Classic Car Buyer Magazine No.220 Lancia On Borrowed Time? Back Issue

As the recent spate of fine weather has put me firmly in the outdoor
car show mood, I decided to venture out to a local pub where an informal gathering of classic car owners regularly meet up. Some of the regulars had parked their classics outside and as a newcomer everyone I met was very welcoming (as they should be). To protect the identity of the ill-informed and misguided, I won’t disclose where this pub meet
took place as the discussions got a bit heated when a young lad
mentioned he’d just parked his recently acquired Mazda MX-5 outside…
Even though this was a nicely presented early pop-up headlight example, the disdainful looks received from one late-arriving member indicated that in this guy’s mind the MX-5 wasn’t old or interesting enough to be a classic. It got worse, as this automotive know-it-all starting sounding off
about how cars like this would never be true classics. In his opinion only cars built prior to the mid ’Seventies could ever be considered classics and anything that came after that unqualified cut-off date was just an old car and thoroughly deserved to be scrapped. A rather heated discussion followed trying to convince this guy that the date for classic
status surely rolls on, much like I would like to see happening with free Vehicle Excise Duty for post-1974 classics. Everyone at this lively meeting thought it was quite reasonable to set ‘classic status’ for cars that are at least 25 years old and went on to list an interesting selection of models that could soon be ‘officially’ added to the ranks in a few years’ time,
such as all the final Rover models. We would be interested to know
what cars you think are heading for classic status, so send in your
suggestions. One subject that everyone agreed on that evening was the
merits of investing in a prestige ‘bargain barge’ as an everyday driver, rather than taking out an expensive loan on a new or used car.