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When you think of which cars come under the umbrella of rarest in the UK, your mouth probably starts to water at the thought of every super car you wish you could see in the flesh.

At Walton Bridge Garage we like salivating over top end motors worth, hundreds of thousands of pounds, as much as the next person. However we’re not talking about how exclusive or expensive a car is when we say rare, but more of an animal close to extinction type of rare.

This week figures from the Department of Transport highlighted a number of UK classics that could soon be no more than a fond memory and perhaps, a relic in the odd motoring museum.

600 models could soon be extinct with 638 types down to just ten models on the road and as many as 222 models, with just one lonesome survivor still standing.

Some of the most severely endangered species include the Hummer H1, the Aston DB1, the 1965 Citroen Pallas and the Land Rover 127. Those that still exist in relatively strong numbers but are in serious decline are the Lotus Cortina, a motoring staple of the UK for so long, and the Vauxhall Magnum and Cavalier. 20 years back there were 1.5 million Cavaliers on the road, now they’re down to just a mere 5,500. The Ford Sierra has also experienced a similar decline with just 3,765 left running.

Of course the study did include some top end new models whose rarity is a result of price rather than age, for example there is just one Lexus LFA registered in the UK and just nine Porsche 918 hyper-cars.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. A separate study of the data by RecoverMe found that there is hope, as a few models once extinct or on the verge of, have been brought back to life. At the beginning of last year there was just one Daimler XJG, but this has now been joined by another and will hopefully be the start of a Daimler breading initiative. What’s more there are now seven of the Bristol 404 in existence after being totally wiped from the roads in 1994.

So bear this in mind when you catch a glimpse of these models on the road, as it might not be too long before they are nothing more than a memory. Not the end of the world, but certainly the sort of thing that starts to make you feel old.

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