SerpApi.Org
If there's one thing that humans love to do, it's to boil down large groups of things to little exclusive categories. Throughout the history of the automobile, we have separated cars into categories by size, shape, country of origin, and a bunch of other groupings, so why not by age? Age might actually be the most significant identifier when it comes to some kinds of cars, and it definitely plays a part in the vehicle's value.
There is a difference between driving a "classic car," a "vintage car," and an "antique car," but it's tough to know which is which. It isn't as though this is life-and-death kind of knowledge, but learning the difference and using these terms correctly might win you some cool points with other car folks in your life or help narrow down your developing tastes. There are even different sub-categories of cars within these three denotations that drill down further if you really want to dig into certain decades with stuff like "brass era," "malaise," or "rad era" cars.
Some of these categories have a bit of overlap, and as with practically any word in the English language, the definitions change depending on who you talk to, where you are, and maybe even when you ask about them. Even some organizations with a bit of authority in the space have conflicting viewpoints as to what some of these words actually mean.
Read more: 10 Of The Largest Private Car Collections In The World
How do you tell a vintage car from a classic?
Outside of the car world, collectors tend to say that the term "vintage" encompasses anything over 20 years old. If you're in your 40s, the clothes you wore in high school or a VHS copy of "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" could qualify as vintage. The term stems from the annual harvest of grapes from a vineyard, particularly as it pertains to winemaking, but has grown in its definition to now denote anything from an earlier time, essentially becoming the antonym to contemporary. In the car world, things tend to get a little more complicated, depending who you ask.
The Vintage Motor Car Club of America, a club that exists to "promote touring and enjoyment of vintage vehicles," allows any car 25 years old or older. Hagerty, meanwhile, says "most people agree that a vintage car is one from the very earliest days of automobile history: it has to be built from between 1919-1930 and remain mostly unmodified." Other insurance companies seem to share the same opinion, categorizing Vintage cars as those made between 1919 and 1930, Antique cars as those made before 1975 (by that standard, an Antique car can also be Vintage), and Classic cars were built over 20 years ago — so anything pre-2006 at this point.
I'm not sure most car enthusiasts agree with those classifications — at least I don't. I believe we should probably standardize our car terminology with the rest of the collecting hobbyists out there, making "vintage" a catch-all term for everything between 20 and 99 years old. And "antique" is an entirely different classification.
What is an antique, anyway?
Like "classic" and "vintage," the term "antique" gets thrown around in the car community quite a lot. The Collector Workshop says antique means 45 years old or older and period correct (i.e., unmodified). Here, too, the Antique Automobile Club of America is "paving the way in our hobby, celebrating all marques 25 years and older." I respect that the AACA is trying to grow the club's membership by allowing modern cars, but to me, the term "antique" actually means a collectible item over 100 years old.
Regardless of what a car club, insurance company, or state department of motor vehicles might tell you, I think it can be summed up pretty easily. Anything older than vintage is antique, and anything can be a classic if it's cool and you are pure of heart. All three terms carry an inherent noteworthiness to them. The world, and car culture at large, may not be able to come up with a solid definition, but from here forward, I think we should all use this terminology. Or invite some fun into your life and make up your own terms to see what sticks.
Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox, and follow us or add us as a preferred search source on Google.
Read the original article on Jalopnik.
