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Classic vehicles

Brass Era vehicles | Vintage vehicles

1948 Buick Eight convertible

1955 Chevrolet Nomad

1935 Plymouth PJ Touring Sedan

1948 Pontiac Streamliner Sedan Coupe

1959 Chevrolet Impala

Classic car is a term frequently used to describe an older car, but the exact meaning is subject to serious differences in opinion. One school, the broader "antique car club" faction, are very inclusive. Almost any older car in fine condition becomes a classic. The other extreme are the "Concourse de Elegance" supporters, such as the CCCA, who think that only a few thousand "Classic Era Motor Cars" even exist in good condition. They consider nothing newer than 1948 to qualify...period.

The Classic Car Club of America "claims" to have invented the term Classic car and thus they believe that the true definition of the term is "theirs". According to the CCCA:

A CCCA Classic is a "fine" or "distinctive" automobile, either American or foreign built, produced between 1925 and 1948. Generally, a Classic was high-priced when new and was built in limited quantities. Other factors, including engine displacement, custom coachwork and luxury accessories, such as power brakes, power clutch, and "one-shot" or automatic lubrication systems, help determine whether a car is considered to be a Classic.

The Club keeps an exhaustive list of the vehicles they consider Classics, and while any member may petition for a vehicle to join the list, such applications are carefully scrutinised and rarely is a new vehicle type admitted.

This rather exclusive definition of a classic car is by no means universally followed, however, and this is acknowledged by the CCCA: while they still maintain the true definition of 'classic car' is theirs, they generally use terms such as CCCA Classic or the trademarked Full Classic to avoid confusion.

Legally, most states have time-based rules for the definition of "classic" for purposes such as antique vehicle registration; for example, Pennsylvania defines it as "A motor vehicle, but not a reproduction thereof, manufactured at least 15 years prior to the current year which has been maintained in or restored to a condition which is substantially in conformity with manufacturer specifications and appearance."

Alternate usage fundamentally equates Classic car with the definition of antique car as used by the Antique Automobile Club of America, who define an Antique car as "anything" over 25 years old. Thus, in this "broader usage" any car over 25 years old can be called a 'classic car'.

25 years is generally considered a good cut-off age for such terms because it's extremely rare for a vehicle that old to still be owned or used without special consideration for its classic status — by 25 years old, a car will have exceeded its design life by some considerable margin, 10-15 years being the norm barring accidental loss. It will probably need significant maintenance to keep running, and many parts will be hard to obtain through the usual channels. Thus, a non-enthusiast will sensibly conclude that it is not feasible to continue using a car that old for regular driving.

This is not to say that an enthusiast of classic cars might not drive such an old vehicle daily, but that enthusiast will be willing to live with the greater difficulty of so doing or the high cost of restoring the vehicle to reliable condition.

Pre-"Slab-sided" style era, ending in 1948 vrs. all later models

There was a sea-change in styling in the period several years after the end of World War II. The 1949 Ford, for example, utterly changed the traditional discrete "replaceable" fender treatment and the radiator "semi-functional" look. From this point on, automobiles of all kinds became "rounded boxes", in basic plan. The CCCA term, "Classic Cars", over all this time, has been confined to "the functionally traditional designs of the earlier period (mostly pre-war). They tended to have "removable", fenders, trunk, headlights, and a usual vertical grill treatment. In a Large vehicle, a Duesenberg or Pierce Arrow would typify that class, where in a smaller form, the MG TC, traditional lines, might typify the "CCCA" term. Since general antique car owners are "investors" it serves the purposes of those clubs to classify a "new look" car as a classic. Thus, it may be a "classic" example of a later period, but not a car from the "Classic period of Design", in the opinion of the traditionalist CCCA faction. Those of the "Antique Car", school of thought would include a 1980 "Anything", that is "clean".

Latest look acceptable to CCCA definition

The CCCA era runs from 1925 to 1948. There is a certain continuity in the over-all look to the bodies of these "Motor-cars". The French 1948 DelaHaye is a good the example of a final year of "Classic Era Design".

1948 DelaHaye

A partial list of the Marques (Brand names) of the cars that can be considered "Classic" by the "traditionalist group".

Auburn - Bentley - BMW - Buick - Cadillac - Cord - Delahaye - Duesenberg - Graham - Hispano-Suiza - Jaguar (car) - LaSalle - Lincoln (automobile) - Mercedes Benz - MG (car) - Morgan - NSU - Packard - Pierce-Arrow - Renault - Rolls Royce - Stutz

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