Cheap lorries often get a bad name. Frequently the concept is that used tow trucks make no sense. They do not regularly get good mileage. They are big, regularly loud and rarely very pretty. Here’s why old pickups should be valued, not scorned.

1. Poor mileage, compared to what?

My 1980 Plymouth Arrow Pickup gets 25 miles per gallon. My 1976 Chevy C-10 gets 15 miles per gallon. Comparable new trucks are loads more strong, but not very much better on the mileage. So, you will never make a case for a new lorry just on mileage.

2. Energy cost to make a new van.

An old automobile, car or lorry, sitting there is a cache of value and energy. All the energy, human and fossil, that went into building that car is stored right there prepared to work. Scrap the automobile and almost all of that energy isn’t available to be used. Sure, you can recycle the basic materials. You can’t recycle the value-added design and manufacturing that went into that truck. Scrapping helpful trucks is a terrible waste.

3. No money time bombs.

Older vehicles sometimes are inexpensive to maintain. That’s’s mainly because of all the infrastructure that is’s already there to keep them going. Buy the most recent and greatest and the upkeep issues may be far bigger than you dream. Take batteries. How much will a battery replacement cost for a hybrid down the road? What’s the environmental cost of battery recycling and replacement? These are lurking cash time bombs that will make many more recent autos unaffordable for poor people.

4. Parts are everywhere.

Used parts and the people to install them are the way to keep old lorries working. Many autos hit the scrap heap not because they are worn out or obsolete. It’s simply because parts are highly priced and the skills to handle that specific model are rare. Drive old Chevy, Ford and Dodge lorries and forget all that, at least for now.

5. Tools not toys.

trucks are tools like spades and hammers. They can be art objects too. But older lorries keep going because they make sense. Will the newest vehicles stand the test of time? Maybe, but maybe not.

Cheap trucks represent plenty of energy and work that’s already been spent. Scrap a lorry and you’ve made not available huge amounts of energy invested in coming up with and putting that machine together. Keeping trucks working is way more environmentally provident that scrapping them and replacing with new.

What about comparing an old Chevy pickup with new great hybrid pickup trucks SUV. No comparison again. Look at what you can move with old trucks and have a look at what your tiny cross-breed will do. The old van is a different beast that excels at what it does.