How old are they?

[Olivia]

In my opinion, I think it depends on the series. But we all know the originals originally started out with 16 & 17 (or was it 15 & 16?) and then jumped to 17 & 18.

[NZone]

well they were younger in the origianls and then in the blue spines they aged

[tomswift2002]

Originally the Hardy's started off at 16 & 17 and then were aged to 17 & 18 so that they would not be breaking any laws in the US or Canada by driving under the age.

[NZone]

is that why they changed them? i didnt know that!

[tomswift2002]

I'm not to certain on the history of driving laws, but I believe that when cars first came out, as long as you knew how to drive a horse-and-buggy, you could drive a car.

[NZone]

Yeah, supposed in the 30's there were the same amount of deaths from driving as there are today, even though theres like a ton more people driving now because of that and no seat belts and bad cars and roads. There's a funny quote in the original Great Airport Mystery where Joe says airplanes will be as safe as their cars one day.

[tomswift2002]

Yeah, supposed in the 30's there were the same amount of deaths from driving as there are today, even though theres like a ton more people driving now because of that and no seat belts and bad cars and roads. There's a funny quote in the original Great Airport Mystery where Joe says airplanes will be as safe as their cars one day.

And in the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie and Superman Returns,  Superman says that air travel is still the safest way to travel.

[Centrion]

I guess statistically it is, but it's a lot easier and more memorable to take over a plane full of passengers then a bus.

[White Eagle]

I Read 17 and 16, too.

[JoeHardyRocks]

I read 17 & 18.

[SDLagent]

Where are you reading this? No where in any of the UB continuity books has it ever said their ages!

[tomswift2002]

Yeah, I know that in the original continuity the boys start out at 16 and 17, but then age by #9 The Great Airport Mystery to 17 & 18 and graduate in the aforementioned book.  After that, the boys are 17 and 18 all the way through to #190 Motocross Madness.

In the Casefiles the Hardys are 17 & 18 right from book 1.

In the Undercover Brothers continuity, at times, the Hardys seem to be as immature as 7 and 8, while other times they seem to be 15 & 16.

[SDLagent]

Actullay in the first Original continuity books they are 15 and 16, then age two years in #9. I don't think they are ever said to be 16 and 17 in any of the series. It's the missing year...

[tomswift2002]

Actually, while they are 15 and 16, respectively, in #3 The Secret Of The Old Mill mention is made that it had been nearly a year since #2 The House On The Cliff (in HOTC mention is made that it takes place in the month of June, while SOTOM mentions that summer, fall and winter had passed with no adventures occuring between, and that SOTOM was set in the spring of the following year).

I guess you could put the following books in this type of continuity:

#4 The Missing Chums
#6 The Shore Road Mystery
#7 The Secret of The Caves
#8 The Mystery of Cabin Island
#5 Hunting For Hidden Gold (mention is made of snowball fights in Bayport, indicating that the adventure takes place in winter, most likely January-February)
#9 The Great Airport Mystery.

[SDLagent]

You have to remember that up until The Hardy Boys, in all the series by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, characters aged normally, so this is what was likely planned for The Hardy Boys, as well. But when the boys were already out of high school by volume #9, the Syndicate realized that the boys were aging much to quickly and would soon be to old for the target audience (like would happen in 10 years with with their Tom Swift Sr. series) so they decided to implement a floating timeline.