Most of the country's population eagerly tuned in to this year's budget announcement with hopes of cheaper beer, bargain cigarettes and a freeze of fuel duty – but those of us in the know are more excited about the 40 year rolling tax exemption, which came into force last year. Of course, this means that – as of 1 April 2015 – a raft of classics will now fall into the tax-free bracket for cars built before 1 January 1975.
Here are the Classic & Sports Car team's picks of the top tax exempt classics introduced after 1974 that will now be fractionally easier on the pocketbook.
Or, click here to make your own selection from the full list of classics that will now be tax exempt on 1 April 2015.
James Elliott – Maserati Quattroporte £POA
The Maserati Quattroporte is one of those poor cars that has got steadily less appealing the longer it has been in production. As a result there have been few highpoints since the original 1960s executive wagon, but the two cars custom-built (on a stretched Indy platform) for the Aga Khan and King of Spain are the exceptions to that rule.
What a magnificent waft-machine, airy and plutocratic, refined yet powerful (thanks to the 4.9-litre V8), brutal and delicate, its girth offset by some very beautifully resolved details. Frua just made two of these cars and, while I am sure that I would enjoy driving it, what shocks me about this car is that I reckon I would enjoy it just as much as a passenger. And in that it is unique: I cannot think of anything else post-war that I would feel as comfortable being chauffeured in as I would behind the wheel.