What cars do you define as retro?

The force is strong in this one.
I'm not sure how you'd define retro.
I suppose something that doesn't fit with the modern car design.
Like my Astra thread has illustrated, even cars dating from the early 90's can be considderd retro, I suppose it just has to be outdated

i like the idea of just keeping an old car on the road..other than the minis, i've got a corsa, and the roads of flooded with them, i'd like something you don't see everyday, but the wimp inside me, doesn't want a car people will slate when they see it.

some people on here drive skodas, and whilst i think they look cool. i'm not sure i'd be able to get on with people making silly jokes all the time.

If you spend your life worrying about what other people think of you then you will never find your own true style or be at ease with yourself.

If people don't like my car they can go dash themselves. With bells on. Big, nobbly uncomfortable bells on as well. What, I'm supposed to be inmpressed by a mid range family "sporting" hatch on 5 year payment plan at 17% APR. cocknobbertw@z

Don't be a wimp, there is nothing better than your mates laughing at you for buying a Volvo . Then making them eat humble pie as you hit 14 psi in 3 gear and leave them for dead on the local bypass ;D

Are you asking for a personal opinion. or a defining answer? Like the hot rod pre '49, street machine / custom post '49 that makes people so angry in the states?

If you want an opinion, here's mine, at risk of offending (no offence meant, honest!):

I consider anything before about 1980 "retro", and anything after, not. There are a couple of reasons for this.

Firstly, this was about the point in time that cars started to go "plastic". Chrome bumpers started to disappear, trims that were previously stainless were replaced by blacked out items or rubbers with no adornment (eg windscreen trims). Performance had already started to trail off as manufacturers were forced to comply with emissions restrictions and hadn't yet come to terms with engine management that would return performance to their ranges in the latter part of the 80s, a full decade later. The general shape of cars was boxy, angular and plain in the 80s, then started to look quite similar between manufacturers as they all looked toward aerodynamic designs in the 90s.

My second reason is much more selfish. I was born in 1972, and became "aware" of cars in 1980 when my mother bought a new Toyota Corona to replace the trusty old '64 "EH" wagon that had been written off. Basically if I can remember it as a new car, I find it hard to consider it retro.

Remember, opinions are like.....

I think trying to define "retro" is one massive can of worms that can only end in disagreement, so I'll not comment on that. Suffice to say that if it's retro to you, that should be enough.

As for people making comments / jokes about your car... screw 'em. You wouldn't let your mates or the general public choose your clothes or your gilfriend, why should they decide what car you drive?! Personally, I like it when people don't get my ride. I've had the "has this just come from the scrapyard?" comment twice. Once by an AA man ;D.

I might start a thread for "things said to you by the AA man" but my favourite was when my silver 1971 Victor was stuck at the side of the M1 after a boil-over the AA guy looked it over, I confessed it had spent the last 16 years off the road in a garage and I'd got it on the road the previous weekend. Now I was off to see a girl in Coventry in it.

He looked me and after a pause he just said "well, I have to admire your optimism".

I have also been asked "You want me to tow it straight to the scrappers?" before.

And the AA man who kept calling my Vauxhall a "Pox-all"

But many of the AA chappies have been quite appreciative of what I have been driving (or rather not) when they have been called out.

From here :
www.retro-rides.com/articles/FAQ.html

What is Retro Rides all about?

Now there is a question! The forum started as a place to discuss different marques of classic and modified classic cars. Defining what cars we actually discuss is a little tricky, there some general threads that ties them all together. The cars are generally a peoples car of some sort, rather than out of reach sports cars, or they are an under appreciated classic. The cars tend to be modified either aesthetically, mechanically or both. They tend to be over 20 years old. More often than not they would be what most people consider budget classics.

However, they may not conform to any of these things, this is what makes what we do so interesting. So if you've got a 1973 Vauxhall Viva dropped over BBS alloys, or a 1906 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, we'll be as interested to hear about your experiences and what its like to own your car, because above everything else Retro Rides is about a love of cars.


I wrote that 3 years ago,.. nothings really changed.

Agreed