Isit or isn't it..a Classic?

[Vern]

I have recently purchased a GRP 22ft Kestrel....I am guessing the wooden version is of more interest on this forum, but I wonder what is the latest date for a boat to be considered a classic?
I believe mine to date from the mid to late 70's, probably 1977.

Or is it the materials it is built from?
It does have the original engine and seems to be pretty original overall.

Thanks and great to be part of the forum.

 

[Lakesailor]

Hi. Welcome. There are no strict guidelines for classic boats.
I would suggest that your boat is rather than classic, just mellowing.
I have an early '80s GRP small clinker style yacht. It certainly isn't a classic.

Think of cars. An Austin A40 Somerset is an old car. It may be charming, but it's not a classic.

 

[Seanick]

Hi. Welcome. There are no strict guidelines for classic boats.
I would suggest that your boat is rather than classic, just mellowing.
I have an early '80s GRP small clinker style yacht. It certainly isn't a classic.

Think of cars. An Austin A40 Somerset is an old car. It may be charming, but it's not a classic.

I think you will find that an A40 is regarded by most as a classic car.

The Kestrel is a classic example of a 70's cruiser. The more original it is, and the older it gets the more classic and interesting it will become. I find people of an older generation that knew cars/boats etc from when they were contemporary usually fail to recognise the passing of time and the changing of status of items that used to be 'new'.

Not 'dissin yer Lakey!

 

[Lakesailor]

I think you will find that an A40 is regarded by most as a classic car.

By "most" what?

An A40 is an old car that survived. That doesn't make it classic.
Now an A90 Atlantic, that is just a classic.

 

[Even Chance]

Yer wrong. An A40 is most definately a classic. My 1971 Mini is a classic car, classed by the DVLA as a "historic vehicle".
I have an E-Boat from 1976, and to me it is definately a classic. Its old, you cant get them anymore, and its sought-after.
It probably isnt in some folks eyes, but it is to me!

 

[Lakesailor]

My 1971 Mini is a classic car, classed by the DVLA as a "historic vehicle".

Historic and classic are interchangeable terms?

A 1971 Mini is a great car. Is it a Mk111 S ? That would be a Classic. Much more Classic would be a 970 S or the earlier 1071 S.

I had a 970 S and various mongrel rally cars. I had a 1275GT which is definitely not a Classic.

Classic is a very devalued term. There needs to be something special about a car to be a Classic.

The same goes for boats as well.

Some modern boats are already Classic the moment they touch the water. Some old boats are old boats.

Age and Class have nothing in common.

Just my opinion of course.

 

[Even Chance]

Yep, sure is. Its the last year the Mk3 1275 Cooper S was made before they brought in the "cough" 1275GT. I'd prefer a 64 example though, but Im afraid if I had 10 grand I'd be buying a bigger yacht!!!
The gearbox on mine is a 1275GT one though. They were the same ratios thankfully, and a LOT cheaper! Just dont tell the purists out there!!

Same goes for the E-Boat. It may be a GRP, but to me it has been and will always be a classic racing yacht that contains that something "special".

 

[Lakesailor]

I actually prefer the remote extension fitting on the 1275GT box.

 

[Even Chance]

Aye, yer right there!

 

[Ewan G Kennedy]

Is it a classic?

Adrian Morgan and I have posted some stuff about this on our blogs, see mine on http://scottishboating.blogspot.com/2010/12/trouble-with-old-boats.htm

 

[Lakesailor]

Ooops

Page not found
Sorry, the page you were looking for in the blog scottishboating does not exist.

 

[Ewan G Kennedy]

oops

Don't understand that, go to www.scottishboating.blogspot.com, that will certainly get you into my blog, then look for post entitled the Trouble with Old Boats. Adrian and I have similar but different views as you will see.

 

[Alfie168]

I wonder if anyone spotted Lakeys reference to an A40 Somerset, and other refs to just the A40. Now these might well be very different cars. My first piano teacher Mr Gibbon had an A40 Somerset, and he was so short he peered through the steering wheel. I sometimes got a lift to school in an early Farina A40. A very different car indeed.

I'd quite like a late series Farina A 40. They weren't bad little cars and I knew one with an MGB engine that raced quite successfully. The Rockside Garage A40 from the 70s.

Tim

 

[Lakesailor]

Totally different.
The early A40 Somerset and Devons were old-school chassis and body saloons with no dynamic qualities to speak of.
The A40 Farina was a monocoque with A35 underpinnings.

Sorry about the fred drift

 

[Vern]

Thanks for the replies - subjective it is then!


We slept on the Kestrel last week, and being 6'3, I found it, um intimate...
But She is quite lovely just the same.
(The good Lady thinks so too!)

 

[Vern]

Oh and I just wanted to ensure I didn't wind up those whom sail aged vessels with our Old Gal.
Mind you, I will post in here, as we clean her up etc.

 

[hannahman]

Someone mention Minis?

I have a '67 Mk1 'woody' Traveller.
I must give its wood a coat of varnish, come to think of it. Problem is I seem to spend so much time lavishing my Hillyard with plenty of attention from the varnish brush, that the poor old Mini always gets put on 'get around to it some day' list!

:sorry also for the thread drift!:

Doug

 

[Lakesailor]

At least your wood is just decorative.
My brother had more serious problems with his Morris Minor (side valve) Traveller.
The mushrooms in the window channels were the clue.

 

[hannahman]

Yes, MOT time is not a worry for me with that car!

 

[Sultans_Kapitein]

Must say I agree with Lakey on this, the term 'Classic' tend to get over used and abused with great regularity, especially among the car fraternity. But a classic does not need to be old, it just is, and a classic cannot 'become' it just is, so for example an Austin Healey 100 is a true Classic but a Mini 1275GT can never be considered a Classic, The Triumph Mayflower is a classic but I would not like to think what an Allegro is?!!!
Just because your pride and joy is old and has survived 3 or 4 decades does not make it a classic, no matter whether it is a boat, a car or a motorcycle.
It needs to have a certain something to be a classic.
A bit like certain of the posters on these forums, there are some real classics out there and not all of them have a million posts to their name

Mal