I'm not impressed by
Taniquetil, Gorgoroth - might be classic, but two of the few places in Arda I never felt any kind of fondness of. There could be an argument made for Taniquetil being "timeless" but that's a bit lame pun (Maedhros being handy was much better!)
The Void - wouldn't something like "empty" have fit this one better?
Samwise Gamgee - okay, he is the classic hero in a way, and he has become a classic character in his own right, but... Just calling Sam a classic would sound somehow derogatory, and he never was a favourite of mine anyway.
Gandalf the White - I feel that the specification that it's Gandalf THE WHITE quite effectively disqualifies all the arguments you could make. Gandalf as a whole might be timeless or classic. And as for "vintage" - despite the fact that applying the word to Gandalf does amuse me - that would be a much better description of Gandalf the Grey.
I kind of like
The Noldor - theirs is a classic story, and they are, as immortal Elves, pretty timeless. Also, for me they would be a classic favourite people in Arda. But still, not as good a red tater as some.
Galadriel, Elendil the Tall, Mandos - if you've got to call a character classic, here's a few notable choices. Galadriel, my and many other people's classic favourite character. Also, on the Third Age she's one of the few classic (or timeless or vintage
) characters that remain from the earlier ages. Elendil, who was so epic that no one after him was given the same name even though we have a host of Berens, Túrins and Tuors in the later days? Definitely a classic (but no a classic name, har har). And Mandos is quite a classic character and timeless (although I believe it's the Halls of Mandos that are described as timeless and would thus be more appropriate). Stilln none of these are as good as tmy two favourites.
My favourites
The Last Alliance - the classic tale indeed, and what a classic tale it is in the time of the Lord of the Rings, it is the epic story that is told and referred to, the story in which the whole story of the Ring is rooted, something which was classic in its own time because in the good old times the Elves and the Men used to be allies. I like this one a lot.
Doom of Mandos - an even more classic tale (hey come on how much more classic can you get than the tale of original sin?). However, I think the Doom of Mandos ended up being a little less definitive and timeless than it was supposed to be.
In any case I like this one, and as a story I personally prefer it to the military and pompous Last Alliance.
Hard times. Wavering between the two... (but will consider arguments for others too, but they'd better be pretty darn good). Won't be making my choice until in a few hours so feel free to argue!
edit: xed with two people who almost remind me of Monty Python!