Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens


The Fédération International des Véhicules Anciens or FIVA is the worldwide federative association of historic automobile clubs, be they for veteran, vintage, pre- or post-war classic cars, at least thirty years old.
FIVA statutes define it as: "a non-profit international association of clubs, federations and other organisations concerned with the preservation, restoration, use and culture of mechanically propelled road vehicles."
FIVA member clubs represent more than 1.5 million oldtimer enthusiasts in 64 countries, through more than 85 member organizations.
The FIVA's executive board bestows so-called ANF-Status, or national FIVA authoritative status, upon one member organization per country, with the American Historic Vehicle Association as the designated North American representative of FIVA – both for the U.S. and Canada.
In 2013 all 61 national member organizations of FIVA ratified and enacted the so-called "Turin Charter", set forth by The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage "to preserve and safeguard the history of vehicles including their engineering, form, functions and documented histories and their many and diverse relationships with society and social environments,.."

Founding and objectives

The “Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens” was founded in 1966, when several historic vehicle associations and classic car clubs in a number of different countries felt a need for a worldwide body to promote and direct the interests of a historic vehicle movement internationally.
FIVA’s primary objective was to: "encourage the safe use of self-propelled, mechanical vehicles, more than thirty years old, on the roads for the benefit of both their owners, dedicated enthusiasts and the general public."
The FIVA’s three main goals and objectives include:
FIVA's Culture Commission works to achieve recognition of historic vehicles and related objects, as culturally significant artifacts, by legal and political authorities and other stakeholders. FIVA's Events Commission collaborated with the European Commission to create a freely downloadable Driver's Code for general guidance of historic vehicle users, and also has devised a code for the safe promotion of rallies or mildly competitive events. The Technical Commission works to support the preservation of as many historic vehicles as possible, by cataloguing them with FIVA's Vehicle ID-card. FIVA has forged links with UNESCO and has persuaded the European Commission to accept that historic vehicles represent an important part of industrial heritage. FIVA has further linked up with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, to promote the interest of historic cars in more sporting arenas, and with the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, to help achieve similar objectives for motorcycles. FIVA's Legislation Commission works to address legislation that limit the continued use of historic vehicles. Sofar this has primarily been concentrated on European countries and the European Union, but legislation pressures on motor transport are ever increasing generally.

Commissions

FIVA has Ambassadors, and a number of dedicated commissions working on its national and international goals:
According to FIVA and its Charter of Turin, a historic vehicle is "a mechanically propelled road vehicle:
Vehicle classifications
ClassTime builtCategory
Aup to 31 December 1904Ancestor
Bbetween 1 January 1905 and 31 December 1918Veteran
Cbetween 1 January 1919 and 31 December 1930Vintage
Dbetween 1 January 1931 and 31 December 1945Post Vintage
Ebetween 1 January 1946 and 31 December 1960Post War
Fbetween 1 January 1961 and 31 December 1970
Gbuilt on or after 1 January 1971 and up to a date 30 years before the first day of the current year