MORE CHANGES & BATTLES…
PC began the Nineties as a fit ten-year-old. This was the decade when the movement began to embrace technology
Mobile phones had arrived, we had desktop publishing, and the internet was in its infancy. The age of high technology was here and, while we’ve always had a campaigning element, in the Nineties we felt it necessary to get ferocious.
An issue that dominated the first half of the decade was the proposed continuous licencing – better known as possession tax. In other words, you’d have to fork out for road tax whether your car was on the road or not. The dreaded plan was finally aborted, not just because of our efforts but because of a major battle fought by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs, MP Greg Knight and many others. We also got a wonderful concession: cars built before January 1973 were entitled to free road tax – but the incoming Labour Government froze entitlement to that cut-off date, rather than allowing cars to become eligible when they reached their quarter century. Some felt that this was a Government tough on classics and tough on the cause of classic motoring.
The European Union was also legislating happily, its Waste Directive meaning scrapyards needed special licences. They also needed various upgrades, with the result that many old yards would cease trading. Another issue causing much investigation and debate was fuel catalysts, sometimes just dubious-looking pellets you could add to your tank to supposedly enable your classic to run on unleaded fuel, with greater economy.
Classic fuel crisis
We carried out a long-term test of one of the best-known devices on the market at the time, at the end of which our Morris 1800’s engine was badly damaged. Talking of fuel, we were less
successful in our efforts to save supplies of leaded four-star petrol, set to be axed in 2000.
Happier notes of the decade included the opening of the brand-new Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon, home to more than 3200 historic British cars.
The centre, on a 65-acre site, took two years to build and cost £7.9m.
The Practical Classics editorial team moved from Kent to Peterborough in 1991, and in 1996 the magazine merged with sister title Popular Classics.
This particular publication was much more devoted to nostalgia than PC and brought with it features that are proudly still with us today – including
Memory Lane.