I wrote my senior paper in college about the collector car hobby, specifically trying to answer the question of why we like old cars. I found that there are three basic reasons why we like old cars:

1. Experiential aspects: This is basically the five senses (well except taste; I usually try to avoid tasting cars) and asking “what is it like to experience an old car?” This means looking at, driving, hearing, working on, and however else we relate to cars.
2. Social aspects: This is the social events that go with old cars. From the Concours d’Elegance and prestigious rally all the way to the weekend ritual of coffee and telling lies, cars are a way for people to relate to other people. This is also where “geekery” about obscure weird facts (such as the month in which the supplier for an electric fuel pump changed) comes into play.
3. Cultural aspects: This is the history associated with cars. Whether a car belonged to someone famous, changed the way we think about what a car should be or what it can do, or won the Grand Prix of Mumbai and was the Machu Picchu show car, cars have meaning to us because of their ties to the rest of society.

For those wanting to read the exact phrasing from the paper, it’s included here:

While contemporary cars are functionally superior to classic cars in almost all respects (they are faster, more comfortable, more efficient, safer, more completely equipped), there exists a sizeable and persistent following for old cars. Car enthusiasts feel a strong connection with classic cars for a number of reasons that are varied and not always rational in the traditional sense, including the emotional and experiential aspects of cars, the social aspects of the hobby, and the larger cultural implications of the cars. Thus, classic cars exist as objects whose meaning and value exist not only because of their intrinsic scientific and technological properties, but also because of their cultural and social aspects and context. The value of the cars exists in spite of, or perhaps because of their technological and functional obsolescence, demonstrating that for many consumers, traditional quantitative metrics and performance-based assessments are an oversimplified model in which to consider products.

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