Perhaps it's different in the UK. But Classic,
Vintage, Antique are pretty nebulous adjectives at
best. And often they are even used to describe the
same vehicle.
Some state registration organizations in the U.S.
refer to sorts of tags as Classic, Vintage or Antique
but I'll spare you their definitions as some
categorize by age, or by the way it is registered. But
this catagorization is as varied as the states
themselves.
For a bit of edification:
According to Merriam-Webster, classic is usually a
highly sought after, low production number or rare
vehicle. Classics are bench marks, historically
memorable or simply have notariety of being the
epitome of that vehicle type for year, era, or company
production. (Note that they don't have to be superior,
outsell or particularly better than other cars).
"classic" cars are obviously highly debatable amongst
autophiles(my word for gearheads) due to the limitless
categories for a car being notarietable (is that even
a word?!).
Antique is any produced object from an earlier period.
(what period? Any period. A car built in the boxy 80's
may be an "antique" to someone growing up in the
90's.)
Vintage, simply put is an origin or period of
manufacture.
A little test. One of these statements is
grammatically incorrect:
"I own a classic Porsche Speedster"
"I own a vintage Ford Mustang"
"I own an antique Corvette"
Email me if you know the answer and why.
-Terry
'76 spitfire currently being Teglerized.
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