Is this the death of classic cars ??

[Marcusgeorge]

Hi guys with the sales of new cars being the highest in 6 years and many manufactures offering deals to young drivers will this mean the classic cars will be confined to the scrap yard??

I own a nova and a Volvo 240 and in my friend and family circle there is only one person I know who owns a classic e30

i hope it isn't because many new cars lack the character of classics and there looks are frankly boring

[Iain]

There's way more people that care about a car starting in the morning and having a manufacturers warranty on than looking cool in a clattery old classic car, that's all. Still loads of classics about

[bazil]

Newer car are a hell of a lot safer though, more economical, more comfortable,

If I had to advise a new young driver what car to buy it wouod defo be a newish car rather than one from the 90's

[SRimon]

No.

[millworm]

Of course not, I know plenty of people my age who love old cars, I've already got two. The fact that more people have bought new ones will mean there will probably be a lack of cars from around 2000 in around 15 years or so but I should imagine the classic car scene will be the same as always

[nova_niek]

The death of classic cars is pretty much what has happened down my end. There is no end of outrage under oldtimer owners and lovers in the Netherlands.

Up until last year, any car over 25 years old was deemed "oldtimer" and as such road tax exempt. You've guessed it, everyone and their uncle started importing old diesel Mercedeses and other tat from Germany. This had several side effects, the main one being our government noticing a decline of road tax revenue.

Our government, in their infinite wisdom, has recently decided they can cash in €150 million by simply shifting oldtimer status from 25 to 40 years for diesel and LPG-equipped cars. "because they pollute more". Which is a load of bollocks, because no fuel burns cleaner than LPG. What they meant (but didn't say) was "we simply need money - period". But guess what has happened lately: export of oldtimers on diesel and LPG has increased by over 500% (!!!) and the majority of cars that are not sold are either SORNed or scrapped. Plus that the resale value of diesel and LPG cars in the 25-40 year bracket has collapsed. And lots of owners are now in the process of either removing their LPG installation or swapping their diesel engine for a petrol engine. Rrrrright...

Yes, some people have taken advantage of the former oldtimer arrangement just for the sake of free road tax. But a lot of true classics (mostly American cars) have become impossibly expensive to run. Try £3000 a year in road tax for a 2500kg car on either LPG or diesel. Insane.

Oh and petrol cars between 25 and 40 years are given the option of either paying full road tax, which allows 12 months usage (again, no good news for big Americans) or "quarter rate" which is a quarter of a full year's worth of road tax, with the main limitation being you can't drive your car in December, January and February. For the latter option you have to arrange this one year ahead. Whoever came up with this quarter rate arrangement needs to be taken outside and shot. There's a lot more to it but it'd take multiple pages to post all the legal woes that have befallen upon us clog wearing classic/oldtimer fans. Cr@p.

While our government does its very best to extract cash from oldtimer owners, at the same time they give insane discounts on new hybrids (Mitsubishi Outlander HSEV anyone?) to stimulate new car sales. And because these cars are hybrids, despite having a massive weight, they fall in a very cheap road tax category. (FYI road tax is based on vehicle weight and fuel category in the Netherlands) All these benefits - as has been calculated - cost our economy far more than the €150m they hope to collect from oldtimer owners.

Speaking of these hybrid sheds; about 90% are leased to companies, practically no one buys these cars as a private person because they are nowhere near as economical as claimed by the manufacturers. These hybrids will be dumped on the car market after their 3 year lease period and are destined to be sold abroad because, by the time the lease period ends, chances are road tax will be at "normal" (read: expensive) levels which means no one wants one.

Sorry for the rant.

[nova_niek]

double post

[8valve-craig]

Also easy to forget that every year new classic's are born. in 15 - 20years we could still be driving "Retro / Classic" R32 mk4 Golf's, E46 coupe's and Focus ST's etc.

[nova_niek]

Also easy to forget that every year new classic's are born. Our kids will possibly be driving "Retro" R32 mk4 Golf's, E46 coupe's and Fiesta ST's etc.

True. Back in the day when I just had my driver's license, Beetles and 2CV's where a common sight and no one cared much for them. Now everyone is after one.

[mowgli]

the rant was a good one, so no need to apologize.

the hybrid was invented for california, and dumped on the rest of the world to try to make some money out of rich arty types.. the toyota pious (google it, it is what they should have been called) is a case in point... it is about as good as a ten year old vw diesel in terms of emissions & fuel economy, right up till the day the batteries knacker up.....