The Cars We Grew Up With Are Classics Now | The Garage | Redline Ritual Co.

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The Cars We Grew Up With Are Classics Now

There comes a moment in every car enthusiast’s life when reality hits a little harder than expected.

You’re scrolling through Marketplace, walking around a car show, or watching an auction when you see a car you remember being absolutely everywhere.

Then you see the words:

Classic.

Collector car.

Rare.

And suddenly you’re questioning how much time has actually passed.

Because that car wasn't a classic when we were growing up.

It was sitting in the high school parking lot.

It was your friend's first car.

It was cruising through town on Friday night.

It was sitting behind somebody's house waiting on an engine swap that may or may not have ever happened.

And now?

People are restoring them.

We Didn't Know We Were Looking at Future Classics

Think about some of the cars we grew up around.

Honda Civics and Preludes.

Acura Integras.

Mitsubishi Eclipses.

Toyota Celicas and Supras.

MR2s.

Nissan 240SXs and 300ZXs.

Fox-body Mustangs.

IROC-Z Camaros.

Third- and fourth-generation F-bodies.

And that's barely scratching the surface.

There was a time when many of these cars were simply used cars.

Nobody was standing around talking about preserving an untouched example for the next generation.

We were modifying them.

Cutting springs.

Changing wheels.

Installing enormous stereo systems.

Swapping engines.

Adding exhausts.

Putting stickers on everything.

And occasionally making decisions that probably should never be spoken about again.

It was car culture.

We weren't preserving history.

We were living it.

Then They Started Disappearing

That's the part we didn't notice happening.

One wrecked car at a time.

One blown engine.

One abandoned project.

One trade-in.

One car sitting in a field for ten years.

One perfectly good example modified beyond recognition.

Eventually, the cars that seemed like they would always be around… weren't.

And that's when something strange happened.

Finding an original one became exciting.

Seeing a clean 1990s interior became impressive.

Factory wheels started becoming desirable again.

OEM parts people used to throw in the trash started showing up online with price tags that make you wonder whether somebody added an extra zero.

Suddenly the cars nobody thought twice about preserving became the cars everybody wished they had kept.

The Definition of a Classic Is Changing

For a long time, when someone said "classic car," most people pictured something from the '50s, '60s, or '70s.

Chrome bumpers.

Big-block V8s.

Muscle cars.

Hot rods.

And those cars absolutely deserve their place in automotive history.

But automotive history didn't stop in 1970.

A new generation of classics is arriving.

The Japanese performance cars of the '80s and '90s.

The sport compacts of the early 2000s.

The Mustangs and Camaros we watched cruising through town.

The cars that filled the pages of magazines and eventually took over internet forums.

They're becoming part of automotive history too.

Not because someone decided they were important.

Because an entire generation has memories attached to them.

Maybe That's What Makes a Car a Classic

Maybe being a classic isn't only about age.

Maybe it's about what a car represents.

The first car you modified.

The car your dad had.

The one your older brother wouldn't let you drive.

The car you saved every paycheck to buy parts for.

The one you took to your first meet.

The one you drove when gas was cheap enough that cruising around all night didn't require financial planning.

Cars become tied to chapters of our lives.

Eventually, seeing one again doesn't just remind you of the car.

It reminds you of who you were when that car was everywhere.

And maybe that's why these cars suddenly feel so special.

We Were There

That's the coolest part.

We watched these cars when they were new.

We watched them become cheap used cars.

We watched people modify them, race them, wreck them, rebuild them and sometimes completely destroy them.

And now we're watching the survivors become classics.

So the next time you're at a show and see someone carefully polishing a car you remember seeing in every parking lot twenty or thirty years ago, try not to have an existential crisis.

Just appreciate it.

Because somewhere along the way, the cars we grew up with became automotive history.

And apparently…

so did we.

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The Garage Question

What's the car you remember being everywhere when you were younger that you can't believe is considered a classic now?

And better yet:

Which one do you wish you'd kept?

More than a brand. It's a ritual.

— Janie M. Hill
Owner, Redline Ritual Co.