How many classic cars are left on NYC streets?

16,699 vehicles with model years 1960 to 1989 are currently registered across the five boroughs. 14,572 of those are cars and light trucks; the rest are mostly motorcycles, at 1,732, plus mopeds and commercial bodies.

A further 227 records of these model years had expired and 613 carried no usable expiration date. Neither is counted above.

The 1980s account for 7,891 of the 16,699 registrations, more than either of the two decades before them, and 1,335 carry a single model year, 1989, which is the most common one on the list.

Queens has the most at 5,415 registrations of model years 1960 to 1989, followed by Brooklyn at 3,756. Brooklyn holds 3,062 of the cars and light trucks on its own.

Chevrolet is the most registered make of that era at 2,490, then Ford at 1,339 and Mercedes-Benz at 1,237. A manufacturer could not be identified at all for 2,078 of the 16,699 registrations.

Across model years 1981 to 1989, the Mercedes-Benz 560 is the most registered at 300, then the Chevrolet Corvette at 265 and the Mercedes-Benz 300 at 251. No model ranking is published for the years before 1981.

Because the seventeen-character VIN only became a federal standard for model year 1981. A model name was read for 6,840 of the 7,412 registrations from 1981 on, 92% of them, and for only 163 of the 9,287 before it, 1.8%. Those few are the modern VIN grammar applied to numbers that do not use it, so they are counted and not published.

Nacmias Auto does, at 619 Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn, and moves them on its own flatbeds. Brooklyn alone has 3,062 registered cars and light trucks from 1960 to 1989, which is why the shop keeps the work.

Classic car repair in Brooklyn

Cars from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, worked on at 619 Coney Island Avenue and moved on our own flatbeds. Carburetors, points, drum brakes and parts sourcing are ordinary work for anyone who learned on them.

Classic Car Repair