EVOLUTION OF THE CLASSIC CAR MOVEMENT

As the 20th Century drew to a close, we seemed to look back as much as forward, pining for what were, as we see it, better times. We can't revisit our Golden Age, but at least we can own and experience the material objects that evoke it : clothes, music, films, furniture and cars - classic cars. Glamorous, kitsch, humble or high bred, these mobile time warps powerfully conjure up a particular period.

NEW VINTAGE

The hobby of preserving and collecting cars built after the Second World War began to take shape in the early 1970's. Veteran (pre-1905), Edwardian (pre-1919) and Vintage (pre-1931) cars - as defined by Britain's Vintage Sports Car Club - have always been easy enough to categorise, but, by the end of the 1960's, post-war motor cars of the better kind were coming of age. To call them simply "old cars" no longer seemed appropriate : whether beautiful, fast or technically re-eminent, the post-1945 car had at its best all the gravitas of the pre-war machinery. Slowly, quietly, the "new Vintage" had arrived, filling the gap between Vintage and modern for a new generation of enthusiasts.

 ABOVE : Classics so evocative as these - the AC Ace, Ferrari 166

and C-Type Jaguar - have always been in strong demand

and are priced at a premium.

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