‘CLASSIC CARS COULD DISAPPEAR FROM OUR ROADS – BANISHED BY LEGISLATION’

at the table. The statement on the front page of the HCVA’s website is striking: ‘The threat is clear. Classic cars, bikes and other vehicles could disappear from our roads – banished by legislation.’

Emma Crickmay acknowledges that this doesn’t refer to any single law, but rather to the way that some feel the world is going. Even so, she defends the HCVA’s robust approach: ‘If you don’t make a noise, a bit of positive disruption when you see something being eroded, then before you know it, you’re at the edge of a cliff. We want to step in and provide a positive, disruptive voice at this moment to make sure it doesn’t happen, because that would be a tragedy for the jobs in this sector and for the cars and owners themselves.’

Not everyone agrees with the HCVA’s tactics. David Whale, chairman of the FBHVC, said: ‘The historic vehicle movement has a lot of challenges ahead of it in the next couple of decades around fuel supply and environmental issues, to name just two. I think it’s really important that movements talk with a common voice rather than presenting headline-grabbing numbers that are questionable.’

This refers to the ‘key facts and figures’ document released by the HCVA, some of which has since been challenged in another document sent out by the FBHVC, entitled Historic Vehicles – The FACTS!

David Whale stresses that the FBHVC’s data is based on the responses of 15,000 enthusiasts questioned as part of recent research. The Federation deals with ‘historic’ vehicles, (40+ years old and registered as a Historic Vehicle with the DVLA), including cars, motorbikes, buses, commercials, military and agricultural vehicles. Therefore, numbers differ significantly from the values and quantities of ‘classics’ in the report quoted by the HCVA, which includes all cars made before 2005.

However, Whale admits that there are areas of concern that fall outside the FBHVC’s remit: ‘This has come to a head now largely because of Brexit. Relatively free transport or transfer, the sale of vehicles across our borders, has become more difficult. For HCVA to focus on that aspect, on those issues that are a threat to business activity for traders, we would say “Please carry on, with our good wishes.”’