THE CLASS OF 2000: 25-YEAR-OLD FUTURE CLASSICS

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It seems like yesterday, but 2000 is the latest year for defining when your car migrates into classic status.

That’s because most classic car insurance companies use the 25-year mark as the cut-off for insuring your car as a classic—so 2000 is your year.

Those are the numbers for their yardstick so here are five old-car insurable classics from twenty-five years ago.

Jerry Sutherland

Bear in mind, this isn’t a Baby Boomer list because most of these cars appeal to the next generation, so the first two are Japanese. Think Gen X or early Millennial—not mid-range Boomer.

The first pick is the Honda S2000. This car was aimed at the next-Gen MGB buyer because it was an open roadster, and it handled infinitely better than the family minivan.

Unlike the MGB, the Honda S2000 was a beast because it had a 2-liter DOHC VTECH 4-cylinder that cranked out 240 horsepower in front of a 6-speed manual transmission.  This little roadster could hit 146 miles per hour, so driving the Honda was like Warp Drive compared to driving an MGB.

The second pick for the Class of 2000 is also Japanese. It’s the 2000 Toyota MR2 roadster and it too was a spanky sports car.

The difference is where Toyota put the engine because the MR2 is a mid-engined car. That means this car handled better than the 1956 LeMans winner because technology had taken a giant leap by 2000. Its 2.2-liter twin cam four only had 138 horsepower, but it also only weighed 2200 pounds so the MR2 did 0-60 in a solid seven seconds and hit 131 mph thanks to its 5-speed manual. 

The third pick for 25-year classic status is straight out of Detroit and it comes in the form of the 2000 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am WS6.

The T/A name was coming to an end, but this car was a great addition to the legend.   It came with the time-tested 5.7 liter LS1 V-8 tuned to 305-horsepower in the WS6 package. This ‘bird was a rocket because it did 0-60 mph in 5 seconds, a 13.5-second quarter mile–and it topped out at 162 miles per hour. Try doing that in a ’74 Trans Am.

The fourth pick is a rocket from Ford. The 2000 Ford SVT Mustang Cobra was built to conquer–and it did it like a boss.

This 21st Century pony could gallop because its 5.4-liter V-8 pumped out 385 horsepower—enough to push this car to a 13-second ¼-mile time and a top speed of 175 miles per hour. Those numbers made this car the fastest ‘stang ever built to that point.

The fifth pick for the Class of 2000 is the Viper ACR. This version continued the tradition of an all-muscle, minimal comfort, brute force roadster.

The V-10 was still under the hood but the 2000 ACR version made 460 horsepower, so it blasted this Viper to a 0-60 time of 4 seconds, a ¼ mile of 12.1 seconds and a top speed of 175-ish miles per hour.

As I said, this isn’t a Baby Boomer list. It’s a next-Gen list, so love it or hate it–those are the future classics.

I’m okay with that because the world definitely needs more car guys—they don’t all have to be classic era muscle car guys.            

Jerry Sutherland

BY: Jim Sutherland

Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section. 

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