What's considered an old car?

[tbm3fan]

I have a 98 F150, 04 Escape, 09 Mazda5, 13 GT500 and 14 Armada. Half of those wouldn't have lived that long if they salted the rounds around here. So I think "old" would depend on the area.

This to me. One person could live in the San Diego region with little rain, no snow, and not baking sun so a 20 year old car could "look" pretty good. In a snow region and salt on the roads it could look "old" between 5-10 years same car. Both my Cougar and Mustang are 56 years old by the calendar yet don't look it and are completely reliable. So too the F100, the Polara, and soon Parklane when the rebuilt engine goes in. The 20 year old Focus and LeSabre "look" brand new and run that way.

 

[Exhaustgases]

Old cars ? I like some of the 1950's cars I guess you can call them old cars.

 

[nobb]

Depends on condition. I recently rented a 2022 Tesla Model 3 with 60K that looked and felt noticeably more beat than my 2011 Hyundai with 80K. The swirls and scuffs on the paint was probably comparable to that of an average non enthusiast owned car that parks outside.

 

[willbur]

10+ yrs? 20+? Someone in another thread mentioned that that never seen any old cars in their area.

5 minutes later I was sitting at a red light and took this pic

What year is that Honda in front of me? It's missing paint.I assume it's 10+ yrs old.

The grand Cherokee in front of it has to be about 20 yrs old . There was an old style dodge truck behind me. Pre 2002iirc.

And im in my 2002 wrangler.

What's considered old?

Missing paint on a Honda is not surprising, no matter its age-IMO

 

[PF52]

This to me. One person could live in the San Diego region with little rain, no snow, and not baking sun so a 20 year old car could "look" pretty good. In a snow region and salt on the roads it could look "old" between 5-10 years same car. Both my Cougar and Mustang are 56 years old by the calendar yet don't look it and are completely reliable. So too the F100, the Polara, and soon Parklane when the rebuilt engine goes in. The 20 year old Focus and LeSabre "look" brand new and run that way.

+2

I lived in downstate Peoria IL for a few years and it was amazing how many older cars there were there, compared to here in the Chicago suburbs. They weren't rusted out old hulks either, they looked great! But that was back in the days when Peoria used cinders on the roads instead of salt. I'm not sure that is the case any more.

 

[Wrenchturner44]

Most salvage yards (late model dismantlers) are starting to eliminate or crush inventory that is over 11 years old. Most late model parts cars are usually 5 years old or less.

 

[ChrisMU]

I used to go by criteria like “carbureted” or “has sealed beam headlights,” aside from outliers like a fuel injected ‘57 Chevy or base model 2017 Chevy Express van. Now I’ll just say 12-15 years for the rust belt, 20-25 years for Texas, SW, California, and the PNW. Cars in the Southeastern states split the difference.

 

[Luftmasse]

If it has a factory CD player then it's old.

If it has a tape player or AM-only radio, then it's not even a question.

My 2019 Camry has a factory CD player.

 

[proveitwithdata]

an old car is a car that has been titled.

-some salesmen or dealer

 

[Paco Pena]

Model T.

Paco

 

[350Rocket]

CKN seems to think "old" is three or four years.

My daily work truck is a 19 year old Silverado and my car is 40 years old. My wifes Hyundai is 11 years old and no way it's going to make it as long as the other 2.
IMO it's not really old until it's over 20.

 

[dogememe]

This is a complex discussion. I have customers that tell me "oh I need some oil for my old car, it's a 2017 Lexus XYZ" and I just laugh internally, to me 2017 is quite new.

To me personally, 20+ years qualifies as an old car.

 

[The Critic]

This is a complex discussion. I have customers that tell me "oh I need some oil for my old car, it's a 2017 Lexus XYZ" and I just laugh internally, to me 2017 is quite new.

To me personally, 20+ years qualifies as an old car.

Well, if you're in Marin - that is probably an accurate statement.

 

[addyguy]

In the salt belt, I’d say cars over 10 years are old, bc they often start to suffer from rust badly around that point. My Pontiac is 15 now, is pretty rusty, and the next ‘major thing’ sends it to the scrap heap.

 

[awguy]

Old is when its getting hard to find parts and costs of ownership are getting into the "way more than its worth even for sentimental reasons". Otherwise, no age limit for cars.

 

[andrew_j]

Anything over 10 years/150K miles, whichever comes first.

I think it tweaks with age a bit. My wife’s 2018 Tiguan has 155k however does not feel, look or drive old yet. Guessing it will do that when it hits 200k miles.

 

[wtd]

CKN seems to think "old" is three or four years.

LOL, don't mention "old" around him. You will set him off on his old car rants.

Around here you still see plenty of older vehicles on the road. There are a ton of the mid to late Chevy trucks, Tahoe's, and Suburban's running around as well as the same vintage Ford trucks. These are vehicles that you can still get parts for pretty easily and they are fairly easy to work on.

 

[MCompact]

Luckily BMW Classic does a very good job of providing parts for the older cars. When I had my 2002 most all parts were available over the counter at my local dealer.

 

[350Rocket]

LOL, don't mention "old" around him. You will set him off on his old car rants.

Around here you still see plenty of older vehicles on the road. There are a ton of the mid to late Chevy trucks, Tahoe's, and Suburban's running around as well as the same vintage Ford trucks. These are vehicles that you can still get parts for pretty easily and they are fairly easy to work on.

Around here on some of the construction sites I work at, if you were to close your eyes, spin around a few times and start walking blindly there is a 50% chance you run into a rusty 99-07 gm truck.

 

[chainblu]

Old is when its getting hard to find parts and costs of ownership are getting into the "way more than its worth even for sentimental reasons". Otherwise, no age limit for cars.

Recently the belt tensioner went out on my '92 Saturn. My wife asks if I'm going to finally park it. I'm like - Heck no, it only costs $30 to fix. An hour later (had to pull wheel, remove inner fender, etc) the old Saturn is back on the road with it's ice-cold AC.