Antique Cars - By: TomJ

There is plenty of debate amongst automobile enthusiasts regarding the criteria for antique cars. There is plenty of difference between an antique car and an old car. A car will qualify as an antique product once it fulfils certain requirements. This might lead to accusations of elitism and some of them are quite justified. There are people crazy about cars and they think that their own car is an antique vehicle. It is hard to define a antique automobile but I have don’t a lot of research on the Internet and in this essay, I will write all about it.

Antique Automobile Club of America say that antique cars are any automobiles that are over 25 years of age. This is because on an average, the design age of a car is half of that – about 12-13 years and find such a car that still works quite smoothly is a rare phenomenon. If a car is indeed 25 years of age, then it is likely that the car has a high cost of maintenance and repairs. The running cost of these cars will be out of reach for most of the people. Such antique cars are used more for showing off to friends rather than for travel purposes. I have seen plenty of people collecting such antique cars, even if the are not in a good working condition! The best place to shop for such old cars, is the Concours d'Elegance, which take place throughout America.

I have seen another school of thought which say that antique cars are any automobiles that are made between 1880 and 1916. Automobile production began in 1880 and by 1916, automobile production came to a halt because all the resources were spent in producing military vehicles. The car factories were making tanks and jeeps. Just like other industries, the automobile sector was too used extensively to help the respective nations in the war build up. Hence, it makes sense to call the cars between 1880 and 1916 an antique product. These automobiles are quite different from the ones that were produced after the war.

You can cook up your own definition of antique cars but you will find it really hard to reject the above two theories. I usually call a car antique if it is more than 25 years old. But then I won’t call a car antique if it is in a really bad shape. I have seen old cars which are held together by a string and the place of radio antenna’s place is occupied by an old clothes hanger. But if you are buying antique cars for everyday use, I would recommend you to check it out first. These old cars have a different mechanism and hence you might find it hard to get used to it. You also have to check the car for any kind of rust. It spreads really fast and might ruin the car. Again, this is important only if you are going to drive the car regularly. If you are buying it just to add to your collection, it makes no sense to go through all this process.

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Online Portal for buying and selling of Classic Cars, Vintage Cars, Antique Cars, Muscle Cars.

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