A new report shows that once great sellers from the 70's and 80's are very close to being completely wiped out in the UK.

Recent research by leading classic car insurer, ClassicLine has revealed that a number of once popular British classic cars are facing an extinction crisis.

The list of top ten most endangered cars in Britain has been published by the insurance specialists as part of it’s new ‘Save our Classics’ campaign.

Taking the top spot on the endangered list is the British Leyland built, Morris Ital. The new figures revealing that with only 35 registered examples left they are now rarer than a Javan Rhino.

Built at Cowley and then later Longbridge between 1980 – 1984, the Ital was the last production car to wear the Morris badge. In the past decade, a shocking 150 Itals have disappeared from Britain’s roads, and today, the youngest car in the Morris family is on the very brink of extinction.

“Once common 1970’s and 80’s cars are disappearing at an alarming rate and this new list is evidence that a serious extinction crisis is mounting”, said Ian Fray, managing director at ClassicLine. “Tens of thousands of Itals were built during the 1980s, they are a proud part of our British manufacturing heritage so it is very sad to hear that so few now remain”.

The new data also highlights the decimation of the iconic Ford Sierra. Often seen roaming across the British landscape in vast numbers through the Eighties and Nineties they are now in a worrying state of decline. With over 64,000 being lost in the last decade, less than one per cent of the total built now remain.

Other cars high on the Save our Classics endangered list include the 1980’s best seller, the Austin Metro, the once popular Ford Cortina, the Austin Allegro, the Vauxhall Victor and the Hillman Avenger.

Fray added, “It is a tragedy that such huge numbers of these cars have been lost in the last decade. Through our new campaign we aim to raise awareness and support for the plight of these once common and much loved British classics that are being recklessly driven to extinction”.

The new Save our Classics campaign, launched earlier this month by ClassicLine encourages the preservation of British classic cars and has called for a number of incentives such as reducing the current UK road tax exemption from 40 years to 30 years to help enthusiasts maintain the dwindling stock. Drivers and enthusiasts can pledge their support to the campaign through the ClassicLine webpage and join the growing community of ‘spotters’ who are being encouraged to share sightings of the endangered cars when they see them out on the road.

For more information about the campaign and to pledge your support visit 

www.classiclineinsurance.co.uk/save-our-classics 

or 

www.facebook.com/saveourclassics

Top 10 endangered cars in the UK

	2015	2005	Amount built	% lost
Morris Ital (1980 – 1984)	35	185	175,276	99.98004
Austin Maxi (1969 – 1981)	140	318	472,098	99.97035
Austin Allegro (1973-1982)	170	543	642,340	99.97354
Vauxhall Chevette (1975 – 1984)	202	765	416,058	99.95145
Hillman Avenger (1970-1981)	215	291	638,631	99.96634
Morris Marina (1971 – 1980)	273	550	809,612	99.96629
Austin Metro (1980 – 1991)	464	8395	1,518,932	99.96946
Vauxhall Victor (1961 – 1978)	828	1050	827,159	99.8999
Ford Sierra (1982 – 1993)	3350	67817	3,470,524	99.90348
Ford Cortina	3580	4967	4,154,902	99.91384

How many of your car are left on the UK roads, well, try the link to find out.

TMW Thoughts

As much as We Love Any Car.com, will give you an answer to your query, they are not giving you anything really, this site >>>>>>HERE<<<<<< is a far better site to visit, more up to date, and you can get a better iea of your car, because you can narrow it down to the year of manuufacture, as an example, MY car, on WLANC.Com states there are 56 of my car left on the road, yet go to the other better site, and i can narrow that down to only 9 left on the UK's roads, so if yo want to check out your car, go to my link above, it is far better.

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WeLoveAnyCar.com, the UK’s biggest car review site, has launched #CarCountUK allowing users to check how many cars of a particular make and model are still licensed on British Roads.

The largest group of drivers on British roads are people born in the 60s and 70s.  Cars of their youth are almost extinct – there are fewer than 22 Bond Bugs, 161 Austin Allegros and just 3,482 Ford Cortinas, once the UK’s most popular car, still registered to drive on British roads.

These figures don’t include those cars where the car is ‘unregistered’ or taken off the road via a SORN notice to the DVLA. In fact, there are thought to be more Allegros in classic car collections than actually licensed to drive on the roads.

2.6 million Cortinas were sold in the UK so just 0.1% of the Ford success story remains on the roads. There are 4,119 Ford Sierras, the Cortina replacement, still licensed of the 1.3 million sold in the UK. Specialist models such as the Ford Sierra Cosworth (RS and Sapphire) tend to be better preserved than the average Sierra with 956 still licensed – that’s over 23% of all Sierra models remaining.

Even cars which were built much later can be rare. Whilst Renault changed the market when they built the Espace, they didn’t achieve the same success with the Avantime. There are 23,049 Renault Espace models but only 273 Avantimes still registered for British roads. Another 70s creation, the Renault Fuego, has just 19 cars on the road.

Using Government statistics, the car review site has made it easy for anyone to look at  how many cars are exactly like the one they drive or one they used to drive.

A spokesman for WeLoveAnyCar.com said, “Our easy-to-use site allows anyone to look at how exclusive their cars are and in some cases drivers might be surprised to find they are one of a handful driving the model they own.” 

Even current car owners can be in a very exclusive group. There are only 6 owners of the Audi Q7 SE TFSI 333 QUATTRO A model on all the roads in the UK and just 9 owners of the Peugeot 308 SPORTIUM E-HDI S-A variant.

TMW - 2014 Pride of Longbridge classic car event - WARNING - PIC HEAVY

Back in 2005 two events were to bring the Birmingham motor industry to the fore, the first was the closure of Britain's last mass production car industry, the other, situated just over the road, at Cofton Park, was an event that now heralds what was, and still is great, about what eventually became MG-Rover.

PLEASE CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO VIEW LARGER SIZE.

A view from the MG sales centre opposite the park.

From the start of the very first car that arrived, the endless stream of cars continued to arrive, for hours, the myriad of Rover 25's, 45's and 75's along with there MG Sisters, an lonely SV, a few commercial vehicles, along with Triumph's, Austin's, Morris's, Riley's, Wolseley's and more.

This event was not just for the UK either, as a number of European registered cars were in attendance, which, goes to show, what an event this really has become over the years, it was so great to see cars from an era that did not make cars to last, with the dreaded rot calling the death knell to many models, but those, dedicated, and brilliant people, that have the time, patience and money to keep these stunning examples on the roads, it is these people that deserve to be applauded, for without them, these events would not exist.

So, you want a Rover 200 BRM, we have a few here, all Green with red leather.

I had a nice chat with a geezer from the Rover 200 BRM club, and my, where there dozens of these there, it was another lost opportunity for Rover, the BRM badge should have been utilised on more than just the 200, imagine, a 100 BRM with the red leather interior, or a 45, now that would be something special, but i digress, as i usually do in these events, as there is just so much to convey, that i get excited by what's to come, and believe me, the pictures below are only a handful of the hundreds we took.

Pre War Rover 10

I do have to say though, that if you took away the MG-Rover era of cars there would be a distinct lack of cars there, as it was they ranged from a pre-war Rover 10 - via a pre production Austin 1800 with its scale model, to the first Longbridge produced again via the last Rover (real) Mini right up to a brand spanking new MG3, that was collected from the sales centre, over the road, just a few minutes earlier.

I will also have to say, how happy i was to see so many MG6 and MG3 cars on display, and how these owners are really getting behind NEW MG, and regardless of the drivel you can read on other forums from people that should now better, these new cars are special, in a way that the MGR era cars were special, we have to remember that it was 9 long years ago that MGR died, and the Chinese took control, yes it has been a long wait, but things are happening, successful, if no marketing to promote it, BTCC wins, the decent little MG3, that deserves to be selling so many more, and the MG6, that deserves, well, to be honest, that's my bug bear, the MG6 is over priced, and under specified, not in kit, but engines and gearboxes, and that's all I will say on the subject.

MG6 GT and Magnettes along with MG3 cars by teh MG Stand.

Back to the event, the overwhelming amount of Rover 75 and ZT/ZT-T cars on display was huge, in fact i would not be surprised if it amounted to about a third of the total, but to see so many mk1 and mk2 cars in all colours was a spectacle to behold, and one i just drooled over at each car, and there were some special ones there too.

Not sure about the black paint around the grill on this Rover 75

At one stage we popped over the road and say the dozens and dozens of MG3 cars in the compound, that were awaiting customers, there really should not be any there, they need to be sold, like a large number of MG3 cars by the sales centre with SOLD on, there was even an unregistered Rover 45 in Silver next to the Magnette MG6.

Unregistered 45 along with dozens of MG3 cars in the background.

Yet more MG3 cars ready for some new buyers.

There were just so many cars there, some that just smacked you with how beautiful they were to others that, well, need to have their owners smacked, it is unfortunate that with the demise of MGR, the collapse of the second hand car market brought about the arrival of what used to be call the Max Power brigade, modded up cars, lower suspension, scissor doors, huge exhausts and so on, for me, these are not classic cars, for me, and it is my personal opinion that these cars will end up smashed and destroyed, ended another great car that could have been kept original, I like my cars original, not tarted up like a dogs dinner, but for those that do, that's fine too.

Below is my top cars of the event.

Unusual Car of the Event

Best Austin

Best MG

Top Ten favourite cars of the event

10th Place

9th Place

 8th Place

7th Place

6th Place

  5th Place

4th Place

 3rd Place

2nd Place

 My favourite car of the event + Best Rover

A stunning Rover P5b 3.5 litre V8 in Black, it just cant get any better than this !

Get ready for this, these are some of the other pictures, enjoy.

And remember these are my pictures, please ask before you use them elsewhere.

A interloper - well, our daily grind unfortunately.

Last time I saw this registration it was on a factory produced mk2 Rover 45 Tourer

As you can see, there are a lot of pictures, and this is only just a small handful of the ones we took, the PoL has to be congratulated for continuing to bring this event to the masses, I cant think of anywhere else that could host an event like this, after all it is on the doorstep of Longbridge, and it is great to see the factory back up and running, albeit, just assembling bits and pieces of the MG6 and MG3, but as they say, from small acorns comes great Oaks, and this is what will happen here, with each new model they introduce, the sales will grow, but they can not rest, they MUST advertise the cars, get them back on TV and push them, keep pushing them, and with that will come more new dealers, and they bring sales, so, you must speculate to accumulate, Please MG, start getting it right, you have a brilliant new car on the horizon, price it cheaply enough to rough up the competition, and people will start to take even more notice.

Thank you to all the owners of the cars that attended, without you this would not happen, and thank you for keeping such motoring icons alive for the next and future generations, and the Committee, thank you too, and with the 10th Anniversary next year of both the closure and 1st event, it will no doubt be one that we all look forward too.

TMW  - Jon Mower