Eco... ...classics?

[MetroMPG]

Oh, I dunno. The youths are already driving up prices of 80's and 90's cars.

I think the reported death of "car culture" is a bit premature, though it certainly won't be as big as it used to be.

[jcp123]

I guess I have a hard time seeing any modern car as a classic or a collectible, even though I see it for things like air cooled Porsches, Supras, etc.

[Stubby79]

25 years or older and in original condition (be it barely used or else restored to original) and you can get "collector" plates around here. 15 years under certain circumstances.

I don't know that it makes it a "Classic", but if it's in original condition after 25 years - when most cars that age have been recycled already - then it certainly deserves some recognition.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

I think the reported death of "car culture" is a bit premature, though it certainly won't be as big as it used to be.

Death of car culture? I wouldn't think so, even though I'm sure it might not only shrink somehow but also have other significant changes. Well, about 20 years ago many folks would doubt that die-hard muscle-car enthusiasts could ever consider improvements such as 5-speed or 6-speed transmissions and EFI conversions, and now there are even some old irons retrofitted with Prius guts...

[jcp123]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Death of car culture? I wouldn't think so, even though I'm sure it might not only shrink somehow but also have other significant changes. Well, about 20 years ago many folks would doubt that die-hard muscle-car enthusiasts could ever consider improvements such as 5-speed or 6-speed transmissions and EFI conversions, and now there are even some old irons retrofitted with Prius guts...

I'm still one of the classic car guys who would never consider EFI in a classic car. That would entirely defeat one of the primary advantages of these cars, their simplicity. Overdrive, however, isn't a bad idea at all.

I'm still boggles by the value people are putting on 993 Proeschea and NSXs and the like. With that kind of upswing, the Insight might follow but I don't think the average millennial is going to be thinking Insight when he's coming to buy a car.

[Piotrsko]

Comments: how many bone stock 32 coupes have you seen lately?

You always have a passion for your first car, even 75 mini mustangs and that comet thing. One suspects a future for tarted up Chrysler mini vans although that one may be improbable.

Try and find a honda accord. Or a sentra.

[AJI]

People always have and always will make the same comments when it comes to the cars that people lust after, the cars that'll become classics, values etc.

Each new generation grows up lusting after whatever generation of cars is around at the time. People who grew up in the 80s and 90s are now working and making the kind of money that allows them to buy the cars they had on their bedroom walls as a kid.

They're classics to those guys (me included - I was born '85) - those cars are of course 20-30 years old now, which is no different from a guy looking for a "classic" in the 1980s having the run of 50s-60s metal...

You only need to look at the price of Japanese stuff to see what the effect of a generation of buyers can do. Old farts have been saying for years that Japanese cars couldn't ever be classics, that it was undesirable, and lacked the pedigree of Euro/American stuff. The price of Skylines/NSXs/Supras etc today says otherwise, and the six/seven-figure prices of even older Japanese classics - early Skylines, 2000GTs, Cosmos etc - show it's not just the "Playstation generation" who are interested.

The Insight? That's what we'd call a "modern classic" over here in the UK. The earliest ones are getting on for 20 years old now, they're fairly rare, and they're interestingly engineered, all of which put it in a good position to be a "proper" classic in the future.

Not many traditional classic cars are more fuel efficient than the majority of modern vehicles, either...

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by AJI

People always have and always will make the same comments when it comes to the cars that people lust after, the cars that'll become classics, values etc.

Each new generation grows up lusting after whatever generation of cars is around at the time. People who grew up in the 80s and 90s are now working and making the kind of money that allows them to buy the cars they had on their bedroom walls as a kid.

They're classics to those guys (me included - I was born '85) - those cars are of course 20-30 years old now, which is no different from a guy looking for a "classic" in the 1980s having the run of 50s-60s metal...

You only need to look at the price of Japanese stuff to see what the effect of a generation of buyers can do. Old farts have been saying for years that Japanese cars couldn't ever be classics, that it was undesirable, and lacked the pedigree of Euro/American stuff. The price of Skylines/NSXs/Supras etc today says otherwise, and the six/seven-figure prices of even older Japanese classics - early Skylines, 2000GTs, Cosmos etc - show it's not just the "Playstation generation" who are interested.

The Insight? That's what we'd call a "modern classic" over here in the UK. The earliest ones are getting on for 20 years old now, they're fairly rare, and they're interestingly engineered, all of which put it in a good position to be a "proper" classic in the future.

Not many traditional classic cars are more fuel efficient than the majority of modern vehicles, either...

I was 15 in 85 and could make a list, year by year of every car I lusted after for 10 years until 1995 and every one I could easily buy today but don't want now.

[Natalya]

A strange thing about the old Insight is that it still looks futuristic. I've had people ask me if it was a new electric car, but it's actually kinda old for a car. The only giveaways that it isn't modern are the 90's-looking headlights, brake lights, and the large gaps between the body panels and the hood and doors and such. But the average person probably isn't going to notice that last thing.

[jcp123]

Originally Posted by AJI

Each new generation grows up lusting after whatever generation of cars is around at the time. People who grew up in the 80s and 90s are now working and making the kind of money that allows them to buy the cars they had on their bedroom walls as a kid.

Yes and no? I'm also of '85 vintage, and while I prefer 90s stuff to the cars of today, there's nothing since the smog era I lust after. There's a handful which maybe come close, but would at best maybe be a better fifth car than first or secon d. The really cool stuff is from the 60s and before. What stuff were GenXers buying? I don't think it was the 80s stuff they would have grown up with. I don't think boiling it down to generational differences is necessarily the straightest line to what's popular.