Quote:
Originally Posted by BicycleBoy
Until 1997 in the UK, historic==25 years old.
It was "frozen" in 1997 so only pre 1973 vehicles qualified.
Big two-tier classic car market for next 18 years, those cars that were exempt and those that never would be. Any piece of ****e was worth restoring if '72 or earlier, but lots of good '73-on scrapped because tax too high and £2000 scrappage schemes.
Current historical scheme came into effect in 2014/5 for cars over 40 years old (so, 1974 on).
Those 18 years left a big missing cohort in the mid-late 70's UK classic fleet.
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I remember the old system BicycleBoy, it seemed more than a little harsh to completely stop it at the time, but I think there was a realisation that it was becoming far too generous. 1950s and 60s motor cars being 25 years old was fine, they were badly built and had little rust protection, so not that many had survived that long anyway. Just imagine if that system had continued unmodified until today: 1997 motor cars would qualify, whole rafts of Vauxhall Vectras, Toyota RAV4s and Nissan Primeras with no historical significance at all.
The current system was well considered, I well remember the consultation period (somewhat bizarrely I recall it grew out of an EU directive), and I think we got it about right this time. 40 years old seems (to me) long enough so that most of the vehicles of little worth will have died of natural causes, but more interesting ones may have survived.
With hindsight (although this is what I thought at the time) abandoning the 25 year old qualification in the 1990s was too drastic, perhaps it should have tapered in stages? I wonder if the current 40 year rule will eventually prove to be too generous - rust protection and general engineering improved a lot in the 80s and 90s, so we may end up with a lot of vehicles qualifying for no MoT and tax but of no great value to posterity. Just a thought.
Alan