| We are all conditioned to look back to the bygone | | | | make a car qualify for that title. For instance, a car |
| ages of car production and say of one of them "that | | | | that is released in limited edition - as long as that truly |
| was the Golden Age", "they don't make them like | | | | is a limited edition and not "one of only 500,000" - if |
| that anymore" or any one of a number of hoary old | | | | kept correctly could become like the 1968 Chevy |
| cliches which, nevertheless, often ring true to some | | | | Impala of the future. Such are the vagaries of classic |
| degree or other. For certain, they do not make cars | | | | automobiles that it is difficult to predict today what |
| today like they used to make them. That is simply | | | | will qualify as classic tomorrow. Featuring in a TV |
| innovation for you. To make cars like they used to | | | | show, a film or even a music video which gains cult |
| make them would mean a lot of unnecessary | | | | status over the next 10 years (and future cult status |
| expense if it was to involve mass production, so | | | | by its very nature is unpredictable) could catapult a |
| what we have today is exactly what is needed if the | | | | vehicle that we do not give much thought today into |
| car industry is to survive. | | | | the stratosphere of desirable vehicles tomorrow. |
| Indeed, the recent bailouts of car industries on both | | | | Experts in the present day point to certain cars as |
| sides of the Atlantic have made one thing clearer | | | | being perfect examples of what makes a classic car, |
| than ever. The life of a car manufacturer can be | | | | and have earmarked them for future classic status. |
| quite fleeting if they concentrate more on the car's | | | | Among these potential future classics, it should |
| lines than the bottom line. Car manufacturers will go | | | | surprise nobody to see a mention for Alfa Romeo. |
| bust if things continue the way they have been | | | | The Italian demigods of automobile production |
| going. Although there is nothing at all desirable about | | | | premiered a vehicle in the Geneva Motor Show of |
| people losing their jobs, this does have a side benefit, | | | | 1990 - the SZ, which was dubbed "the Monster". |
| if you look at it in a slightly twisted manner. That is | | | | Although stylish as only an Alfa can be, the sales |
| to say that a car which looks excellent today and is | | | | figures were poor and Fiat needed to cut costs, so |
| made by a company experiencing financial trouble | | | | production ceased at the 1,000 mark. An instant |
| might just be among the last of its kind to be | | | | collectible, the SZ is now a particularly rare |
| produced - and qualify in later years for the title of | | | | conversation piece, and more than worth whatever |
| "lost classic". | | | | you are willing to spend on it. Keep an eye out for |
| However, you will be pleased to hear that no | | | | them, because if any car is likely to become a classic, |
| company needs to go bust for a car to become a | | | | an Alfa is near the top of the list. |
| classic. There are many other elements which might | | | | |