Yesterday on walking back to my car in a shopping center car park, I heard the unmistakable burble of a V8. Instinctively I detoured till I found the source, a beautiful 1964 Ford Thunderbird. It had attracted a modest crowd of grown men of all ages, and their young off spring. It struck me that those enthralled by the experience of looking and listening to this magnificent vintage car, were a dying breed. I simply can't imagine in 60 years time, the current generation of battery cars attracting a crowd like the Thunderbird did. Maybe I'm wrong...

Only a stock photo I'm afraid as by the time I unmesmerised myself to take a pic, the guy had driven off!

Would a guy in his forties want to gather round a Nissan Leaf in 60 years time and say to those around "my Grandad used to have one of those" ?????

The shame of it 🤣

People will still flock around the more interesting electric cars.  (Although obviously not alerted by the exhaust note lol).

In the same way you probably wouldn't be interested in a rusty old Micra wheezing through the car park, but would stop and look at a Skyline...

There were loads of crap cars in the 60s as well.  Fortunately most get scrapped when they become financially unviable, leaving the most interesting examples.

These are all electric...maybe not to your taste, but they'll certainly draw a crowd!

 

2 hours ago, StephenFord said:

Yesterday on walking back to my car in a shopping center car park, I heard the unmistakable burble of a V8. Instinctively I detoured till I found the source, a beautiful 1964 Ford Thunderbird. It had attracted a modest crowd of grown men of all ages, and their young off spring. It struck me that those enthralled by the experience of looking and listening to this magnificent vintage car, were a dying breed. I simply can't imagine in 60 years time, the current generation of battery cars attracting a crowd like the Thunderbird did. Maybe I'm wrong...

Only a stock photo I'm afraid as by the time I unmesmerised myself to take a pic, the guy had driven off!

I can totally agree with that, when you hear the sound of a beautiful engine you look.. when would you look at an electric car when it has a nice shape not because it sounds and looks nice 🤷‍♂️

2 hours ago, unofix said:

Would a guy in his forties want to gather round a Nissan Leaf in 60 years time and say to those around "my Grandad used to have one of those" ?????

The shame of it 🤣

Saying that though look back when the the mk1 / 2 escort was made they said the same thing then and that they wouldn't be worth a thing now look at the prices, sometimes the least thought thing will happen, who would have thought the vw beetle ( original type ) would have been made for so long without being changed 🤷‍♂️ till the newer model n now they stopped it again 😂 some of the said worst cars back then now have a very high value.. but electric cars l can't imagine going the same way unless the production of the batteries prices reduces dramatically 🤦‍♂️

2 hours ago, doggsbody said:

but electric cars l can't imagine going the same way unless the production of the batteries

and the production of batteries will be a problem for vintage electric vehicles in the future.

Since there seems to be little standardisation on batteries, each is bespoke to the model. Over the next 50 years batteries will change both size and technology making a replacement battery pack for a classic vehicle extremely difficult to obtain.

This is an interesting question that may turn into a long thread!

I think nostalgia has a great effect, whether it involves petrol or not. You tend to have a connection with things that were around during your formative years.

An example is railways - some people thought the interest had disappeared when British Railways did away with steam, yet those who had their formative years in the 70s and 80s seem to have a great affection for what are now termed "heritage" diesels.

Similarly with cars - I find when visiting various museums that what was once commonplace seems to generate as much, if not more, interest than the exotica, simply because they tend to bring back memories (hopefully good) of an earlier time in your life. 

So, though I find it hard to see at the moment, I guess in the future some people may remember their first EV with affection and be interested in seeing a surviving example. 

 

Nobody is going to find my Focus Ecoboom in a museum 🙄

3 hours ago, RayC333 said:

Nobody is going to find my Focus Ecoboom in a museum 🙄

Museum of Failure Main - Museum of Failure

2 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Museum of Failure Main - Museum of Failure

Finally, somewhere a 1980s can of 'new Coke' can sit proud LOL