A lot depends on the age of the respondent. My dad had a close friend who was a past president of the AACA, and owned a 40 car collection. I remember him saying that the cars one coveted before becoming old enough to drive would determine the number. This has held true in my case, with the hobby cars I've owned ranging from 1960 to 1969 (all of which I remembered as new cars before I got my driver's license.)
PA uses 25 years an antique license standard, and I do have trouble getting my head around that stuff as "classic," as it seems too much like present day, and with a few exceptions, most doesn't possess any artistic quality that transcends the era.
Agree. This was a major line of demarcation. The year the compression ratios dropped in preparation for unleaded fuel and catalytic converters. Ugly bumpers to follow in 1973. The start of the era when the government, rather than the consumer became a major force in car design. This is not meant to be political, just referring to the process that began after Ralph Nader published "Unsafe at Any Speed" in 1965. As the public mood shifted in that direction, I used it to my advantage, buying GTXs when they were out of favor, figuring they would be worth a bucket of money later.