1937hd45... Thank you for your message! I'm beginning to see heartfelt opinions on this subject. I'm Still having some issues with the 25 or older to be considered antique.
"I don't like the word "Classic" thrown around"
I don't like the word "Antique" thrown around
These are just words yet they mean many things to many different people!!!!

Chacheska... Thank you for your message! I must honestly say that I did not know others had mixed feelings about the use or misuse of classic/antique. My reason was never to rewrite the history books or change legislagation simply just get a better perspective on car classifications. With out going any further, it becomes somewhat apparrant that CCCA and AACA have everything under control and are quite content to let the weekend car enthusiast fight it out among themselves. In short "I feel your pain!"

Clipper47... Thank you for your reply!!! That's just not right... I see the delemma, it just goes on and on to each individuals interpretation of the words. I like "interchangeable definitions"

Oldcarfudd... Thank you for your reply!!! Thats just awesome... I thank you for your humor. You remind me not to take these issues or life so seriously... Thank you so much!!!

Stllrng... Thank you for your reply! I believe your analogy of the 1983 kitchen table is what My mind is trying to relay but the words fail me. After all the debate nothing describes my thoughts on the subject better than you have. It would seem that in a most tactful way you have described the true light on the subject. Soooo I shall abandon this thread/topic for now with the intention of joining the AACA in the very near future. Hopefully, I can gain some knoweledge from a professional point of view and be able to academically post a view point of worth... Thank you everyone!!!

I hate seeing the term "Classic" thrown around on any Chevy, Ford or muscle car. On the other hand, it also bothers me to hear old timers say that cars from the '70's are not antique, and are not worth any collectible description because they are junk. Usually they just don't like any car that was not around when they first got into the hobby being referred to as an antique because it makes them feel old and isn't the same as what was an antique at that time. Sorry, time marches on. It makes me feel old that cars of the early '80's are now antiques, but they are. Just because that makes me feel old, and I do not find '80's cars as interesting as '50's to '70's cars, is no reason to bash them. If nobody collected Hudsons, Packards, and Studebakers in the '60's and '70's, there wouldn't be any around today. Nothing like a '76 Cadillac Eldorado convertible, Lincoln Mark V, or even '81 Oldsmobile 98 Regency coupe will ever be built again. So they deserve respect and preservation as well.

These are the definitions I go by.

Classic - as defined by CCCA

Antique - any car 25 years or older, yes that would add cars yearly.

Collectible - this is the most vague description, but it would be any car which has a collector following that preserves and collects them. It may or may not be an antique or classic, but it is not just any used car. For example, 1987 Buick Regal Grand National GNX would be collectible. A 1987 Honda Accord 4 door would not. A Duesenberg or '57 Chevy would also be collectible cars, but I would prefer to use the term Classic for the Duesenberg, and Antique for the Chevy, and use Collectible for cars that do not fall into either of those categories.

As for the 1983 kitchen table, no that would not be an antique. I collect antiques as well. Antiques are 100 years old or older. However, that is an antiquated description. I generally accept 50 years old as the new idea of antique. Unless it is a car, then it is 25. If you waited 50 or 100 years for a car to be an antique, I doubt many would survive to that age.

"Antique" will always be a relative term. Many people collect computer components, video games, belt buckles, dental tools, beer bottles, and bricks in addition to cars. There are many publications of all sorts for all manner of "collectble antiques", and every category has to individually decide what is "antique" relative to the time scale for that particular item.

Some of you may be reading this on an antique. I know mine's pretty d@mn close at this point!

AMEN, Dave, AMEN......

Discussions on this topic are always entertaining. Everyone is entilted to their opinion which is fine.
It is interesting/amusing to see how open or closed minded those opinions are.
Whether some here like it or not the 25 year rule for "Antique" vehicles is GOOD for the hobby.
It affords the opportunity for more people to get involved in the hobby and brings more diversity as well.
Had the 25 year rule not been adopted in the past the hobby and the AACA would not be growing and thriving as they are today.

I think it would be VERY INTERESTING to see just how many AACA members own vehicles from each of the decades from 1900 to the present.
Chances are, the number of members with "later model Antique vehicles" (ie 1950s & up) are growing in numbers MUCH FASTER than those from years before that.

FYI, Dave, I agree that Madza Miata clubs are growing.
Another MUCH, MUCH larger example would be clubs, get togethers and shows relating to water cooled Volkswagens.
The number of people and cars involved with these events totally blows away most other brands.
For example, the largest on-line VW forums has 391,539 users, 3,638,374 threads and 44,485,668 posts as of right now.
How would the moderators of this forum like to moderate something like that????

Nope, antiques are still 50 to 100 years old for non-car items.

I guess 100 years old would be the equivalent of CCCA Classic for cars.

50 years old would be the equivalent of Antique 25 years for cars.

Anything else would be Collectible, not antique, such as Star Wars toys, "Dukes of Hazzard" lunchboxes, Pez dispensers etc. Of course it is even worse for non-car items as brand new stuff still on the store shelves is marketed as collectibles, such as Christmas villages, Christmas ornaments, and model cars. And I guess they are as people do collect them, and some of it goes up in value as soon as it is discontinued.

Just because a magazine calls itself "Collectible Antique" does not mean that the stuff it features is. I have seen the show "My Classic Car" several times. I have yet to see a full CCCA classic on it. It features mostly streed rods and customs, with a few muscle cars and an occassional stock '60's car. Hardly anyone's idea of a classic here.

In that case I better call brickcollecting.com right away. I'm apparently surrounded by a fortune in 50 year old bricks!

The idea that something is "collectible" without being of some age is a bit silly. It raises it's ugly head every few years (Yu-Gi-Oh cards, Beanie Babies, etc.), but it never lasts. (This is different from things that are just plain expensive, like Hummel figures or Franklin Mint cars. They're just plain expensive items. I'm talking about things that have appreciated substantially at one point, only to crash.)

Everything else has an age threshhold where value begins to grow, and that threshhold will vary depending on the unique characteristics of the item and it's demand. People have been paying thousands of dollars for certain Barbie dolls now 50 years old since they were 20 years old. They are, in the relative scale of Barbie dolls, antiques. You can hide from using the word, but the concept of rarity and age imparting value apply none the less. The same thing is now happening to Sega and Atari games, to say nothing of personal computers. A first year 1984 Macintosh is an antique in relation to whatever you're reading this on in every sense of the word.

Cars age faster than watches or bricks, though not as fast as electronics. At 25 years they've already begun to appreciate in value in virtually every case. That is the beginning of something becomming antique, like it or not. Just because other cars are older and therefore have more "antique value" doesn't change that either. It is that aspect of these cars that this club was formed to preserve.

Think of it as a garden where smaller flowers are being cultivated to augment the larger flowers that are already there. There's value in all of them.