.
I agree. My 2004 BMW 320d was effectively written off when a swirl flap worked loose and disappeared into its inlet manifold. My similar mileage 1987 BMW M535i is still going strong with similar mileage.

I consider the earlier MX-5's a classic, for reasons others have already highlighted.

Raize

1,476 posts

208 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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No - it's not valuable so it's just a banger.

cianha

2,175 posts

226 months

Sunday 6th April 2014
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Value is irrelavant. Plenty of cheap classics out there.

Germany has a better definition of Youngtimer and Oldtimer. The MX5 qualifies as the former.