[Chris Williams]

Agree w/ CBS, today, stay away from hardtails. Unless you're new and want something to get started with, you'll just get frustrated.

As for age, it's not that relevant to a point. Having a new car built as I type, and you can be darn sure it's getting a 2011 (not a 2010) tag on it. But for buying a used one the difference between, say, a 2003 vs. a 2004 doesn't mean much.

However, we're replacing a 97 car and that's old for a race car. I'd say any car with more than 8-10 years is old. You're going to see welds crack, and tubes get tired. Lots of flex in a race car, and over time that just causes problems.

So the short answer is, what is really your question? If you're asking "does it matter if it's a 1992 versus a 2002?" Yes. Does it matter if it's a 04 vs 05? Not really.