I’m about to spend $250 on a spare tire carrier — that’s half of what I’ve spent on some entire vehicles! Why, you might ask? Well, this spare tire carrier is hyper-rare, and I’m one of those snobs who believes factory-original is golden. Plus, aftermarket spare tire carriers require the replacement of the rear bumper, and that totally changes the look of a machine that I think looks swell in stock form.
I realize this is a random little blog, but sometimes I just want to talk about cars with you all, fellow obsessed car-cultists. And today I want to talk about hyper-rare parts/accessories. Here’s the one I’m buying for $250:
That’s far too much money, but the seller has a monopoly! ZJ spare tire carriers are like hens’ teeth — complete unobtanium. I’ve never seen one for sale, and I’ve maybe only ever seen one on the road. They’re not exactly elegant, and they really eat into that departure angle; I’m not thrilled about that. Honestly, I’m worried I’ll bend mine off-road, but we’ll see.
I’m in the process of building the ultimate overlanding ZJ, and this spare tire carrier is part of the build. I don’t like putting spare tires inside the vehicle, since space is a big deal for an overlanding machine, and a rooftop tire is going to ruin aerodynamics and increase the chance of a rollover. Again, an aftermarket tire carrier isn’t going to happen since it replaces the bumper, and a hitch-mounted one that drops straight down is too inconvenient. This OEM one is the one I need. NEED.
Actually, rare spare tire carriers have become commonplace in the car world, with the VW Touareg famously offering this rather complicated one:
And then there’s the famous Cayenne rear tire carrier, which is also borderline-impossible to come by:
???? RARE REAR-MOUNTED SPARE TIRE CAYENNE TURBO!
— Cars & Bids (@carsandbids) November 19, 2021
Yes: 450 hp V8, impressive on- and off-road performance, AND the bizarre/interesting/rare spare!
The ULTIMATE weird car twitter-mobile!
Go check it out – with no reserve – on Cars & Bids!https://t.co/Gr6BEjkPSf pic.twitter.com/XWkanPL3Uq
What’s your ultimate part/accessory find?
Top photo credit: Facebook Marketplace
The grindstone-roller drive on my KV Mini 1 makes it worse than pointless to install snow chains on the driven tires, as suggested by the photo below, but the manual contains the following instructions, translated from the original French:
“For driving on snow there are scraper blades intended to rid the grindstones of the ice that forms on them. These are fixed by the two front mounting screws of the bearings. They must be adjusted in direct contact with the rollers despite the noise this causes during the first kilometers. Beyond 5 cm of heavy snow, rolling becomes difficult due to the smallness of the wheels.”
I’ve never seen so much as a photo of these but I very much want a set of genuine KV scraper blades. The car seems to do okay in light snow without them but that’s not the point, really.
https://clunkbucket.com/wp-content/gallery/1980-kv-mini-1/img_6618.jpg
A Weber IMB 28 that wasn’t made in Spain or China
Yeah a triple dcoe 45 on my L28 soon to be a L31 would be sweet. It’d put me in the poor house but it’d be awesome
Hot tip: be sure to attach your spare to the carrier with a chain and heavy padlock, because Los Angeles.
My FIL asked me to help him find a grommet for the fuel vent tube on his 1979 F-Series pick-up and I found out they no longer “exist”… Luckily(-ish) we found a forum post where a dude measured one and gave good dimensions. I have a feeling we are gonna have to “make” one…
Since you have the dimensions, you could try Grainger (https://www.grainger.com) or McMaster-Carr (https://www.mcmaster.com).
The ultimate resource for o-rings and their installation. Best one I’ve found when you only have the hole and the shaft to measure.
⚠️ 300 page PDF:
https://www.parker.com/content/dam/Parker-com/Literature/O-Ring-Division-Literature/ORD-5700.pdf
Good stuff – thank you!
I had to make a main gearbox shaft nut like this. In 6 months to a year I’ll know if I did a good job
While a Volvo V50 was on a medium-short list of potential second cars, I maybe spent more time than I should have (which is to say any) trying to figure out if the now-discontinued navigation chart-themed decor panel that I probably wouldn’t have been able to find, and only know about from one guy at an autocrossing event I went to, would be compatible (my wife sailed for a couple summers, and would be totally on board with this).
https://www.media.volvocars.com/image/low/32594/1_1/5
Made my Chevy Tracker much more comfortable:
https://www.suzuki-forums.com/threads/center-console-armrest-accessory.20090/
The fact that that was an accessory… Pretty hilarious. But man I love me a Tracker.
And only on the Suzuki. I had to go to a Suzuki dealer to get mine in the day. Even took it with me to my second Tracker.
A SRT8 front bumper for a Dodge Magnum. They were only made from 06 to 08, and the 08 is a one year only piece!
It’s probably not something I would actually spend money on, but I keep wondering how my pickup would look with a roll bar in the bed with lights on top of it.
Hopefully like this:
https://gmauthority.com/blog/2022/01/1984-chevy-pickup-fall-guy-recreation-auction-bound/
It’s gonna ruin what now? 🙂
The parts I look for irrationally often are related to the skid plate from an early 1980s dual-purpose bike. The original plate came with the bike – and with a sizable crack, which I will need to weld. I have since found two more that are in decent shape. There was another for sale that looked like a crumpled piece of paper – no idea how that would even happen.
The front skid plate mounting bolt threads into a captive nut on the bottom of the front engine mount. If the ham-fisted PO tightened that bolt too much, the captive nut would strip and the two pieces would be almost permanently joined. One of the skid plates I bought came with a free front engine mount for that very reason.
The other elusive part is a little rubber bumper, about 1″ in diameter; there are four of them that sit between the skid plate and the frame. They are NLA and NOS are extremely rare. I have bought some [NOS] one at a time because that was all each seller had available, and was far too happy to get some used ones in a miscellaneous parts lot.
The thrill of the chase! 🙂
Eh, $250 is not too bad. You’re gonna eliminate any rust though, right?
No he is not. Now that David got out of Michigan, he needs something to remember it by!
It’s not bad if it comes with that jeep attached…
I need to sustain myself somehow.
Was going to say not bad at all. The somewhat rare XJ version occasionally surfaces for air with an $800-1000 price tag attached, and some of those are in a bit worse condition overall than what Tracy found.
All the way until 2017 for the original body styles, you could get flip down liftgate speakers on at least the Jeep Compass, maybe even the Patriot. For years I always thought that like the glove-box cooler, that those flip down speakers were a Caliber/pre-Fiat update option.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in person, and I want it!
Oh boy, where do I start?
I’m obsessed with the very rare accessory tailgate seating kit for the Mk1 Volvo XC90. Featuring two modest cushions and a stylish table, I’d buy a 3.2-litre XC90 if I came across this accessory kit for sale.
https://accessories.volvocars.com/AccessoriesWeb/Accessories.mvc/Images/0000c8af%5C80%5C06%5C10%5Ca4.jpg
Then there’s the extremely rare BMW Performance aero kit for the E90 3-Series. It’s virtually impossible to find complete, nobody makes reproductions that I’ve found, but it would be so incredibly cool to run on my car.
https://www.bimmerpost.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=308329&d=1253625533
Holy smokes the Volvo accessory seating!!
That’s some Range Rover level shit there. Nice!
It was also a super rare option for the XJ. I’ve heard of them and seen pictures, but never in real life.
I think the XJ one mounted to the rear quarter panel?
It does. My 1987 2-door XJ had one and people were constantly stopping me because they wanted to buy the tire carrier right off the vehicle.
It was kind of a PITA though, the “hinges” wore out pretty early and the whole thing sagged and rattled; luckily I’m a fabricator with a lathe and I made new bushings and a different thickness striker plate which kept the rattles to a minimum. And this was with a stock-ish tire/stock wheel, nothing huge or heavy.
I’m glad you mentioned the Cayenne. I saw one with the tire carrier once and was stopped dead in my tracks by how ugly it was. Took a pic, sent it to a friend to laugh about then did some research and realized it was a factory option.
The Volvo 240 had a really extensive Accessories catalog. I spent several years as a Certified Volvo Nut™ tracking down rare accessories for resale to rabid collectors. The one I never found was the Child Guard that was mounted between the front seats to prevent an unsecured child from flying forward between the seats in a crash.
Which is really kinda dumb, because people bought the 240 for safety, and who would have an unsecured child in the back seat? But if you have ever seen or read “The World According to Garp” you’d understand.
I actually found one for sale on Ebay at this very moment. https://www.ebay.com/itm/284281491199
We’ll take the house. Honey, the chances of another plane hitting this house are astronomical. It’s been pre–disastered. We’re going to be safe here.
Who would have an unsecured child in the back seat? Normal people in the 70s, when they were selling these.
Not in the same league, but my ’10 Focus has the OEM tape stripe kit.
That’s right, this existed – a contrast hood stripe setup that fits the longitudinal raised center. Took me awhile to find it, but I did. Unobtanium at this point.
Ford accessory that nobody bought b/c neo-malaise era Foci weren’t supposed to be fun. But I love it, gives an otherwise everyday car some more character and absolutely matches the WTF? boy-racer oddity of the car’s design at that time (e.g. black on white performance style gauges, fake aluminum center console, rally car gauge pod style readout for the radio…)
The Inclometer from a late 80’s Dodge Raider.
I had one! The fluid escaped all over the dash one day though :/
the state of the ones that I have found as well
side note, should I be able to clear your “varnish cache”? I see the option when I’m logged in! I run a team of engineers who do this sort of thing, so I would think the answer is no?
looks like you fixed it!
I’m a geek for Fox-platform ’83-’86 Ford LTDs (hence the username). My white whale is the upper dashboard trim piece above the glovebox (where a passenger airbag would be today) from a car that was equipped with the very rare digital dashboard. Despite the novelty I have no interest in the digital dash, but the passenger side trim piece on these had an illuminated “LTD” logo, whereas all other LTDs had to do with a metal badge plate.
I saw one on eBay like 10 years ago that was too rich for my blood, and I’ve found precisely one in the junkyard but the plastic was so brittle it crumbled in my hand as a I removed it. Still bought it with the hope that maybe I can plastic stitch the illuminated nameplate to another better condition piece.
As I get farther and farther into this Blazer resto, I curse the extreme ala carte ordering system of early 70s GM. As awesome as it must have been for buyers to be able to pick from 8 interior colors, it makes finding the correct parts now quite difficult for the ones that aren’t available brand new anymore.
Latest example interior door panels.
The factory hidden winch from the early Jeep Comanches (maybe on xj too?). Only seen a couple for sale, but 1 complete. The plastic trim is always missing or broken. At one point a reporter was rumored, but not the plastic filler panels. It’s a white whale.
Factory cup holders for the S13 240sx. Sandwiches between the center console storage area and the lid. Lift lid to use cup holders, lift cup holders to use storage. Not well placed, horrible ergonomics. I must have one. I have only ever seen one for sale and it was for a Left Hand Drive vehicle.
Literally just sent one of those with that tire carrier on it to the scrap yard… Oh wellz
NOOOOOO
Expect a call from George Lucas with a copyright complaint.
Crap, I knew he had the copyright on the six-o-no.
Impressive. Most impressive. Obi-Wan has taught you well.
I wasn’t sure that special edition Vader would be to far afield of your pop-culture knowledge.
Yea man…it be like that. I often send ALOT of cars to the squished…. People be tire kickin 100 dollar get out my yard cars… No sir I will not take $25 dollars… It did fetch me $400 so the darkside was pleased.
I call Continental Kit.
I blame Nash Metropolitan life. (-;
Mine is the factory optional skid plate for a 2008 Hummer H3. I have an alpha model and the plastic piece that usually covers the oil pan is missing, but in looking for one I find they made a metal version and square tube slider type thing from the factory to provided more underbelly protection. I am resorting to looking in junk yards at this point. Evilbay is a bust, though I think I saw a set for sale in Australia, but i could not identify if they were still available and it is stupid to consider sending them up from there.
How rare are these?
they are listed as over the counter off road parts from Hummer, not sure if they ever actually installed from the plant, but that makes it hard to say. I did see a set on a wrecked H3 at Copart, but I was unable to get them to part with them alone. had to take the whole wreck or nothing.