Classic style never dates

I spotted a Mini Metro in really good condition, hadn't seen one for years but thought it looked very old fashioned. A glance at the number plate showed it was a R plate, a year older than my coupe and 2 years newer than my last one yet it looked decades older. Our coupes don't seem to age, I was stopped by I guy last week who did the 'what is it, it doesn't look like a Fiat' routine, he assumed it must be new as he hadn't seen one before and he was an Alfa owner!

With the Fiat Coupe, how standard looking it is, and what the colour is, all determine how dated it looks.

I took our lads TVR radiator into a repair specialist recently, he instantly recognised the rad’ ‘TVR isn’t it’ must see plenty of them.
Started chatting and he asked what classic I drive, told him Fiat Coupe 20vt. He looked blank and asked what year, 1998 I say.
Then he said ‘I don’t know that car’ never seen one! Obviously built with good rad’s.

He'll probably get to see some sooner, rather than later - 20VT rads are very difficult to find now, so it won't be long before we end up having them repaired, rather than replaced

In terms of the Metro it was introduced 15 years before the Coupe so not surprising it looks more dated! The other factor is the intended market - cars like the Metro are aimed at a large market and therefore have to have wide appeal, the blandness that typically requires means that features incorporated become very much of their time. With the Coupe it didn't need wide appeal and I've often thought it to be quite a marmite car in appearance (unlike marmite I love the Coupe!). That means the features are less of their time and therefore don't date as much, although the standard wheel size definitely dates the Coupe now as do a few other characteristics. I agree with JKD that some colours probably age the Coupe more than others.

I think it would make more sense to compare the Fiat Coupe to its actual competition from that time. As opposed to any car that was around in the 90s. I mean sometimes I'll be watching a repeat of Keeping Up Appearances and I'll think...



"The Fiat Coupe looks so much better."



But then I'll compare it to a more realistic alternative and I'll think...




"The Fiat Coupe looks so much better."

I wasn't intending to make the comparison with the Metro it was just how striking the difference was in a similar age car and how well one had worn.... A realistic comparison is quite difficult given how individual the coop is, the Peugeot 406 coupe is a possible but I don't think it measures up, maybe a GTV?
I agree about the colour, given how common silver cars these days are they seem to look more 'modern', you don't see many green or yellow cars so they tend to stand out more.