I remember a one time battle with one of those when I worked for Firestone in the early 70's and wondering how the hell anyone would deal with that on the side of the road when they had a flat. No worse actually than a spare hung under a pickup bed though. The panel attaches the same as most factory fender skirts did/do but that took figuring out even on a hoist.
I've seen something similar on a British car (Bristol maybe?) , but the spare was behind the front wheel .
The Ford Camper Special had its spare on the side of the bed in the 70’s. Whenever I saw one of those I thought the door on the side of the bed was for luggage or tools or something, who knew….
That's awesome! Detroit used their heads back then. Now they just keep reheating old ideas with big wheels and high belt lines. Sad. What the hell happened? It's like rock n roll after 1974. pffft.
Here is a interesting concept, the spare tire is mounted under the car,it drops down and engages to power the car sideways when parallel parking. one of those inventions that didn't catch on. HRP
Do any of y’all remember Candid Camera and the guy with the Cadillac that drove nonstop across the country? That Caddie was set up with a platform where the guy could get out and change the tire while going down the road. The spare on that Dodge reminds me of that....
I believe the show was called You Asked for It! People would write in asking about something they had heard or read about and the show would research it and feature it on the TV show.
…reminds me, Years and years ago my Dad had a Chevy 3/4 truck on the farm and the spare tire was mounted onto the front bumper. Looked like hell, but served the purpose. Never had a problem with overheating either….he never drove that fast….or far.
My brother in law Larry RIP had me fabricate a bracket to mount the spare tire in front of the grille like @gatz mentioned when he had the camper mounted. He drove from Iowa to Canada and never had a heating problem.
Hello, That idea should have been standard equipment for all cars. Get that spare away and out of the trunk or car. That would provide more space in the trunk or in our case, behind the seats of the El Camino. When I owned my own flathead powered sedan delivery, the spare tire took up no space in the rear cave. It was put away in the under the floor compartment, with access to it when one opened the rear door. That allowed full access to the flat floor and cave shell for all activities. Plus, we did not have to smell the old/new tire aroma. Jnaki In the El Camino, space is at a minimum. But, the designers decided to take up the valuable space behind the seat for the spare. It is a two seat arrangement in the first place and with space behind the seats, it provided little space for valuables hidden from sight. The large spare tire took up the whole space behind the passenger seatback and left no room for anything on that side of the small cab. If the spare tire were out back in the empty wheel well area, then there would have been more room inside to store suitcases and other stuff during traveling opportunities. Also, if more room was available, the rain and other weather maladies would not harm our travel bags. Although they were Haliburton Aluminum and sealed tight versions of the sleek suitcases, they did get wet or have moisture on overnight travels. Coastal highways at night usually have salt water mist or fog floating around all through the night and into the daylight hours. Note: During our desert motorcycle racing days, the stored tool box inside, would have been nice and not have to worry about theft when inside of a restaurant or parts store. When it was sitting in the back of the El Camino, the whole car/motorcycles and parts had to be in vision of our seats in a restaurant or diner. But, it was the overpowering aroma of rubber of the new spare tire that lasted the whole trip up 400 miles to college and back. Then, 20k later, another set of Inglewood Pos-a-traction tires brought in more smells until, again, it was time to change to the next set. We sold the El Camino at 125k, so there were two other incidents of strong rubber smells taking up the whole small cab. Yes, a cover would have helped but all covers are not totally sealed. YRMV
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