Nostalgia May Be Only Hope for ʼ90s-Era U.K. Cars

Some of the most popular cars in the U.K. from the 1990s are on the verge of extinction.

New research from online used-car adviser Honest John Classics shows that in 2016, for example, 2,613 Rover 400s were taken off the road; that’s 20.8% of the total number left. At the current rate of extinction, it says, they all will be gone in five years.

Once beloved of salespeople everywhere, 10.2% of 1990s Vauxhall Cavaliers have been scrapped. The Saxo subcompact saw 2,505 destroyed – 24.1% of the total left.

The website says not even the youngest cars from the dot-com decade are safe.

The ’98 Ford Focus changed car design forever when it was launched, but examples from that model year are vanishing at the rate of 25% a year. If this rate of decline continues, there will be no 1990s Mk1 Focuses left in four years.

It’s a similar story for the Ford Ka, with 29% of examples disappearing every 12 months.

Honest John Classics editor Keith Moody says many people think of a classic car as an MGB or an E-type Jaguar.

“The reality is that there’s a huge amount of interest in cars from the 1990s,” Moody says in a statement. “I’m not talking about the supercars that adorned posters on bedroom walls, I’m talking about the cars that we grew up with. These cars were part of our lives every single day – and now they’re nearly all gone.”

Moody says the low survival rates of cars once seen on every street and at every service station means demand for them is starting to outstrip supply.

“While we’ve seen a lot of 1990s nostalgia in the past few years…it’s shocking that the cars from this decade of automotive history are on the brink of extinction,” he says.

Of the several reasons these cars are on the endangered species list, one of the biggest is the 2009-2010 scrappage scheme. The government encouraged people to trade in cars more than 10 years old for a £2,000 (now $2,688) discount on a new car. In total, Moody says, 392,227 future classics were taken off the road because of the scheme.

Cars from 2000 have the worst rate of passing Ministry of Transport annual roadworthiness tests, with 51.5% failing. After this point, the figure improves for older cars as they are obtained by enthusiastic owners.

Cars from 1993 have a better rate of passing the roadworthiness test – 56.5%, compared with 55.3% of cars from 2000 – demonstrating 1990s cars are emerging classics, Moody says.

Honest John Classics says 25 years ago, the Mk5 Ford Escort was Britain’s best-selling car. It sold 122,002 units that year, but just 460 are left on the road – a survival rate of 0.37%.

It’s a similar story with the Mk3 Fiesta, which was second on the best-sellers list with 110,449 units sold in 1993. Now just 435 are still on the road – a survival rate of 0.39%.

In fact, Moody says, none of the top 10 best-selling cars from 1993 have a survival rate of more than 1%. That means 99% have been crushed.