Might be a dumb ... But...

[Wonderbread Kustomz]

I never see older big rigs out on the road anymore... Mainly all I see are New International rigs or Petes... So I'm just curious ... In small towns such as the town I live in here in Florida I see very few, but otherwise out on the highways I never see old rigs...

[highway]

James, they are out there. I drive for a living and just in the past week or two, I have see an old K123, two or three old Pete cabovers, and an old International Transstar. I also seen an interesting hybrid, a Pete 359 with the older squared off Kenworth Aerodyne sleeper. When I drove heavy wrecker in the early 2000s, I even drove an old Freightliner FLC, Mack R, and a 1974 White Western Star.

By the way, just in case you see this post BEFORE the mods move it, instead of the "Off Topic", this should be in the truck section under "The Truck Stop" area. That will probably be where it will get moved to.

[Wonderbread Kustomz]

Right on... Thanks bro.. And at least now I know where to post questions like this...

[1930fordpickup]

I get what James is saying or asking. Around here the only time you regularly see older trucks is spring and fall, farmers drive older trucks.

[91blaze]

Probably don't see them as often because they're not as economical. Newer rigs get better mileage which is very important when fuel prices keep going up.

[slusher]

Here in the small city I live in there is an older international cabover that is like new and apple red, I am sure its late 70's other then that I never see one. I use the interstate going to the doctor and I never see anything old..

[niteowl7710]

A major factor is that unless you are an independent Owner Operator the vast majority of fleets (LandStar is the big exception off the top of my head) require a truck to be 7 years old or newer.

Part of it is insurance, part of it is economics in the sense of repairs and fuel costs. The only service a trucking company can sell is On Time service, and having your O/O with the 60s/70s cabover constantly broken down and scouring around for NOS parts to fix it just isn't good business.

I know that in order to get an older truck on even at LandStar it's going through an inspection more thorough than anything the DOT would do. They want their name on the side of SAFE equipment, not some remounted old cab on a new glider chassis.

One of the small local Mail Contractors has a KW123, and a Pete 358, but he's making a couple of 80 mile daily round trips with them, nothing major, nothing OTR.

[Custom Hearse]

A lot of the old trucks are being restored, but not being used for work. They are driven to shows, and contests. I can understand that the owners don't want to take them out because there are a lot of careless drivers. James(niteowl7710) is also correct. Unless you can find a company that will let you drive an older truck, or if you are completely independent, no one will hire your truck.

[disabled modeler]

I love the older trucks....brute force workhorses of the late 50s through 70s....there under rated in my opinion.

[Petetrucker07]

You can blame the government for reduction in old iron on the road. From what ive heard, it changes all the time, but by the 1st of the year al 96 and newer trucks must be retrofitted with DPF system or replaced. 95 and older, again from what ive heard, have till the end of next year and must be replaced. All these regulations are due to emissions. The 95 and older trucks are mechanical unless theyve been updated to a newer electronic motor. So the government says that since it wasnt originally electronic, it cant be retroed. Now im all for the better emissions, cleaner burning, but they say its improved fuel efficency. Id really like ask the pencil pusher who wrote these regulations, How is the 2013 Cascadia getting 5.5 mpg, more fuel efficent than the 87 379 getting 8.5 mpg?!?!

Now that all the old trucks sooner or later are gonna be off the road and not allowed to work, are gonna get restored by those who can afford it and have the abilities to, and they are only gonna be seen pulling RV trailers and parked at shows/contests, it got dang shame that loud pipes and cool old trucks working are gonna end. There are some cool new trucks, there will be more. The industry needs to adapt, and accept it. The government isnt letting go of this.

Edited September 29, 2014 by Petetrucker07

[highway]

Probably don't see them as often because they're not as economical. Newer rigs get better mileage which is very important when fuel prices keep going up.

Actually John, that's not as true as you would think. I've been driving for almost 17 years, and the 2013 Freightliner Cascadia I'm currently driving averages only a shade above 7 MPG, and that is with very low idle time. Many of the older rigs I drove averaged 5 or 6 MPG, and that was with the truck idling every night no matter the weather and most of the time my truck was running from the time I left the house to the time I got back home.

I actually, if I could afford to do so, would much rather buy an older rig than drive my 2013 company owned ride I drive at work too. The newer trucks just have too many controls and computers that I feel is taking control out of the driver's hands and putting it in the "brains" of computers, and also more to fail. My Cascadia has a radar system called On Guard that is interconnected to the cruise control and brake system that is a crash avoidance system and will give me the speed and distance of a vehicle in front of me. While most of the time it is a great system, there has been a few times I've found it not to be, especially when the system unexpectedly puts on the brakes because it picks up a vehicle that is not actually in front of me but slowing down getting off an exit ramp.

[niteowl7710]

Our new Volvos at work have "Volvo Economy Cruise" which uses the same radar system as Freightliner. Thankfully it's more forgiving on false echo positives just beeping. OnGuard has the tendency to also slam the brakes on too, which was always fun when you're just tooling along at 65 at 2am, without any traffic in sight in any direction, and the next minute you're doing 48 hanging on for dear life.

[Wonderbread Kustomz]

Thanks fellas... I appreciate the info and the time you took to comment... It's sad because I grew up around the old trucks and I loved seeing the different ones on the road...