Note: The column below first appeared in Hagerty Drivers Club magazine in June 2025.

The recent Hagerty Hill Climb at Shelsley Walsh, the world’s oldest motor sport track with its original layout, was again a reminder of the special place classic cars have in our lives. Not only do they thrill us (witness the Ford Fiesta R5 that made it to the top in an amazing 36 seconds), they also bring us together as a community. And in this fractured age, that is very valuable.

At Hagerty we want the good times to keep on rolling – but there’s an issue. There are around 1.5 million historic vehicles in the UK, says the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC), and about 683,000 owners. But while more and more people are ‘into’ vintage cars, motorcycles, buses, lorries, and military, agricultural and steam vehicles, ever fewer people know how to fix and restore them.

Our craftspeople – in both the UK and the US – are retiring, often without passing along their skills. Likewise, parts are increasingly harder to come by, especially for early 20th-century cars. What is the solution? Well, recently we spoke about this with Dominic Taylor-Lane, founder of the Association of Heritage Engineers.

How acute is the need to pass on skills?

We can teach people to use tools and work on cars – many youngsters are now entering the industry at apprentice levels. So, in part, a need is being addressed. The acute issue is that of experience, especially in older engineering and skills fields. This ‘experience gap’, because of two or three decades without significant recruitment, is what will catch up to us. The need to harness that experience before it leaves the industry is the real challenge.

Is the shortage felt at every level?

Absolutely: skills, tricks, information and tips are often kept close to people’s chests. That unique specialist skill set is where their value can be found, so it is no real surprise that some are often loathe to ‘share’. This is particularly acute for high net worth vehicles, with those who work on them often not ‘retiring’ in the conventional sense; the passion is literally lifelong.

What is the worst-case scenario?

From a business perspective it will mean a difficult future. Recruitment is already challenging and is one of the major hindrances to growth and development. Without those businesses, I suspect only a handful of technicians would be comfortable setting up on their own, making the whole vehicle-ownership experience hard and expensive. It’s not a way forward with younger customers in
a world that is so convenience driven.

How do we draw people to the field?

A change in attitude and respect to people who work with their hands across the board. The world can’t function without people actually doing ‘stuff’. The industry needs to ‘sell’ careers within it, offering the aspiration and progression people now expect. It is going to be very challenging. Work ethic and commitment are ever evolving, and we need an industry-wide strategy to adapt with that expectation accordingly.

Thank you to Dominic for his insights. Now I’d like to hear yours. Have an idea on how we pass along skills and draw more people into the collector car trade? Send it to me at mhagerty@hagerty.com.

Until next time, keep on driving.