When does a Pickup become a " Historical Vehicle"?

I have a vintage Oregon "Pacific Wonderland" plate on my '57 Chevy with a current "Special Interest" sticker. For use in car club related activities only, such as parades or car shows. Put 4,400 miles on it the summer of 2018 on a road trip to Minnesota & back. Went to a car show in Henderson, MN during the trip. So while it may be a bit of gray area, in the letter of the law it was completely legal with the intended usage.

Last week I got a Special Interest plate for my '91 Caprice as it is over 25 years old. DMV quizzed me on the usage. To illustrate how often the car is driven, I showed them my 2019 tags (issued in 2017) which were never installed on the plates. They backed down. I got tired of shelling out money every two years for a car that is rarely driven.

-Eric

ScottG wrote:

drsteve wrote:
Back in the day, IF a vehicle made it to 100,000 miles, you were lucky, and it was more than likely ready for the junk yard.

You aint kidding.
The 64 T-bird in my earlier pic was purchased by my dad in the 70's and had just over 60K miles on it.
It needed a ton of work at that time including a valve job. At 80K I rebuilt the eng.
40 years later I restored it at 107K and repaired, rebuilt or replaced just about anything part that moved.

Not all of them. In 1992 I sold a ‘72 Chevy LUV (Isuzu built) with over 220k to my cousin. He drove it throughout college and then sold it to another guy at his work a few years later who drove it who knows how much longer. It used less than a quart of oil in 3k miles when I owned it. It was a great little truck.

drsteve wrote:
Back in the day, IF a vehicle made it to 100,000 miles, you were lucky, and it was more than likely ready for the junk yard.

You aint kidding.
The 64 T-bird in my earlier pic was purchased by my dad in the 70's and had just over 60K miles on it.
It needed a ton of work at that time including a valve job. At 80K I rebuilt the eng.
40 years later I restored it at 107K and repaired, rebuilt or replaced just about anything part that moved.

Just thought of another vehicle motor from the sixties and seventies that would run 300k miles very regularly the Chrysler 225 slant six. Very anemic power wise but would last forever. Seen several in industrial equipment as well. I had a new 1984 Dodge with a 318 that I drove ten years and 200k miles. I sold the Dodge to a friend that drove it another ten years. It was then sold to the son of a person I worked with. He drove it several years and sold it to a teenager that lives just a few blocks away who is still driving it. The transmission was rebuilt but the engine is still original. For the first 20 years Mobil One synthetic oil was used after that I have no idea.

drsteve wrote:
Back in the day, IF a vehicle made it to 100,000 miles, you were lucky, and it was more than likely ready for the junk yard.

That depends on how well you take care of your vehicle, how much money you want to put into it and even where you live.

Here is my buddy's Burb that I just ended up painting for him about 2 months ago. The body work took over a year to do working every now and then on it.

It has a newer Vortec in it with a GM built 700R4 and a stock 12 bolt. It also has huge power disk brakes in the front and big drums in the back along with a 35 gallon custom tank so we can drive a long time before refilling.

This thing is far from ready for the junk yard. It was made in the Oakland Ca factory in 1966 and has been in Ca all of it's life so there was very little rust to deal with.

We towed with this Burb for over 15 years taking a 3 hour drive to the race track and another 3 hours home. I will put this Burb up against ANY new truck for reliability. Comfort? Nope, I will take a new truck. Even then this over 50 YO Burb rides and drives pretty nice.

New tires and rims are going on this year and AC is going in for next year. It needs about another 6 months of work and then it will be ready for another 25 years of hard towing work.

Here is a before and after.

Back in the day, IF a vehicle made it to 100,000 miles, you were lucky, and it was more than likely ready for the junk yard.

Grit dog wrote:
And all the folks who bitsch and complain about the good ole days and how they don’t make em like they used to are decidedly not well informed.
I’ve been “into” cars and trucks since a little kid.
And anyone who is observant, think about the % of 15-20-30+ year old vehicles you see as daily drivers vs, say 30 years ago.
How many 1990-2000 model vehicles on the road now vs 1960-1970 models back in 1990?

ALOT more

I still see a lot of old grain trucks running around harvest time from the 50's with original drive train. Still see old Ford and Chevy trucks from the 70's and 80's running around. While it might be fun to reminisce about old trucks very few would want to go back to those days. I enjoy going to old car shows but not so much owning one. Part of the fun about reminiscing is remembering fun times with family and friends that are no longer around.

To go back is like asking someone to give up their smartphone for a old black desk rotary dial phone (landline).

Bedlam wrote:

blt2ski wrote:
So my 82 IHC 4600 is classic antique?!?!?
C2500 and spouses ML350 close.

Hmmmmmmm

Marty

30 years before you get "forever" plates in WA - If you are willing to restrict daily use. Maybe if you have a collection, you can drive one a week to keep them properly maintained.

Looks like I typed the IHC year wrong, its a 92.....C2500 a 2000, ML a 2001.

blt2ski wrote:
So my 82 IHC 4600 is classic antique?!?!?
C2500 and spouses ML350 close.

Hmmmmmmm

Marty

30 years before you get "forever" plates in WA - If you are willing to restrict daily use. Maybe if you have a collection, you can drive one a week to keep them properly maintained.

And all the folks who bitsch and complain about the good ole days and how they don’t make em like they used to are decidedly not well informed.
I’ve been “into” cars and trucks since a little kid.
And anyone who is observant, think about the % of 15-20-30+ year old vehicles you see as daily drivers vs, say 30 years ago.
How many 1990-2000 model vehicles on the road now vs 1960-1970 models back in 1990?

ALOT more