History Definition of Antique needs some re-thinking

In 1960, an antique was a 25 year old car: 1935 and older. Maybe.
In 1950, 1925 and older, Better.

But 2019 and 1996? NO WAY is a Dodge Viper an Antique (but the AACA says YES)

In the 50's a 25 year offset made sense. Now it doesn't.
In 1950, 1925 was "half way" between the first years of cars and the current year.

Half Way would set an antique at 1950 in 2000 which is a Maybe
2020 would be 1960. Another Maybe.

This is an antique - the blue car in the background is not. If it has an engine hand crank, maybe that should be the acid test for an antique. Electric starter motor? Hogwash!


I see antiques BEFORE the Traditional Hot Rod too.

Maybe the Antique should be a fixed range of years like Muscle Cars.

More understanding might come from, When was the term "antique" first applied to a car? What would someone living in 1910 call an antique car? Living in 1920? 1930?
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However, I'm 66 years old. I wonder what a 25 year old car kid thinks?

Honestly, I don't care...

 

Anything older than me is antique. Everything else is either just transportation, hot rod or 'special interest vehicle'.

 

I’m with you old and antique should mean 2 different things !
Up here I’m seeing antique license plates on 80’s cars!
Tell the young guys at work about my 80 zapper and it’s T roofs and roll up windows and they look at me like an f’n dinosaur!! !!!!!

I’m only 40 and shit is changing to fast, new is not new 6 months down the road and there is no sentiment anymore to old iron or technology.

I think kinda like the Hamb 64 should be the cut off for old and 32 for an antique ?

 

Antique has always been defined as so many years old a 30-year-old car is a 30-year-old car

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Its hard to accept what we consider late models are antiques but they are old enough now,my winter beater is old enough to be shown at a AACA show.

 

Wisconsin allows collector plates on anything 20 years old or older, I could put them on my '99 Chrysler minivan if I wanted to.

When I bought my '53 Ford, in 1992, I was 11 years old, and it seemed like an absolute relic from a long-ago past, but really it was only 39 years old at the time. Now that's the equivalent of a 1980 model. It's about perspective.

 

Yes to us they don't look antique but to younger guys, they are really old plus if you get a car that's 30 now and the plastic hasn't rotted away that's a big deal .you don't see many of those cars anymore just like in the 70s there weren't that many 40s around

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if these year definitions apply to humans we have a lot more antique Senior citizens than we ever thought

 

Haha you guys are old.

 

not to be a nay sayer as i agree with you but the blue car in the background had a hole in the grill to allow for an option to hand crank lol but i am just a 30 yr old car "kid" so nobody probably cares

 

#1 I kinda agree with you, but not that much

#2 Who died and left you king of the automotive world?

#3 You are starting a shit storm and I don't know why I am helping you do it

 

Touche

 

I'm sixty and forty years ago was just a blink ago, so a forty year old car doesn't seam old to me. Having said that I hope the forty year old car is holding up better than I am.

 

I don't care how many years old it is, unless it was built before 1935 it isn't an antique IMHO!
A lot of cool "old" cars built since then but that was the start of another era, as far as I am concerned.

 

Perspective
This thread is just over an hour old is it an antique? Yes,.... yes it is.

 

This conversation has been going on for a long time, March 1931 is the earliest magazine I've found discussing it. Bob

 

Sometimes I go to town in the morning and get a coffee and shoot the shit with the old guys. I'm 62, most of them are 70s-80s.
I tell them...
"I'm old, but you guys are antique!"

 

That’s a Veteran car , it could also be an Antique , then there are vintage cars, also Antiques, those won’t change, I hope, now newish cars are ”antique” they won’t be vintage or veteran cars, or hot rods, can’t see many being classic, but they are now old according to Government and accepted by some clubs , who cares? It’s just a word. The word antique has been around for many years as an all encompassing word to cover all old cars. Maybe started when discount registration first started as a cover all description. These newer cars are affordable to people who love cars and want to have fun with something old, go for it if that’s your thing

 

These newer cars are technically but they will never be vintage lol

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My barely OT daily driver (2 years and one continent) came with a hand crank. Thankfully, I've never ever ever had to use it... even when the starter went out and it was at a rebuild shop for 2 days... vehicle weighs 2100# and kicks over at about 0.01 mph.

 

Hey, I go to a lot of antique stores looking for neat old stuff. I see stuff in there that I bought new when I was 40. Antiques ain't what they used to be.

 

My pickup truck is an 1989 C1500-no power windows or locks. STD cab, short box- nothing high falootin’ even when it was new- my DD is a 2016 Ford SUV with power everything. By the definition provided- my 89 is an antique-(heck I can take it to NSRA events this year if I wanted) I could never think of it that way- but when I compare it to My DD- I am starting to see it as an older vehicle - the technology and styling advancements are amazing in the last 30 years.
I still see an antique as something with wooden spoke wheels- everything else falls into the ‘just an old car’ category to me.


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Definition of Antique...When all of your Doctors are younger than you!

 

It does seem weird to me that my wife's '93 Honda DelSol daily driver is considered antique. In the antique world (think furniture) the generally accepted definition of an antique is 100 years old or older so why are automobiles considered antiques at 25? I loosely think of anything pre WW2 as antique and post WW2 up to around 1970 a classic. I can't think of a thing after about 1972 that I'd even give a second look. It is what it is, that's just me, I do hate going to car shows and seeing cars from the 80's and 90's. To me they aren't even old yet.

 

My 39 Indian and 56 Ford are neither "antique or classic". If wanted a title pre and post war wouldn't be bad. Both have Cal YOM plates.
Having one 75 years and the other 7 makes me a "caretaker" which we all are now...

 

I think the National Clubs caved when they saw the numbers (money) they stood to gain by dropping their standards and letting in the modern stuff. Bob

 

Im 27, to me anything with Efi is a late model, if it has a carburetor its an old car. The line between antique/classic/vintage/hot rod/street rod/kustom ect is blurry and who really cares as long as people are having fun with their old cars. To be honest I despise late model vehicles and I cant imagine any of them ever being regarded as classics.
My year round daily driver is a 1977 Malibu sedan, and before that I was driving a 1975 gmc truck. In my eyes they are just ugly beaters that are reliable, cheap, easy to get parts for,comfortable to drive, and stand out in the Walmart parking lot. However those 2 vehicles get more positive attention from my generation than my Model A, or any of the other old hamb friendly vehicles ive driven/owned.
People my age can have a nice late 60s/70s/early 80s vehicle for under $5000. Accepting them into the "old car" culture means they can be further educated and encouraged to branch out into even older vehicles. There is a common misconception that 20s-40s hot rods cost 6 figures to build and arent reliable, so we have all these god aweful jacked up late model trucks and obnoxious imports with 100k or more invested owned by people who think old cars are out of their price range.

 

WHO in the HE!! are you calling old? I got some news for you PUNK! Old men don't fight fair! We will hit you with anything in our reach to hurt you. And you will be hurting. Seriously, I had to do that adam401 and you did leave yourself wide open. My 1981 F-150 4X4 that I bought new is an antique by legal classification. It has been completely rebuilt from the ground up. All new; suspension bushings, body mounts, front and rear axles, transfer case, C-6 transmission, and 351 W have been completely rebuilt. Along the way I upgraded with factory AC, bucket seats and a console from a Bronco. So it kind of morphed from a F-150 Custom to a XLT Lariat. It still has manual door locks and roll up windows but is not a stripper as it once was when new without a radio. When asked why I rebuilt a 1981 Ford F-150 I said, "because it is paid for and over time I basically have a new 1981 truck all over again but better than it ever was when brand new." Do I call it an antique? No.

 

Well, the A.A.C.A has the 25 year rule so any vehicle built before 1993 qualifies. I have been going to Hershey since 1968 and that's when there were real antique vehicles on the show field. The '80s and early '90s cars I see on the show field at Hershey now a days, I can see in any of my local assisted living facilities parking lots. Maybe it's me, but I can't call any car from the '80s an antique.

 

I noticed your age then saw your join date (you were 13!). That led me to one of your build threads. Man its great to see a younger guy (a very talented one at that) into the old stuff. What happened with the 33?
Sorry for the wandering off topic but it made my day.