[mnhegde]

Nice thread. My list of future classics will be:-

1. ZEN - Hot hatch.
2. Esteem - Zippy.
3. Palio 1.6 - a 100 bhp monster.
4. Tata safari - Just cant ignore this beast.
5. Tata Sierra - Lovely vehicle.
6. Rover Montego - Love the looks of this beauty.
7. M800 - 2nd version.
8. Contessa - Muscle car.
9. Amby - cant ignore this beauty.
10. FIAT 1100 - Beauty.
11. OHC - what a car.
12. w124 - A strong contender.

Long list .

[vijaythacker]

i say
maruti baleno
mitsubishi lancer
jellybean zen
fiat palio 1.6
ford fiesta 1.6
tata safari
maruti esteem

[Nitronium]

Whassay the Toyota Sera? The original scissor door dream

[sharoncr_17]

I would limit my list to:
1. HM Contessa,
2. Fiat 1100 (a.k.a Premier Padmini),
3. Premier 118NE,
4. 1st generation Maruti 800,
5. Standard 2000 (hm...),
6. Mahindra CJ

These are bound to become rare in 5-10 yrs.

So if your dad have one, don't exchange it for a Maruti Alto 800...!

[sharoncr_17]

I think Daewoo Cielo and Ford Escort can be added to the list.

[subraiyr]

As Mclaren pointed out if we are talking about Rare, Interesting and Beautiful, then the choices would be as follows

Ford Fusion - Discontinued, rare to see one, but talk to the owner and it brings out some passionate discussions in the community. Much ahead of its time and it did not have the curves making it a one of a kind design. Am talking about the 2004 - 2005 models

Fiat Adeventurer - I don't see much of this now. But truly a station wagon and a good weekend getaway car

Chevy Forrester - Again, a car much ahead of its time. People never understood what it stood for and sad to hardly see any of them. 10 years on and i am still searching for it

Contessa Classic - This to me defined the breakaway from the Ambi and Fiat days. A car that would easily climb the toughest of mountain roads and brought about a defining character to future cars in India

Mitsubishi Cedia - A rally cruncher. This was probably the best car for mods and still is. You could take it to the cleaners and it would still not give up on you

Zen - After the boxy 800s, the Zen brought about a sporty feel to Maruti. With its diminutive size and packing a punch, Zen was a luxury vehicle for the upgraders from Amby and Padminis. Even more so the Zen Carbon was brilliant with a 3 door hatch. Sadly it was more so created to offload the remaining vehicles, but it was brilliant in its own way.

Ambassador - Mark 1 to Mark 3 (Mark 4 i think started having floor gears). How many can a car carry vs a truck and amby still managed to win hands down. The car that every Indian dreamed to own at one point of time and one that could take any number of people thrown at it. It defined parliamentarians, politicians and the working class.

And what about the Dolphin ? Any takers ?

[sharoncr_17]

Originally Posted by subraiyr

And what about the Dolphin ? Any takers ?

Subraiyr,

"Time transforms even ugly ducklings to a classic beauty"

Dolphins are rare. They will surely be a collectable car in future.

[saket77]

How about the Daewoo Matiz guys? I am sure that if Daewoo had survived, Matiz would have seen better days. Its a nice little beauty, among the first tall boys that Indian market witnessed apart from the contemporary Santro, which was an ugly duckling; at least at that time- the first gen.

Padminis are almost there, but since Amby is still in production and bought for political uses, IMO, its not as much of classic as the Fiat 1100D or padmini.

The old jellybean; Zen, if not really a classic, but has its own niche & a cult following.

Have fond memories of the Opel Astra, but probably the crowds would disagree.

Last but not the least, the original Maruti Suzuki 800, SS80. I already find heads turning on those.

[zen kobane]

I strongly feel 'Duster' has already become a cult classic and will always be looked back as one.

For one single reason, SIMPLE bare-bone appearance.

I personally still have it deep within my heart, like someone said in this forum, "Its one of those cars that you either hate or simply fall in love at first sight, and then love forever".

So my list:

1. ZEN (I wish Maruti would simply evolve the original Zen design into a new one, imagine a bigger and more muscular version of the original old design... kinda close to MINI)2. Duster
3. Lancer
4. Esteem
5. Safari
6. Scorpio
7. Accent
8. THAR (Lol, its a cult classic since forever!)

Surprisingly, Ive only owned a yellow Zen & a silver Accent Tornado out of the list and if all goes well (Automatic transmission or 4WD) I might own a Duster/Terrano very soon

Cheers!

[sharoncr_17]

I'm really wondering whether the utilitarian HM Trekker will ever become a classic??

I feel that will remain an ugly duckling forever.

[girishglg]

IMO the definition of future classics would be those cars that have been desirable to own on one or more terms such as - Looks, power, reliability, brand, exclusivity or just a very desirable car

Some more coming to mind (guess not included earlier) -

1. Accent Viva CRDi
2. Maruti Gypsy 1.3
3. Toyota Corolla
4. Mahindra Commander Di
5. Ford Ikon 1.6

[vinya_jag]

Originally Posted by Nitronium

OHC Vtecs, vRSs, Zen MPFI, W124s, Palio GTX 1.6s, Balenos are merely some of the cars that we will look back upon fondly in decades to come. Cars that defined an era, and changed the Indian motoring scene in their own small/big ways.

I've often wondered which of the current crop of cars that are in the market today will stand the test of time in the eyes of auto enthusiasts in our country.

From what I understand, Zen MPFI, Palio et all are not being sold anymore.
So, I guess they are classics already.

So, from the current crop of cars, I feel,
Thar
Yeti
would make my list

For the rest, yes, they could all stay in the market for ever.
The linea will still be sold in some form or the other.
Same is the case with the New Fiesta.
Innova, Ecosport will all stay here for years to come.

But the big losers in Thar and Yeti might rethink their strategies, and might even stop these cars altogether in the near future.

[download2live]

Originally Posted by girishglg

IMO the definition of future classics would be those cars that have been desirable to own on one or more terms such as - Looks, power, reliability, brand, exclusivity or just a very desirable car

Some more coming to mind (guess not included earlier) -

1. Accent Viva CRDi
2. Maruti Gypsy 1.3
3. Toyota Corolla

Corolla? Seriously?
Its a point A to B car. The only reason (an a very good one though) people buy it because it runs forever.
Or is it that your were going to write Qualis and wrote Corolla by mistake?

[sharoncr_17]

I feel that first of all we should be clear as to what are the criteria for the term "classic".

Is it the year of production, the rarity factor, whether the production is still on, ..(list not exhaustive).

Not every car can become a classic. It will be hard to call an Ambassador or a 2nd gen M800 as a classic because there is no rarity factor. Every T,D & H has one in his garage.

But a Tata Estate or an Opel Astra or a Cielo, etcetra has the rarity factor as they didn't sell large numbers.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by sharoncr_17

I feel that first of all we should be clear as to what are the criteria for the term "classic".

Is it the year of production, the rarity factor, whether the production is still on, ..(list not exhaustive).

Not every car can become a classic. It will be hard to call an Ambassador or a 2nd gen M800 as a classic because there is no rarity factor. Every T,D & H has one in his garage.

But a Tata Estate or an Opel Astra or a Cielo, etcetra has the rarity factor as they didn't sell large numbers.

I wouldn't call any flopped car as a future classic just because they are rare. There could be flops in the market due to 2 reasons - either because it is a bad product or because it was too expensive to be a practical car. Future classics are typically those 'flops' that belong to the second category - overpriced engineering marvels that are 'not needed' in the current world.

Rarity factor should be considered 15 years after the last production version rolled out of the factory. Irrespective of the number of specimens sold over the years, 15-25 year should be a good time frame to make everything but the really well maintained cars to end up in a junk yard. If it was a bad product, there is no way it will last that long. So the bad products would also get weeded out by this time.

Coming to the original topic of discussion - will any of the modern cars survive with age with their over-dependence on electronics? Chances are low. A lot of the ECU controlled cars with OBD/OBD2 etc. that we list now will not be seen 25 years down the line since the scanners and other devices would be upgraded by then and no mechanic would be able to troubleshoot a current generation car without the right set of tools. Once these 'tools' are no longer available, maintaining these cars would also become a big issue and it would slowly fade out into the history books.