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To: triumphs@autox.team.net, spitfires@autox.team.net,
Subject: Definitions
From: Michael Hargreave Mawson <OC@46thFoot.com>
Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 23:11:25 +0100
Dear All,

As the usual flood of Triumph-related messages seemed to have dried up 
for a while, I idly began musing over the definition of various terms 
associated with our cars - classic, vintage, veteran, and so on. 
Assuming that some all-powerful authority (perhaps the RAC) had ruled 
upon these definitions, I went googling.   All I found was discord and 
disagreement.   No-one seems to know what these terms mean.

In order to spark some discussion, here's my stab at it.   Please feel 
free to comment on, or redefine, the following:

Vintage
^^^^^^^
Back when I was a small kid (around 1970), I remember being told that 
"Vintage" meant "over 50 years old" for cars.   Does it?   That 
certainly would seem to fit with my mental image of vintage cars *then*, 
but what about now?   50 years ago was 1952 - and none of the cars 
produced in the early 'fifties fit with my mental image of "Genevieve" 
and her ilk.   Pre-1920 seems a better definition to me - what do you 
think?

Veteran
^^^^^^^
At the same time I was told about vintage cars, I was told that veteran 
cars were "over 25 years old".   Back then, that effectively meant 
pre-war (there wasn't much of a domestic motor industry from 1939 to 
1945) - all those sexy SS-Jaguars, and perky little Baby Austins, stolid 
Morris Cowleys and so on.  Nowadays, that date cut-off brings us to 
1977. Well, I'm sorry, but Carly (my Spit) is 25 this year, and I really 
can't bring myself to think of her as a veteran car.   Maybe "pre-war" 
is still a pretty good definition, despite the passing of the years.

Classic
^^^^^^^
Oh, boy!   We've got to dump this description.   I've seen it applied to 
everything from a 2001 Ferrari to a 1935 Jaguar, via a 1981 Ford Escort. 
It seems roughly to equate to "over 20 years old and still running," but 
flashy expensive cars, like Ferraris and Aston-Martins, are apparently 
"classics" from the moment they roll off the production line, and are 
given their final bash with a peening hammer.   The word has been so 
over-used that it has become meaningless (cf. "democracy," "fast-food," 
and "Have-a-nice-day-thank-you-for-shopping-at-Hecks").   We need some 
new definitions for cars built during and after the war.

How about:

1936-1952 - Georgian
1953-1965 - Early Elizabethan
1966-1980 - Mid Elizabethan
1980-date - Late Elizabethan

OK, so they are rather Anglocentric titles, but then again, our cars are 
British, dammit!   And I rather fancy telling some BMW-driver that my 
car is "Early Elizabethan". :-)

If you've got any better ideas, let's hear them...

ATB
-- 
Mike
Ellie - 1963 White Herald 1200 Convertible GA125624 CV
Carly - 1977 Inca Yellow Spitfire 1500 FM105671

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