A couple of months ago I gave headline data from our 2016 National Historic Vehicle Survey and I promised to return to the research when the full Structural Report spanning 75 pages was published. So here are some new snippets that I hope will whet your appetite to find out more.
What surprised all of us was the level of public interest in historic vehicles, particularly an estimated 11 million people believing that vehicles should be actively used on our roads. Furthermore, 18.4 million people are proud of our heritage in manufacturing once famous and familiar makes such as Alvis, Morris and Triumph.
We also learn more of the habits of owners, 16 years being the average period of ownership with vehicles being used, on average, 16 times each year. The highest percentages of vehicles licensed are cars and steam vehicles, both 72%. Conversely 20% of motor cycles and 24% of agricultural vehicles are in long term storage.
We reported growth in economic value to £5.5bn, but 38% growth in the proportion of trade turnover from the Far East in the past five years is an interesting development.
We previously reported 34,900 people employed. The average age is 42 years and there is potential for more than 10,000 new workers over the next five to ten years.
