36 big classic car birthdays in 2024

Milestone motors

We thought we’d look at cars which are celebrating significant birthdays ending in a zero in 2024.

There are a great many of them, so apologies in case we have not mentioned one of your favourites.

That said, we have got 36, which is a lot to be getting on with – and a lot of candles to blow out.

So here they are, 36 classic cars marking big milestones in 2024, all of which were on sale before 2000, listed in chronological order.

1. Peugeot Type 7 (1894)

Peugeot introduced several new cars in 1894, but the Type 7 was certainly one of the most significant.

That’s because it was the first powered by a 1282cc V-twin Daimler engine, a considerable advance over the 565cc unit the company had previously used.

A Type 7 was the second-fastest car in the 1894 Paris-Rouen race and the first with a petrol engine, having been beaten only by a De Dion-Bouton steamer.

Despite this achievement, sales were very poor at this time, leading Eugène Peugeot to decide that building cars was a bad idea and the family company should stick to bicycles instead.

He shut down the automotive side of the business in December 1895, to which his cousin Armand reacted by setting up Automobiles Peugeot the following month.

2. Fiat 60hp (1904)

Just five years after it was established to take over production of a tiny two-cylinder car designed by a bicycle manufacturer, Fiat introduced what has been described as ‘the first true Italian supercar’.

The extraordinarily expensive 60hp, launched 120 years ago, was a challenger to the formidable Mercedes of the same name introduced a year before, though at 10.6 litres the Italian engine was 1.3 litres larger than the already sizeable German one.

Popular among very wealthy buyers in the US, the 60hp sat at the top of the Fiat range until it was discontinued in 1906.

3. Ford Model B (1904)

As its name suggests, the Model B was the Ford Motor Company’s second car, and the first with what we would now regard as a conventional layout – and it, too, is 120 in 2024.

The Model A, introduced the previous year, and its successor, the Model C, both had flat-twin engines mounted at the rear, whereas the B was powered by a four-cylinder unit mounted up front.

Inevitably more expensive than the A, the B was also Ford’s first range-topper, assuming that a manufacturer can be considered to have a range only when it is producing more than one model.

Like the Fiat 60hp, the Model B survived until 1906, when it was replaced by the six-cylinder Model K.

4. Rolls-Royce 10hp (1904)

Unlike the manufacturers mentioned so far, Rolls-Royce did not exist as a company when the first model bearing its name went into production.

The two-cylinder 10hp was based on a prototype designed and built in 1903 by Henry Royce.

Charles Rolls drove this car in 1904, and was so impressed that he told Royce he would buy as many as the engineer could make and sell them through his dealership.

Marketed as the Rolls-Royce, the car was a big success, and led to the creation of one of the most famous companies in motoring history in 1906.

5. Alfa Romeo 20/30hp (1914)

Derived from Alfa’s first model, the 24hp of 1910, the 20/30hp was launched four years later, when the company was still called Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili, or Lombardy Car Factory Ltd.

It was manufactured for only two years in its initial run, but returned in 1920, by which time the company had been taken over by entrepreneur Nicola Romeo.

Romeo added his own name to that of the business he had acquired, and the later version of the 20/30hp became the first car badged as an Alfa Romeo.

6. Chevrolet Light Six (1914)

Chevrolet was co-founded in 1911 by expatriate Swiss racing driver Louis Chevrolet and American businessman William Durant, who had created – but soon been removed from – General Motors.

The Light Six was introduced in 1914, 110 years ago, and became Chevrolet’s most expensive model when the Classic Six was discontinued at the end of that year.

It didn’t last much longer, because Durant, who wanted the company to build cheaper cars which would sell in greater numbers, cancelled it after buying out his former partner.

The Light Six was one of the first cars fitted with the famous ‘bow tie’ emblem, whose provenance is uncertain but which has been used on Chevrolets ever since.

7. Chrysler Six (1924)

Despite its name, the Chrysler Six was in fact a product of the Maxwell Automobile Company, which had just been bought by the fabulously wealthy Walter Chrysler.

Fitted initially with a 3.3-litre version of what would become a long-running flathead straight-six engine, the Six would itself have an impressive career, remaining in production for 12 years.

The names of the car and its maker became identical in 1925, when Maxwell was re-formed as the Chrysler Corporation.

8. MG 14/28 (1924)

The first car marketed as an MG celebrates its centenary and was essentially a sporty version of the contemporary Morris Oxford, with an altered chassis and different bodywork.

For those who didn’t already know, its origins were made clear by the fact that it still carried Morris badging.

In late 1926, the 14/28 was updated and became the 14/40 (pictured).

The later version would be the first production car with MG badging, though it’s believed that this didn’t happen until about a year after it first went on sale.

9. Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 (1934)

Having built 6Cs (so named because they had six-cylinder engines) since 1927, Alfa Romeo raised the game in 1934, 90 years ago, with a new version, the first with a capacity of more than 2 litres.

The latest unit measured 2309cc, and powered a car which at first had very conventional suspension, though Alfa later adopted an all-independent set-up.

The engine was offered in various states of tune and, characteristically for the time, different bodies were available from independent coachbuilders, including (as pictured here) Touring.

The car continued in this form until 1938, when it was replaced by the 6C 2500.

10. Bugatti Type 57 (1934)

One of the most desirable European cars of the 1930s, the Type 57 was also the last roadgoing Bugatti introduced before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Always powered by a 3.3-litre straight-eight engine, it was available in several forms, including the regular tourer, the lowered S and SC, and the very rare Atalante (pictured) and Atlantic versions.

Competition derivatives won the 1936 French Grand Prix (open that year only to sports cars), and the 1937 and 1939 Le Mans 24 Hours.

One of the winning drivers in 1939 was Pierre Veyron, whose name – like that of another Bugatti racer, Louis Chiron – was used for a Bugatti model in the 21st century.

11. Chrysler Airflow (1934)

Although aerodynamic considerations had partly influenced the design of competition cars for some time, they were not taken seriously by mainstream manufacturers until the mid 1930s.

One of the pioneers was Chrysler, whose 1934 Airflow – quite unlike the immediately preceding Royal – had remarkably streamlined bodywork and integrated headlamps.

It was all too much too soon, and buyers responded by taking their business elsewhere.

Chrysler quickly toned down the styling, but it didn’t help, and the Airflow was abandoned after the 1937 model year.
 

12. Citroën Traction Avant (1934)

Traction avant, the generic name for a Citroën available in several forms, is the French for front-wheel drive, one of several aspects they all shared.

Others, equally impressive in their way at the time, were independent front suspension, hydraulic brakes and unibody construction, which allowed the cars to be far lower than they would have been if their bodies had been bolted on top of separate chassis.

These were brilliant vehicles, but the cost of developing them, and of creating a factory in which to build them, brought Citroën to a state of collapse, from which it had to be rescued by its major creditor, Michelin.

Although it led to the near-downfall of its company, the Traction Avant itself thrived, and was still in production as late as 1955.

13. Lagonda Rapier (1934)

Far more old-fashioned than either the Chrysler Airflow or the Citroën Traction Avant of the same year, the Rapier was nevertheless a technically interesting car.

That was largely because of its engine, which was much smaller than would normally have been expected of Lagonda at just 1104cc, but had the startling feature of twin-overhead camshafts.

Any hope that the Rapier might lead Lagonda to greater success was soon quashed, and the company was put into receivership in 1935.

Rapier production came to an end at this point, but leftover parts were assembled into complete vehicles by the short-lived Rapier Cars company, which did not use Lagonda branding.

14. MG P-type (1934)

Also known as the Midget, the P-type was similar to its successor, the J-type of 1932, but it had a stiffer chassis, more interior space and three crankshaft bearings, rather than the previous two.

As launched in 1934, 90 years ago, with the J-type’s 847cc overhead-camshaft engine, the car was known as the PA.

A year later, it was upgraded to PB, after MG raised the capacity from 847cc to 939cc, fitted a close-ratio gearbox and made some minor cosmetic alterations.

Of the 2526 P-types built in two years, 27 were PAs converted to PB specification because nobody wanted to buy them in their original form now that a superior version was available.

15. AC Aceca (1954)

The AC Ace, launched in 1953, was famously transformed into the Cobra by Carroll Shelby, who had the bright idea of fitting it with a Ford V8 engine.

Less famously, AC created two more derivatives on its own account – the Greyhound 2+2 of 1959 and the Aceca, which is of particular interest to us here because it entered production in 1954, 70 years ago.

The Aceca was similar to the Ace in most respects, the major difference being that it was a three-door coupé rather than a two-door roadster.

All production Acecas were powered by straight-six engines, usually a 2-litre unit of AC’s own design or a Bristol motor of similar size, but occasionally a 2.6-litre Ford.

16. Alfa Romeo Giulietta (1954)

No matter who suggested the idea (there are competing hypotheses) the car company with Romeo in its name finally gained its Juliet in 1954.

Initially available only as a 2+2 coupé, the Giulietta was fitted with the original 1290cc version of the aluminium Alfa Romeo Twin Cam engine, which would be produced in various capacities until the mid 1990s.

Only the 1290cc unit would be used in the Giulietta, but Alfa was more generous with body styles.

A saloon and a Spider were added in 1955, the low-slung Sprint Speciale arrived two years after that, and there were even a few Promiscua estates.

17. Austin Cambridge (1954)

The first of what would become several consecutive post-war models known as Austin Cambridge was launched in two forms.

They were close to being identical, but the A40 had a 1.2-litre version of the new BMC B-series engine, while the A50’s measured 1.5 litres.

According to figures supplied by the Cambridge-Oxford Owners’ Club, the A50 was considerably the more popular of the two, with 114,867 examples built compared with just 30,666 of the A40.

Production of both stopped in 1957 to make way for the A55, an upgrade of the A50 which was mechanically similar but had very different rear-end styling.

18. Jaguar D-type (1954)

Having won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1951 and 1953 with the C-type, Jaguar knew it would need a replacement car to maintain its success against increasing opposition from Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz.

The D-type used a development of the same XK straight-six engine, but was structurally quite different, with a very aerodynamic monocoque body.

In its debut year, it finished second to a Ferrari 375 Plus, but the factory team took victory in 1955, while D-types run by Edinburgh-based Ecurie Ecosse won the race in 1956 and 1957.

19. Mercedes-Benz 300SL (1954)

Another of the world’s most instantly recognisable classic cars first broke cover in 1954, 70 years ago.

The original 300SL was a sports-racing car which finished first and second in both the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Carrera Panamericana in 1952.

The idea of producing a roadgoing version for customers came not from Mercedes-Benz but from its US importer, Max Hoffman.

Eventually priced at more than three and a half times the cost of a contemporary Mercedes 170 saloon, the dramatic 300SL road car, fitted with enormously exciting gullwing doors, caused a sensation at the International Motor Sports Show in New York in February 1954, and went into production in August that year.

In all, 1400 examples were built (1100 of them finding customers in North America), before production stopped in 1957 to make way for the new roadster version, which remained on sale until 1963.

20. Swallow Doretti (1954)

Produced only in 1954 and 1955, this British sports car was largely designed from scratch, but it used the engine, gearbox and other mechanical parts from the Triumph TR2.

Larger than the Triumph, it was also more expensive, though thanks to the work of Frank Rainbow it is also often regarded as being more beautiful.

The model name refers to Dorothy Deen, who, in partnership with her father Arthur Anderson, imported both Swallows and Triumphs to southern California.

They also sold car accessories branded Doretti, an Italianised version of Dorothy’s first name.

21. De Tomaso Vallelunga (1964)

The Vallelunga was the first model produced by expatriate Argentinian Alejandro De Tomaso’s Italian company, and one of the very earliest mid-engined sports cars, appearing two years after the René Bonnet (later Matra) Djet.

The engine in question was the four-cylinder pre-crossflow Ford Kent, the only non-V8 ever fitted to a De Tomaso.

Around 50 Vallelungas were built before the end of 1967, by which time the company had moved on to the very much more powerful Mangusta.

22. Ferrari 275 (1964)

Replacing the 250GT Lusso, the 275 was the first Ferrari road car with a transaxle (a five-speed manual gearbox and differential in a single unit) and independent rear suspension.

Both the GTB coupé and the GTS roadster were powered by Gioacchino Colombo’s V12 engine, whose design dated back to 1947, and whose capacity Ferrari today describes, with exquisite precision, as being 3285.72cc.

In 1964, the engine had one camshaft per cylinder bank, but two years later Ferrari created another version with a total of four cams for the 275GTB/4 (pictured).

The 275 was replaced in 1968 by the 365GTB/4, now commonly known as the Daytona.

23. Ford Mustang (1964)

That’s right, the Ford Mustang is 60 in 2024.

Derived from the second-generation Falcon introduced a year earlier, the original Mustang was a very early example of a pony car, a term which can be argued about in great detail, but essentially means a small, high-performance coupé or convertible.

Whether it was the first of them is open to question, since the Plymouth Barracuda, which is also considered to be a pony car, came to market a few weeks earlier.

There’s no doubt, though, that the Ford has the greater history of the two, since the last Barracuda was built in 1974 and the Plymouth brand was discontinued in 2001, while Mustangs are still being built today.

In its first generation, the Mustang was available as a hardtop, a convertible or a fastback, and with either the Thriftpower straight-six engine or the Windsor V8, until it was replaced by a new car of the same name in 1973.

24. Honda S600 (1964)

The tiny S600 was derived from the S500 (Honda’s first passenger car), which it replaced, and the S360 kei prototype which preceded that.

Like those earlier machines, it had a very advanced, high-revving twin-cam engine, in this case measuring 606cc and producing a remarkable 57bhp.

Unusually, although the transmission was mostly conventional, the last part of it consisted of two chains which linked the differential to the rear wheels.

The S600 was replaced in 1966 by the S800, which had a larger and more powerful engine and, except in some early cases, a normal rear axle.
 

25. Marcos GT (1964)

GT is the general term for a series of similar-looking Marcos sports cars first seen in public at the Earls Court Racing Car Show in October 1963.

A production version, introduced the following year, was known as the Marcos 1800, a reference to its 1.8-litre Volvo engine.

The company switched to Ford power with the 1500 and 1650, both fitted with pre-crossflow Kent engines, and then the 1600 (pictured), which had the updated crossflow version of the same unit.

Later cars with 3-litre Ford or Volvo engines were still recognisably part of the same series, though in 1969 the original wooden chassis was replaced with a metal one.

26. Porsche 911 (1964)

The car we now know as the Porsche 911 was revealed at the Frankfurt motor show in 1963, when its official name was 901.

This clashed with Peugeot’s naming policy, so Porsche switched to 911, which is what the new model was called when it went on sale in 1964, 60 years ago.

The only engine option to begin with was a rear-mounted 2-litre flat-six which, according to Porsche, gave the car a top speed of 210kph, or around 130mph.

Many variations followed, but the more than 80,000 911s built up to 1973 are all considered part of the first generation.

27. Sunbeam Tiger (1964)

If asked to name a 1950s British sports car transformed by having its engine replaced with a Ford V8 at the suggestion of Carroll Shelby, many people would think that what you were talking about was an AC Cobra.

There would be nothing wrong with that answer, but the same also applies to the Sunbeam Alpine, which became the Tiger when it was adapted to take Ford’s Windsor small-block.

The Tiger’s career was cut short by the fact that the Rootes Group, Sunbeam’s parent company, was taken over by Chrysler in 1967 and became part of Chrysler Europe.

The new American bosses were understandably pettish about having a Ford-powered car in the line-up, and didn’t have a V8 of their own which could be squeezed under the Tiger’s bonnet, so that was the end of that.

28. Citroën CX (1974)

Front-wheel drive, an aerodynamic body, hydropneumatic suspension and power steering were not new to the company previously responsible for the DS, SM and GS, but combining all of them in a large family car of the 1970s was extraordinary as far as everyone else was concerned.

Citroën’s new CX, that’s now celebrating its half century, became eligible for the Car of the Year award in 1975, its first full year on sale, and won easily, attracting 229 votes to the 164 of the second-placed Volkswagen Golf.

Diesel, estate and high-performance GTI versions were added to the range, which survived until 1991, though by then the CX seemed far less futuristic than it had on its debut.

It was replaced by the XM, perhaps a historically less important model, but one which was nevertheless voted Car of the Year in 1990.

29. Volkswagen Golf (1974)

The Car of the Year jurors might initially have preferred the Citroën XM, but the Golf has proved to have more staying power.

Having persevered with the Beetle and other, mostly rear-engined, models since 1938, Volkswagen finally applied front-wheel drive to a car of its own design in 1974, after dipping its toe in the water with the NSU-designed K70 four years previously.

No matter what definition anyone has of a hot hatch (and there are several), it’s generally agreed that the original Golf GTI wasn’t the first, but it certainly popularised the concept.

Mk1 Golf production ended in 1983, but VW is still building an eighth-generation model of the same name today.

30. Ferrari Testarossa (1984)

The Testarossa, one of the most evocatively named of all roadgoing Ferraris, was the direct replacement for the 512BBi, which had been in production for 13 years.

The new model was powered by a derivative of its predecessor’s 4943cc flat-12 engine, now with four valves per cylinder rather than the previous two.

Technically interesting as this was, the Testarossa was more generally noted for its distinctive side strakes, which directed cooling air towards the rear-mounted radiators.

The name was discontinued in 1991, but the car itself evolved into first the 512TR and later the 512M.

31. Renault Espace (1984)

By general agreement, the Espace was Europe’s first MPV in the modern sense, and one of the first in the world, along with the various Chrysler minivans launched in the US.

In fact, the Espace could have predated the Americans by several years, since it was pitched to Chrysler’s European arm by Matra.

That idea didn’t get anywhere, but the project was instead taken up by Renault.

No longer being sold in the UK, the Espace has nevertheless made it to a sixth generation, though to match customer demand the current version is an SUV rather than an MPV.

32. Toyota MR2 (1984)

Toyota added the first-generation MR2 to a sports-car range which already included the Celica and Supra in 1984, 40 years ago.

Unlike the larger cars, the MR2’s engine (usually the 1.6-litre 16-valve unit already used in the Corolla) was mounted between the rear wheels rather than up front.

The same layout was used for the heavier and more expensive second-generation 2-litre car of 1989.

Toyota returned to the original concept 10 years later with the third and final MR2, which was even lighter than the first.

33. Audi RS2 Avant (1994)

Audi’s long history of producing high-performance RS models began in 1994, 30 years ago, with the launch of the RS2, available (unusually for the time, but perhaps less so now) only as an estate.

Each RS2 began life as an Audi 80 before being transported to, and for conversion by, Porsche, which had collaborated with Audi on the design.

The turbocharged 2.2-litre five-cylinder engine developed a maximum of around 310bhp (more than was ever available in a standard quattro), giving the new car sensational performance for its time.

In all, 2891 examples were built before production stopped in 1995, after which there was a half-decade gap before the arrival of the next model in the series, the RS4.

34. Ferrari F355 (1994)

Among mid-engined V8 Ferrari sports cars, the F355 came after the 348 and before the 360.

The engine was part of the same family as that used in the 348, but its capacity was increased from 3.4 to 3.5 litres, and Ferrari squeezed in an extra valve per cylinder, raising the number from four to five.

During the car’s production life, there were three body styles – a Berlinetta coupé, a Spider convertible and the GTS, which had a removable ‘targa-top’ roof.

In addition, Ferrari supplied competition-prepared F355s intended for use in a popular one-make race series.

35. Jaguar XJ (1994)

The X300 version of the Jaguar XJ was the first in the series developed and sold when Jaguar was owned by Ford.

The company reversed its policy with the earlier XJ40 by giving the new car a closer resemblance to its long-ago predecessors of the 1960s.

This was not appreciated by future Jaguar design chief Ian Callum, whose team created a completely new look for the X351 XJ of 2010.

36. Range Rover (1994)

Another model marking its 30th anniversary in 2024 is the second-generation Range Rover, usually referred to as the P38.

Land Rover kept the original Range Rover (arguably the world’s first luxury SUV) going for nearly a quarter of a century before introducing its replacement in 1994, though the old and new models were produced together for a further two years.

The P38’s petrol engine was the celebrated Rover V8, basically the same as the one used in 3.5-litre form in the very first Range Rover, but now available as a 4.0 or a 4.6.

The alternative was a 2.5-litre straight-six turbocharged diesel engine supplied by BMW, which had just started its brief period as Land Rover’s owner.

Although the first Range Rover survived for 26 years, the P38 lasted for only seven before being replaced in 2001 by the third-generation L322.