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The more “clunkier” the car, the more reason to trade it in, right? Not so. The Cash for Clunkers program is offering incentives for auto owners to turn in their older fuel-inefficient cars for brand new ones, but there’s an age limit. Yes, that’s right, your car may just be too clunky.

Interesting piece in the Los Angles Times on how a lobbyist group for the Specialty Equipment Market Association lobbied to have a provision placed in the Cash for Clunkers program excluding vehicles made before 1984 — likely the most gas-guzzling, clunkiest cars on the road. The organization was seeking to protect the market for used cars and used car parts and services.

Some important points to consider as listed in the Times (citing numbers from Experian Automotive):

• There are 4.8 million vehicles older than 25 years on the road today
• Those vehicles represent about 2 percent of all registered vehicles

But although they represent a fairly small fraction of cars on the road, they do tend to be some of the worst offenders as far as emmissions and fuel efficincy. It’s difficult to imagine a car owner with a classic wanting to make a clunker trade, but if you’re driving a beat-up 1983 model and getting 13 mpg, you’re out of luck. Then again, with a car at that value are you looking to trade up to a brand new vehicle with new car payments?