{"id":7135,"date":"2020-08-12T06:39:40","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T06:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.co.uk\/magazine\/?p=7135"},"modified":"2024-09-12T10:20:17","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T09:20:17","slug":"are-classics-frozen-in-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/are-classics-frozen-in-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Classics Frozen in Time?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t dislike modern cars. In fact, I own one. It is my sensible family transport. My economical, EuroNCAP 5 Star, comfortable, reliable, most often driven form of transport. It\u2019s not exciting, but it\u2019s not meant to be. It is just a car. If a bus drove over it, it would be an inconvenience. But it would not be something I would be upset about, because I don\u2019t care about it. By which I mean I don\u2019t care about it in the same way I care about my thirty year-old Mercedes-Benz<\/a>. I care about it in the same way I care about my TV, or my laptop. It\u2019s just an object I paid for, and would like some use out of.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"BMW,<\/p>\n

You\u2019re now wondering where this is going. Well, it\u2019s like this. Modern cars are great, but they\u2019re not things you form a connection with. Other than the act of driving them, there is little to no interaction between car and modern day motorist. Modern cars aren\u2019t designed with the home mechanic in mind. They\u2019re built to do 100k or so and then go in the bin. We don\u2019t bond with them, we don\u2019t keep them for a long time, we don\u2019t build that connection that we do with older cars. And that poses a problem, to my mind at least, for the classic car scene.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll get an email or two about this next statement, but so be it. There is no volume car out there, that is currently on an assembly line, that will one day become a classic. Classic cars are a product of the engineering of their time. They were built when a bit of home maintenance was expected. They were built at a time before technology and robotics took over. As such, they can be fettled by you on your driveway. A new car can\u2019t, it\u2019s just not designed that way. New cars are like the TV mentioned earlier, in that they\u2019re meant to be replaced. That\u2019s it. As such, an old Escort can be a classic. A 2020 Focus, not so much.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Citroen,<\/p>\n

And finally, this brings me to the point of this post. Are classic cars, in the traditional sense, frozen in time? I wasn\u2019t around in the \u201860s or \u201870s, so I can\u2019t comment on how the vehicular contemporaries were perceived. However, I\u2019m willing to bet they weren\u2019t seen in the \u2018white goods\u2019 sense of today\u2019s offerings. Nor am I saying that everyone from back (and before) was into cars. I\u2019m merely suggesting that the cars themselves were perceived differently.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cars today aren\u2019t thought of in terms of longevity. And in one way, that\u2019s good, as all new cars are built with a high recyclability percentage. Good stuff. But, because they\u2019re not designed to last, they end up being sent to the shredder rather than the driveway or garage of a budding mechanic. Mainly because they\u2019re so wired with chips, wires and processors that using a spanner or ratchet would be fruitless.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ford,<\/p>\n

I think the cars of the late \u201890s, before things got too technical and cars still had a \u2018nuts and bolts\u2019 appeal are the last that will become classics. We\u2019re already seeing it, with cars like the BMW<\/a> E39 and even the Ford<\/a> Mondeo Mk1 starting to gain a following. As we move into the 2000s, the cars get more complicated and more specialised in their construction. This is of course great for the advancement of the car in general, but it begins to usher in an era of the specialist, rather than the home mechanic.<\/span><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s where the issue lies. Our interaction with cars of that era and onward is limited. If my 2012 car throws up a warning, it goes to the garage. Yeah, I have a code reader, but it literally just reads and clears codes. If it comes back, well, it goes in the garage. I can\u2019t interact with it like I would the thirty year-old Mercedes, and because of that, I can\u2019t bond with it. I can’t connect. And thus, it becomes just a white good, a tool, a facility almost.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Volvo,<\/p>\n

I am, of course, happy to be proven wrong, but I think tech and the advancement of the vehicle manufacturing process has neutered the modern car\u2019s chance to become a classic. Sure, some will live longer than others, and they will find a following of sorts. But it won\u2019t be the same. Not like what we have now. And that\u2019s why us classic cars owners and enthusiasts should be more widely celebrated, but I\u2019ll save that for another post…<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t dislike modern cars. In fact, I own one. It is my sensible family transport. My economical, EuroNCAP 5 Star, comfortable, reliable, most often driven form of transport. 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