The term "classic" is bandied about far more often than it should be.

When it comes to cars, just about any vintage vehicle is called a classic at one time or another. But to be a true classic car, a vintage vehicle must meet a strict series of parameters.

Almost everyone knows what a 1959 Cadillac or a 1957 Chevrolet looks like and, while they are almost always referred to as classic cars, they are not.

Classic cars fall into a fairly narrow band of time -- 1925 to 1948 -- and within this time frame, only a small number of automobiles are considered full classics. For the Classic Car Club of America, the body responsible for accrediting such cars, a classic must represent the pinnacle of engineering, design and luxury within its period of manufacture.

A 1932 Fleetwood-bodied Cadillac V-12 Roadster would certainly be a designated car, while a 1932 Chevrolet Roadster would not.

All Rolls-Royces built between 1925 and 1948 are considered full classics, but not all Packards. While most Packard models are considered classics, the smaller-wheelbase cars built in the years just before the Second World War are not opulent enough to qualify.

All Pierce Arrows, a luxury car built in Buffalo, are considered classics, but no Fords are. The Lincoln division produced many full classics, and the Continentals designed by Edsel Ford and produced before and just after the Second World War are perhaps the most recognizable full-classic cars by hobbyists.

Cars designated full classics are certainly deserving of the accolade.

Unlike today, when luxury cars differ little from their less-expensive brethren aside from some bells and whistles, the luxury cars of the pre-Second World War period were technologically superior in almost all respects to others on the market. Their engineering was usually cutting edge and many had very innovative designs -- sometimes a touch eccentric, sometimes harbingers of things to come.

The Cord is a great example of a full classic car that exhibits the innovation common to the great cars.

The Cord was built during the 1930s by the struggling Auburn Cord Duesenberg Co. Gordon Buerig created a body design different from any other and the car sported features such as hide-away headlights, electric transmission and front-wheel drive.

Unfortunately, while wildly popular amongst enthusiasts now, the Cord was perceived in its day as too odd to generate strong sales. And its engineering, while innovative, was fraught with troubles the company lacked the funds to correct. After two years, production stopped.

More successful marques like Cadillac and Packard also pushed into realms of engineering unattainable to the buyer of cheaper cars.

Packard developed the Super Eight engines and a 12-cylinder motor to attract sales. Cadillac, which had boasted V-8 power since the 1910s, added not only a V-12 to its line during the Great Depression but a massive 16-cylinder engine that powered elegant behemoths equal to any car produced by Rolls-Royce.

The great cars of the '30s were, in almost all cases, far larger than their contemporaries and usually the recipients of custom-built coachwork, often designed exclusively for their purchasers.

One-off cars were not uncommon. To put that into perspective, imagine walking into your BMW or Cadillac dealership today and asking to have a special body with curvier fenders and a brocade interior built for you.

Modern salesmen would think you mad, but the showrooms of the '30s would never have attracted affluent buyers if they had failed to offer such service.

Some of the 20th century's most elegant and beautiful sculpture was created in the '30s.

But rather than sitting in opulent foyers, they instead sat in driveways, gracing automobile chassis from manufacturers like Rolls-Royce, Talbot, Delahaye, Delage, Bugatti and Duesenberg.

The coachbuilders of the '30s offered car bodies composed of sinuous French curves and glittering art deco embellishments. In those days, cars by carrossiers such as Fernandez & Darrin or Figoni & Falaschi could only be afforded by the very rich. Today is no different. Many of these rolling sculptures trade for millions of dollars and are often hotly contested at auctions and private sales around the world.

Interestingly, it was the Depression that spawned most of these brilliant cars. Manufacturers had to be innovative to attract a shrinking client base and outdo their competitors.

Many, such as Pierce Arrow, Marmon, Franklin and Peerless, did not survive, but their final gasps created cars that were in all cases deserving of the accolade "classic."

David Grainger owns an automotive restoration company