Clutch Slipping -- age?

[Beachdrifter]

Hi All,

A few weeks ago was driving the D on the usual weekend warmup drive.

Noticed that with I was in 4th or 5th at about 50mph, would accelerate and rpms would go up for a second, before transmission caught on. I'm thinking my clutch is slipping.

Car is an 81 with 35k original miles. That being said, does the material the clutch is made of go bad with simply age to cause this slight slipping problem? I've never touched the transmission on this car, or clutch for that matter. Previous owner I know did a tranny fluid change probably around 2004.

Anyways, any comments appreciated.

Have a blessed Memorial Day weekend,

[DCUK Martin]

No, it's all about driving style. I've seen D's with fewer than 15k that needed a clutch.

[DMCMW Dave]

I've changed a clutch on a car with under 10K miles. It was worn out. Turned out he had a very steep driveway and I suspect it was his only manual-transmission car.

[DCUK Martin]

On the flip side I dropped the engine and transmission on my friend's Alpine GTA Turbo, the clutch had over 100,000 on it and still had half its life left. Same clutch with stronger springs, 200hp

[TEXSIX]

I replaced mine with the Kevlar cluch plate from Special T. The last one I had was cheaper, but didn't stand up to the stop and go traffic in Houston.