There’s a quiet extinction happening in the car world—manual gearboxes, analogue feedback, convertibles, physical buttons, even wing mirrors. One by one, they’re being phased out in favour of digitisation, electrification, and automation.
With petrol and diesel car sales set to be banned by 2030 (or later, depending on government U-turns), and hybrids not far behind, the whole new car landscape is shifting. But something even more immediate is happening, manual cars are disappearing fast.
In 2013, 80% of UK new cars were manual. Ten years on, that number is down to just 30%—and still falling. Blame it on automatic transmissions getting smarter, EVs eliminating the need for gearboxes altogether, or simply consumer preference shifting toward convenience.
But let’s face it: driver involvement is being lost! And that’s where classic cars, and especially those in the RNG Classics fleet, come into their own HERE
The Joy of Changing Gears
There’s nothing quite like the feel of a manual gearbox—the satisfying snick of a well-worn shift gate, the engagement of clutch and throttle, the full-body rhythm of driving a car that demands your attention.
At RNG Classics, we’re proud to offer a fleet filled with exactly that experience. Whether you want to row through the gears in a Jaguar E-Type, master the balance of a nippy Porsche 356 Speedster or feel the punch of our Ferrari 360 Modena with its F1-derived paddle-shift transmission, there’s something for every kind of purist.
Even our Aston Martin DB9 delivers its performance with slick paddle shifters, blending luxury with driver-focused feedback in a way that modern hybrids just don’t match.
Convertibles? Also Vanishing Fast.
It’s not just gearboxes under threat. Convertibles are fading out too. Once a staple of British summer roads, UK sales have nosedived—from 90,000 a year in the 1990s to just 16,000. Today, only 13 convertible models remain on sale, and half are nearing the end of production with no successors planned.
Why? Perhaps it’s a love for air-conditioning and cabin tech. Or maybe it’s manufacturers tightening their belts on less profitable segments. Either way, the freedom of open-top motoring is becoming another endangered species. But we embrace open top driving with a number of convertibles in our fleeT
The RNG fleet delivers a 1966 Mustang Convertible in Rosso Red to the sublime BMW E46 M3 manual convertible, British classics like the Triumph Spitfire and TR3, these cars are here to remind you what real wind-in-the-hair driving feels like.
