A Citroen ID Break overtook me today when i was on the motorway.

I went to a HUGE autoshow today at Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. There were over 700 cars ranging from the 1930s to 1976! A lot of them were American muscle cars and traditional full size Chevys, Fords, and Dodges from the 50s 60s and 70s. I'm sure each car was wonderful in its own way, and all of them were in prestine condition. But I was only was able to look at and photograph the cars I was really interested in, which are pretty much just 1969-1976 models. I took 72 pictures total but I'll just post the best ones here.

Not part of the show, but in the museum, a 1982 Honda Accord and a 1981 Ford Escort. The Accord becuase it is the very first Japanese car built an American plant. The Escort becuase it was a "World Car" as they call it. Both I would just love to own




Also a very nice 1986 Taurus, which symbolizes the being of the "aero" age in automobiles.




1976 Cadillac Fleetwood




1976 Lincoln Town Car




One of my favorites, 1976 Cadillac Eldorado




1974 Ford LTD




Early 70s Mercury Montego




My all time favorite at the whole show, 1971 Buick Centurion Convertible




1973 Oldsmobile Cutlass




1969 "Fusalage" Chrysler New Yorker




An older 1969 Eldorado




Another Mercury Montego, this one's a four-door




The Town Car and the Eldo

My Uncle rolled a '76 LTD when he was learning to drive. It hit a patch of ice at 30 and flipped into a telephone pole. Bent the car into a "V" shape and they had to total the car. The kicker of it was that the thing's engine was still immaculate. That thing was a tank.

Oh God Max those pictures how excellent them all are by the way, are you sure the pictures are clickable? i cant enlarge them.

Nice too see these old cars looking like brand new
I agree, the images do not see to be enlargeable

I must say I'm surprised that some of these cars seem to have been taken out in the rain. I thought many collectors wouldn't do that.

@Wampa-One: sometimes you cannot avoid it, when you are travelling with your old car. At least a car is made for driving. It's ridicoulous to transport a car on a covered trailer to avoid getting wet.

Saturday one week ago my car was getting dusty and then wet (during the short hailshower fortunately we've just been under a roof of a gas-station), when I've been there (like every year since 1991):
http://www.carsablanca.de/Oldtimer-Fotos-Videos/Tag/240-Oldtimermarkt-Bockhorn-2008/30/1#magnifier
(to enlarge the pics and to see the videos, you have to make a cost-free registration).

It's a spare-parts-market combined with a classic-car-meeting (free entry up to 1977), very popular in Northern Germany. The atmosphere is very nice, much better than on big car-shows or exaggerated high-price-cars-presentations.
It's worth, when you have to clean your car again afterwards.

P.S.Mine is on page 14, in the middle of the 2nd line

@Max: be happy, that you don't have to be nervous about the prices of your dream-cars. Money will surely not a problem with a 82' Accord and a 81' Escort.

A propos Escort. My wife's first car was that model: http://imcdb.org/vehicle_119706-Ford-Escort-1981.html
Sometimes she said "I would like to have one again. I've so nice memories". My brother-in-law and me have tried to find one, but we weren't successful - nearly all of them are scrapped today.
Money wouldn't be a problem - a romantic candlelight-dinner in a good restaurant will cost more.

Hmmm... I thought they were enlargeable, but I guess not
Sorry, I guess you'll just have to enjoy them the way they are.

And by the way, the cars were not taken out in the rain. It was sunny when the show started, but we were interupted by a brief storm that passed through rather quickly, leaving the cars a bit wet
I actually think the droplets of water have a nice effect on the pictures, don't you agree?

And ingo, it is quite fortunate that many of the cars I like do not cost very much money. I would more rather have the Accord than the Escort though, as it is more roomy, better looking, and definitely more reliable than the Escort. But the Escort would be an ok little car too. And yes it is hard to find them, as sadly they are not considered worth saving by most people

And often a cover on a car makes thing worse: better to have the car dry in the air rather than having the cover keeping humidity(?) around the car.

Another thing I've often wondered about car shows and "collecter" or "classic" cars. In 30, 40, or 50 years will any 80s, 90s, and 00s cars be considered "classic"?

They are surely not considered that now, as the cutoff year for putting your car in this paticualr show was only 1976. The problem I think is, many cars today do not have features considered "remarkable" such as tailfins, loads of chrome details, or just the fact that they are really, really big.

For instance, just try to think of a styling detail like that on a '95 Lumina or a '98 Corolla. There really isn't anything "ramarkable" styling wise about them, and most cars of the 80s-00s are the same way
Now, I certainly not saying these cars aren't great, they are wonderful. Compared to the cars of 30 or 40 years ago, they are marvels of technology, features, and aerodynamics. I appriciate them and many others do too. I just can't help wondering, will cars like this ever be considered "classic"?

I suppose if enough people like a car, it can be considered "classic", no matter how horrible of a car it may be. Just look at the Volkswagen Beetle of the 50s 60s and 70s. That was a horribly primitive and unreliable car, but just look at how people admire them today! Heck, my mom held on to her's that she bought way back in 1974, and it is sitting in our driveway to this very day!

I just don't know if that will be the case for the cars of today. I sure hope so, as in 40 years I would love to see people collecting and restoring cars like a Taurus, Camry, or Impala.

The registration is no problem, even it's in German. I just have made it.
If anyone is interested:
1.User-name
2.password
3.password again
4.mail-address
5.post-code
6.country

Then crosses on the following two places. If you are interested in the newsletter, a third cross, too.


Usually the software of forum's are identical in several countries - but I still haven't reached to log-in in a Czech and in a Portuguese classic-car-forum.

Actually ingo, I was refering to the pictures I posted

@Max: the time is going on. When the European classic-car-scene has started in the early 70ies (only a very few people were interested before), only pre-war-cars were accepted. Post-war-stuff was just junk. The first post-war-car, which got a similar reputation (and which was not a roadster or a sports car) was the Mercedes 170.

And then, year by year, more cars got the "classic" reputation.
You can say, this will start, when a car is to old to find it on junkyards. When all all-day-used cars of a model were crushed and not to find anymore again, then the "classic-status" will come.
It depends on the car -and on their owners, too!! - how fast it will go.

Examples of the VW/Audi/NSU-scene. These two cars were accepted very soon (early 80ies) as classic and collector's cars, caused by active enthusiasts-clubs:
http://imcdb.org/vehicle_118488-Audi-100-Coupe-S-F104-1971.html
http://imcdb.org/vehicle_60450-NSU-Ro-80-1973.html

And then we were coming in 1989/90:
http://imcdb.org/vehicle_56535-Volkswagen-K70-Typ-48-1970.html

Until that time, an old VW was only accepted, when it had an aircooled engine.
Yes, the people were loughing, when we K 70-freaks were starting to be active.
Same had happend to a planty of other car-freaks, too. For example Ford Granada MK I, Opel Rekord and so on.

Many fans of 60ies and 70ies-cars (me too) have said "A car with plastic bumpers will never be a classic in the future. But was has happend? Now, more than 15 years later, it's getting different.

But sometimes the freak's mind will never change. So I've once heard from a president of a vintage VW-club, that some members have complained about the lots of too modern Beetles on club-meetings - they have seriously said "Only pre-1948-Beetles are real Beetles. Any others are modern junk"

The Audi 100 Coupé is annother good example: even that freaks haven't accepted the Audi 100 Sedan for a long time not as a classic Audi! The sedan was just useful for wrecking to get parts, which fits to the Coupé.

Once I've talked with a Citroen GSA-fan. He was very proud, that his car was the first car with plastic bumpers, which was presented in a German classic-car-magazine (in 1994 or 1995, I think).

Sure, some readers were very angry about such "modern plastic bullshit" and have written angry letters.

I think 'Classic' is a subjective term as applied to cars. Ingo may be right when he says it applies to cars too old to be found in junkyards, but you could ask ten old car freaks and get ten different sets of answers as to what are classics.
I have a soft spot for several cars I have owned which nowadays would qualify under Ingo's criterion: P2 and P3 Rovers, Morris Minor 1000s, VW Beetles ... maybe even my old Peugeot 504 these days (it's probably a taxi in Accra or somewhere by now).
I know there are people in the UK (and clubs catering for them) who love Vauxhall Victor F-series, Austin Allegros, even Reliant 3-wheelers, which I personally wouldn't ever regard as classics.

A guy with a perfect 1974 VW Golf I had problems with the registration-authority in a German town - they denied to give him a "H-plate" (for historic car, over 30 years old). Their reason (pute harrassment): "A VW Golf is just a cheap, junky all-day-car, which never ever will get a classic status"
What an impudence, if you think about the fact, that at that time (2 or 3 years ago) there were only 3 (THREE!) 1974'Golf I officially registrated in Germany.

If owners of Porsche 356, Mercedes Pagoda's, Jaguar XK and so on are niggling about low-cost-all-day-cars ("butter-and-bread-car" we say in German) on classic-car-meetings, just reply: "When you've seen the last time a Audi 60? Or a Renault 6? How many Austin Maxi you've seen in the last 20 years? And Opel Rekord C vans? Or Fiat Ritmo's? Talbot Solara's?

I've reached sometimes, that these guys were thinking about that and have agreed: "Uuh, I cannot remember. too long ago".

at least in Belgium they give it no matter which car it is, it is only based on the year.
(O-plate, but the use of the car is then more restricted, so it is not used for daily-drivers)

And i think that the same goes for Spain, im not quite sure now but in Spain, a car must be 25 years old to be considered as a classic by an insurrance company, i dont think they discriminate any cars, also, who states whcih car is a classic and which one isnt? just becasue of the fact that it is a Golf its not, and perhaps if it is another car of the same year it is?