There are plenty of great cars on the road today, but only a handful will become true classics. And trying to work out which will earn a spot in the history books is no easy task.
Autocar has teamed up with the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu to try to solve that problem. We’re hunting for five future classics that will be part of a special exhibition later this year. The idea is to find the cars that will be remembered 50 years from now.
We’ve compiled a longlist of 100 cars with future classic potential for you to choose from, and for some extra inspiration, over the next five pages, Autocar’s writers champion their own personal picks from those contenders.
To view the Autocar-Beaulieu Future Classics longlist and have your say, click here.
Ferrari Roma
Safety regulations, fussiness, aggression and the SUV craze: so many things today combine to make a classically beautiful new car an ultra-rare thing, even from the most exclusive marques. Harking back to the days when manufacturers regularly had swooping, elegant bodywork created for their cars by Italy’s many carrozzeria, the Ferrari Roma is one of those ultra-rarities. Of course, with a V8 sending power to the rear and a prancing horse on the nose, you just know that it’s also going to have outstanding performance and handling. But even if it weren’t a Ferrari, it would still be a nailed-on classic. KC
Porsche 911
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Surprised to see a Cayenne on the list! I know they started the whole "luxury SUV" thing but I'll be surprised if ANY are worth anything next year, let alone in 50yrs time!
A current Toyota Landcruiser (or Lexus LX in US) which will still be running reliably in 50 years will be something to see of an enduring design as many current production cars are too high tech to last 50 years without restoration levels of maintenance.
We had the Lexus version of a Landcuiser for 13 years/196k miles of everything a family with dogs could throw at it, on and off road, and at (much regretted) sale everything still worked and nothing other than maintenance items had been replaced..
M2