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!
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What’s your ultimate part/accessory find?
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The back seat of my Squareback has camping hinges (I believe a dealer installed accessory), so what I really need is the tent that extended from the hatch.
I need Automatic Temp Control parts for my ’88 LTD. The system is mind-bogglingly complex, they were troublesome when new, and parts have been extinct for 20+ years. Right now I’m engineering a workaround.
I feel your pain. I’ve spent 6 months looking for the climate control ECM for a 90 Jaguar XJ6. Never offered as replacement part.
I’m not super “on the hunt” for one, but I’d really like to score a factory under-hood toolbox for one of my GMT400s. Pretty rare, abd I’ve yet to find one in the local junkyards.
Right now, for me it’s an affordable front headliner — that isn’t as bad as the one I have — for and Express cargo van.
Somewhat related, my first car was a J10, smurf blue with levi’s denim seats (even the brass buttons that would burn in the summer). After about two years loving that I was downgraded to a F150 Custom, which was the 6-cylinder, manual everything version. I used to see contemporary full size Bronco’s with their rear tire carrier and always figured that it would also bolt right up to the rear of my truck. I was broke and in high school so I never did get to try it, but for some reason I always thought it would look so cool.
If you need a part thr year model is needed
I’m faced with the opposite problem, in that I have the unobtanium part, and no car to go with it. I have a complete and functional Oldsmobile Guidestar nagavigation system in a box in my home office, and I can’t bear to part with it. Guidestar was the first GPS based nav system offered by an OEM in the US, and it was super rare even at the time, with a price tag of about $2000. The best production numbers I can find are around 2000 units, and essentially all of them must have been scrapped long ago.
I have it because In 2012 I found my own holy grail in the form of an early build 1996 Oldsmobile LSS, L67 supercharged of course, in Medium Green Gray Metallic with Light Gray interior. Of course it had to be an early build so it had the proper style Olds rocket emblems, legacy style GM seatbelt buckles, and early console. As a bonus, the Guidestar system was installed for it’s first tour of duty as a Hertz rental in Detroit. I had it shipped sight unseen from New Hampshire and it was fitted with the New England map cartridge. I’m never again going to own the right car to put it in, but I can’t bear to part with it either.
I had an ZJ for a brief moment, tried to find one of these tire carriers but couldn’t never find one.
A blue foormat for my ’64 F100. I still have the remnants of the original, so I know they once existed. And in a nod to a deunked Ford myth, “You can have any color you want, as long as it is black.” as that is all that is available.
This is one of my favorites. And you notice it every time you get in I bet…I would, and be annoyed.
I dont see why you dont have a feature “I am looking for this part” What Autopian reader can find it for me to get Autopian member of the month with some swag.
the “auxiliary ventilator” or the “document pocket” for my Volvo 245. They pretty much dont exist outside of catalog scans. i have found a bunch of other rare stuff like the buttcheek jerry can, econometer, fold down roof box, ambient temp guage and the dog gate…. Oh and not destroyed OEM carpet mats…. those were a cause for celebration when i found those.
Currently hunting for an OEM fog light switch for the 95-99 OBS GM trucks. It only came in the 99 Tahoe z71 limited, and the police vehicles. Well, technily I already have the switch, what I really need is the rarer 3 switch bezel that hold it in place.
Almost all JDM XJ Cherokees had a rear mounted spare. Particularly the lower specc’d ones. But I’ve never seen a ZJ with one.
Hard-top for my e30 convertible. They cost about the same as the whole car 🙁
The 3-gauge binnacle for my Bugeye wrx. The stock flat (no gauge. Rant: whothehell specced a wrx without a boost gauge??) one was broken (and badly repaired) when I bought it, and the repo ones flat suck from all the reviews I read. There was one on eBay not long after I bought the car, but I thought $300 was too much.
Seriously regret passing on that one!
Ill tell you what my cars (1986 Chevy Camaro IrocZ) unobtanium is. The Windshield Wiper Cover. The person I bought it from tried to replace the windshield wiper fluid pump and broke this cover. Called several junkyards and no one wants to even go look for this piece for me. I even offered one junkyard 200 bucks if they had one and they laughed. Old cars are so much fun to restore…
That picture of the mounting setup doesn’t seem strong enough to carry off-road/over sized tires. Especially if you’re off-roading
I’m still lusting after the BMW 135i big brake kit for my bimmer, I just got a messed up caliper for a test fit, if it doesn’t foul I may go crazy and spend 2500€ on this.
Otherwise I once bought a speedo for 500€ because they are impossible to find in km/h for a 280Z. Judge away.
Why wouldn’t that be standard or at least very common?
Even a fucking CR-V had a spare tire mount like that standard at the time.
This shouldn’t be that hard to find, but the kick-your-foot-under-the-tailgate-to-make-it-open adaptor for when you add a factory hitch to your 3rd gen Pilot. From the factory the little foot sensors run the width of the rear bumper, and if you get a hitch you have to replace them with sensors that only run up to the hitch and stop (so only half of the bumper). Unobtanium, despite being a vehicle that just ended production a few months ago. I just ziptied the old ones in place and they work fine, and you can’t see them unless you crawl under there anyway. Maybe I should stop worrying about it.
Interesting. How does it attach? I was obsessed with finding one of the XJ factory spare tire carriers back around 2006, till I realized they were pretty bad at handling larger than stock tires.
Years later I bought a JCR rear bumper with a tire carrier and HATED it. Yeah it was nice to get the tire out of the back, but the thing killed the view out the back and made a ton of noise/rattles. I finally gave up, put on a non-carrier bumper (added side effect of making my Jeep significantly shorter) and moved it back inside flat, then built a cargo rack above it. Love the setup, but I don’t overland.
I hate to be a dream crusher but those carriers are TERRIBLE. They did a poor job of holding a stock-sized tire and tended to droop, rattle and fall apart.
One of the reasons you do not see them is they got removed and thrown away a lot due to wanting to carry a larger tire or because they broke.
Every once in a while I see a listing for an 8-track player for my ’68 4-4-2. I don’t have any 8-tracks. I would have to relocate my gauges. They are somewhat rare and I’d be lucky to find one for $250. That doesn’t stop me from wanting one.
Ha, my answer is that first-gen Cayenne tire carrier! It’s such a rare oddity that I kind of love it! What a marvelous piece of weird Y2K-era design.
Mine too, but given that it required a different unibody I’d hardly call it an accessory. It’s a factory option, sure.
Gosh, that makes it EVEN WEIRDER and I love it even more.
If I had a first gen SHO, it would be the slotted grille. Those are basically available in theory only.