Originally Posted by xliioper

NW made some pretty significant renovations to the DC9 fleet in the mid-90s when they decided to keep them on for another decade rather than replacing them. With the 717 style interior refresh and larger bins, I would certainly would not have called them "beaters". Most people had no idea how old they were based on the interiors.

https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=460653