My pickup is 12 years old, and 35,000 miles it is almost like new. Regionally, that is pretty typical for an occasional-use second vehicle, especially small trucks. People think it is a lot newer than it actually is because Ford didn't change the design much in the last 15 years of manufacture, and road treatment for winter weather doesn't corrode vehicles much.
They start to look old here when the clear-coat gets sun burnt and chips off, letting the color peel down to primer. Those cars and trucks are usually 20 or older.
We don't have any mpg or emissions based mandatory crushing. Dealers don't send trade-ins to a recycler if they are marketable, and recyclers don't crush if there is still a market for parts. With more older cars on the road, used body parts remain marketable longer.
If you are looking for a 50's to 70's truck to build, come to Arkansas, Oklahoma, or Texas.
Was the TV program focused on a shop in California? They may have crushing and bounty programs there.
Quote: The average vehicle age for registered units is 11 years old in the U.S. The older ones must be somewhere.
The average age of the six vehicles I own is almost 41 years old.....as the youngest vehicle I own to this day is my 1976 Lincoln Mark IV.
1970 Ford F250 2WD Sport Custom (Owned April 1996) 390 V8 (23K Rebuilt Mi) C6 Trans (207K Original Mi)
2000 Fleetwood Angler 8ft Cabover
Air Lift 1000(Front)
Air Lift Loadlifter 5000(rear)
Hellwig Front and Rear Sway Bars
Goodyear G171 LT Series(siped)
Hammerhead wrote: Averages can be tricky. If you have 9 cars that are 6 years old and one car that is 50 years old, the average is 10.4 years. I'd be curious to see what the median age is.
JALLEN4 wrote: The average vehicle age for registered units is 11 years old in the U.S. The older ones must be somewhere.
The median age was 9.4 years in 2007 and has increased since. There are roughly 245 million registered vehicles in the U.S. with an average age in 2011 of 10.8 years. While your sub-set of ten presents a statistical anomaly, it cannot hold true over the larger total.
One of my RVing ranching friends has a back yard that looks like that, except they are all trucks and range in age from the early fifties (the 2 1/2 ton flatbed with the hay carrier) to the early eighties (the 12 passenger van). Each of them has a function in his life and the operation of his farm. Yet older trucks that don't run but have usable parts are out in a field with the collection of boats. Still running the John Deere his dad bought new in 1947.
Another retired rancher in the club is a candidate for American Pickers, doesn't throw much of anything away, particularly any piece of iron or steel is a candidate for his new invention. As seen on the show, when these guys fill up a barn or shed, they put up another one.
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