Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[ukdave2002]

Most of our discussion on this forum is about pre 1980’s motors, magazines like PC also tend to focus on pre 80’s with some recent exceptions. Correct me if I am wrong but I’m sure there were many more clubs, specialists and restoration articles in the 80’s, focusing on cars that were then 25 years old than there are today focusing on cars that are now a quarter of a century old .

Do you think that in terms of everyday classic cars we now have a time line in the sand set at about 1980? Or will we behaving this debate in 10- years time about cars from the 90’s…?


Dave

[Red Riley]

That's something I've often thought about too, but there is no question that cars produced before the wide ranging application of electronics are far more user friendly. Think it may well depend on what the after-market is like in the computer wizardry that makes 80s plus cars go. The Popular Classics' site is mainly peopled by those who like Mk. 1 Golfs etc. but to be honest they just don't float my boat and I wonder how popular they are among the age group who would have lusted after them as teenagers, or whether they too would prefer to have something older. On the other hand, perhaps the classic car collector is a dying breed and we're all dinosaurs.

[Rick]

I've read people say that enthusiasts tend to buy cars they remember from when they were growing up. In that case I'd be buying Chevettes and Alfa GTV6s. However the only stuff that interests me pre-dates me by some margin, I think buzzy is the same, so there is hope that proper oldies will still be looked after in future.

In the 60s there were still very defined marques, which added interest even if the cars were less than thrilling in many cases. They weren't well protected from rust so disappeared quickly from regular use, becoming scarcer much sooner than stuff from the 80s is doing today. The latter some 20 years on are still seen as old cars in many people's eyes, and not something that many people are (yet) getting gooey eyed over. Perhaps 80s cars are simply dull (plastic bumpers and dashboards anyone?), another reason why they may never have the following of pre-70s motors?

Cars of the 60s were getting fairly thin on the ground by the 80s, and with their chrome bumpers, wooden dashboards and leather seats, looked very different (in a nice way) to what was on offer in 80s car showrooms (Montegos, Sierras etc). Fast forward to now, and few 80s cars offer niceties like this to entice mass interest from people interested in older cars.

Compare both at 25 years of age: an 80s car that has had a hectic life, with cracked & faded plastic bumpers, tired velour trim and broken plastic wheel trims after 25 years, will never have the same appeal to me as gently tarnished chrome, leather with patina and hubcaps that just need a good polishing to bring them back up again, on a 60s car after the same 25 years had passed. This is why I think classic car mags did features on 25 year old cars back in the 80s and no-one seemed to mind, whereas now similarly aged cars just don't do much for so many people.

For me, I think I lost interest as soon as chrome bumpers disappeared

I'm probably not explaining myself too well here but in essence, a 25 year old 60s car could still exude charm and was a distinctive looking car, a 25 year old car from the 80s in timeworn condition just looks like a minicab that has been to Pluto and back.

R
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[pigtin]

Had to skim through my 'A-Z Cars of the 80s' when I saw this thread:
Only things that took my fancy as 'Repair friendly' were the MK11 Escorts, (yes they were still making them in 1980). Fiat 126 and Renault R4.
You will gather that my tastes are very simple.

Don.

[Geoffp]

Interesting cars have always been made and always will be made. I've had a couple of Saab 900s and a Citroen BX from the late 80s and they were all full of character, and even some brand new cars will make the grade; Alfa Brera ? What I think will change is that there will be enough enthusiasts cars and the knowledge to keep them going into preservation and the domestic appliances on wheels will disappear without trace.
Fast forward 15 years and no doubt classic car meetings will have rows and rows of lovingly cared for MX5s, Alfa 156s and Range Rovers amongst the MGBs and Morris Oxfords, but if you want to know what a Toyota Corolla or Vauxhall Cavalier looked like then you'll have to go to the history books

Geoff

[Red Riley]

Yes I think I agree with you, but it's sad in a way that the 1980+ equivalents of the Morris Oxford, Anglia 105E, Austin A35 will no longer be out there; due as much as anything I guess, to difficulty in maintaining their complex electronics on a back yard basis. On the other hand, this problem still exists to an even greater extent on more up-market cars, so only a small and dwindling proportion of those may survive too.

What will film producers do when they want to make a 1990s equivalent of 'Heartbeat?'

[Old-Nail]

What will film producers do when they want to make a 1990s equivalent of 'Heartbeat?'
They'll find even rarer classics co crash each episode! Grrrr

Heartbeat aside, if you think of the vehicles as a representation of the spirit of their times then you simply can't beat the 50's and 60's stuff.

Equate them to the music for example, post war 50's optimism leading to the birth of rock and roll, the 'swinging' sixties with the Beatles, the Stones, and an explosion of other innovation and creativity.

The cars from this era reflect the world around them as it was at the time of their inception, just as the later muscle cars did in the late 60's early 70's, only to be killed by the '73 oil crisis.

I suppose what I'm saying is that the true optimism, innovation, and change in society happened in that period and enabled these vehicles to appear, by the 1980's the world was a much more cynical and unhappy place again... and so you get the Austin Allegro!

[pigtin]

The 50s and 60s were the days when singers would sing 'to you' rather than 'at you'.

Did the Allegro come out at the time of "Punk Rock"? I stopped listening to popular music then. What an innovation the square steering wheel was? A psychologist could have a field day working out the social conditions that led to that particular invention.

But then... I am just a decrepid old git with a degree in 'Victor Meldew' studies, presented by 'Victor Meldew' at the university of Victor Meldrewness... Or so the memsahib tells me.

Don.

[spike]

Well I think that the crapyards of today are to blame for the lack of modern classics (1980+) as todays cars are simply stipped of realy good stuf and then crushed complete with lots of fiddly bits left on them. Also they where just boring and the creature comforts were no different to those on a 70's car. I think the 70's where the end of classic cars and any thing after 1980 will just be crushed apart from desiravle sports cars that is oh and some posh cars such as jag BMW will survive.

As for cars you saw in your childhood I am 17 and own a triumph Toledo so i think that classics are classics and modern stuff is scrap.

Each to his own though as i know of a mint G reg vauxhaul square thing in someones garage.
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[buzzy bee]

Hi

I have allways liked minis like you know, but other classics I like do mainly tend to be older, or older style, I particulary prefer the upright style, sit up and beg.

Not sure why I like this type/ae or vehicle as it outdates me many times over, but there we go!

Cheers

Dave

[poodge]

I'm guessing it also has something todo with the styling,or lack of.
Most 50's-60's cars had styling cues that made them very different from each other.But go back to the20's and 30's,and to some extent even the 40's,and unless you were a knowledgeable bod when it came to cars,you might have had difficulty identifying them.The wheel seems to have turned full circle.We now seem to be back with cars that by and large look very similar.Something that started back in the 70's-80's with badge engineering becoming more prevalent.Then the multitude of takeovers,leading to "world"cars.
However,the young of today grew up with computers,so they might be more inclined not to dismiss a late 20th century car in 20 years time as merely scrap.Most enthusiasts will cherish cars from their youth.and I doubt very much if that will ever change.
Personally,I doubt my current car,a 92 corolla estate ,will ever be a classic.Yet a genuine low-mileage example of that might still be preserved.And is it then not a classic?I guess is the same old argument.What constitutes a classic.

[Uncle Joe]

When I was a kid, I knew the make and model of every car that I saw. I guess that it was the same with others. Offhand, I cant think of a car from the 50's that isnt a classic today.

Nowadays, they all seem to be alike. As poodge says, by and large everything looks similar. Some of the cars of today will become classics, it would possibly be stupid to think that they wont. But I dont think that it will be all of them by any means.

How many restored japanese cars from the 70's do we see today? Not many....

[Giggles]

If you visit http://retrorides.proboards86.com/ you'll see amount of interest there is in 1970's & 1980's cars, both British and Japanese.

(It's quite a good website, in many ways a bit like this one because they are so broad minded when it comes to older vehicles, however I can't seem to get as excited as some on the there about cars from 1980's but what ever floats your boat .)

[Uncle Joe]

Pleasant surprise looking at the Readers Rides portion of the site.

Was this by any chance the one that BrianM posted a while ago?

Must agree with you though giggles, I'm not keen on 80's cars either...

[Giggles]

Let's the one Uncle Joe.