SOME EVERYDAY RETRO CARS ARE GETTING RATHER RARE NOW.

This is something that I think is a real eye opener.  Retro Car magazine has done some research and discovered that some 1980’s & 1990s cars (using their words) are “in almost terminal decline” according to the latest data from the DVLA. 

There are currently only 49 Lada Rivas left and 89 Alfa Romeo 146s.  The Alfa Romeo 146 is close to my heart as I had the pleasure of driving a few (as my company car) when I used to sell Alfa Romeos. I always thought that the 146 in 2.0 litre or 1.8 litre form was a great all-round car.  

Cars of the Eighties and Nineties are becoming increasingly popular with younger drivers who are embracing this era, but the supply of cars is a lot worse than it is or was for classics of an earlier vintage thanks to a generational shift in society, which has seen a car become as much of a disposable asset as a washing machine.

In the Eighties and Nineties the days of ‘make good and mend’ turned into ‘finance and replace’, not helped by the 2009/10 scrappage scheme, and in the future the everyday cars of this era will be far less common than classic MGBs or Triumphs. Indeed, in many cases they already are.
That’s why it’s essential that the good ones get saved.”

Said Retro Cars editor Craig Cheetham.

Below is Retro Car magazine’s top 10 “at risk” cars according to DVLA data.