"Vintage"

I know its a little off topic, but it always blows my mind how quickly automobiles become "classics", at least by our American standards...seems like it happens so quickly; I agree with your ownership caveat too. If no one knows the brand, and there was little production & sales, then I think it would be better to classify those pieces as something different; what that term would be though is beyond me.  Maybe a "historic novelty"... I don't know.  I think classifying something simply based on its age is a little simplistic, and waters down the category and term significantly.

For me, "vintage" comes with a certain connotation that indicates that people at one time wanted the item, and it was fashionable at that time, and it could still be seen as fashionable or artistic by today's standards, with a gap in time where that item was unfashionable.

I've even seen online listings for corded headphones as "wired vintage style".  I about threw my phone out of the window.

You posit an interesting take on something I haven't seen discussed before, I hope to see more opinions on it.

Anything unavailable new is vintage to some extent. Recent vintage is a thing. I recently ran across the term for, you know, kitschy pop culture nostalgic stuff as opposed to fine collectibles. It was something like retro antiques?  Sorry, but vintage is merely a designator of age, although I would definitely exclude anything that is currently produced in identical form. 

As an aside, I was just discussing the loss of film photography, and how the lack of immediate erasability led to more keeping of subpar shots, which often tend to become the really interesting ones. I object to the idea that there is a single, orthodox, idea of what is valued. It reeks of eugenics to me and I object for the same reason. Who's to say, and what criteria is anything but personal preference or aping previous biases?

Anyway, the real point here is that you, we, are old. Tell a teenager that something more than twice their age is not old or special. It's all relative. Those who lived through things and remember them as commonplace have a different perspective. 

A secondary problem is the other reason that things of somewhat considerable age don't seem special. They are not different enough from modern items. Styles have stagnated compared to the past. Go back another 40 years and there is a huge difference. 

30 years = vintage. That’s what I understand

I agree with @bennylee

I can still remember when vintage clothes shops were called second-hand shops or thrift stores, and I'm pretty sure Mrs Yonder could find a pair of vintage shoes from last year's stylling when shopping in them.

So the word vintage has probably been appropriated as a marketing tool for selling anything second-hand.

Personally, I think vintage is something, that is no longer made but is also an item which is deemed to be valuable (which I acknowledge is subjective).

On the other hand, I like to call my 1976 Timex Marlin, vintage.. but as it only cost me £23 I'm not sure, I can claim it to be valuable.

Are our plastic Casios and Swatches going to become vintage? I guess as long as buyers are prepared to pay, ever increasing second-hand prices, yeah, I guess they are