Quote:
Originally Posted by Mickeymotormount
Wow, I would have figured you'd be able to find them in the Southwest. I always see pictures of junkyards there that have all kinds of old stuff. You just don't see junkyards like those in the Northeast.
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A number of factors have killed the vast seas of great vintage truck parts that once dominated the desert landscape.
1] The Internet. Because of the lower cost of living here, the greater prices offered by Rust Belt restorers for AZ-Rust Free parts has caused a drain on local availability. A lot of the yards have been fished-out. Due to web access, digitized inventories are more available to outsiders [read Back East] than locals. I have heard of 67-72 hoarders who won't even sell to locals. They want the big bucks the snowbirds will pay.
2] High prices for scrap steel. With higher prices on good grade Detroit steel. Scrappers cashed in and crushed as much as they could for the bottom dollar.
3] Higher real estate prices. A lot of the old junk yard properties made better sense on paper being cleared of rusty iron, and converted to industrial parks or even condominiums.
And on a much narrower scale, 6 lug 5.5'' bolt circle 5.25x17.5 factory rims were pretty rare, even when new. 50-something years later they are extinct.
Perhaps their rarity contributed to their demise. Not enough call for- or interest in an oddball size, for used tire and rim sellers to want to keep them. Probably got scrapped as, ''Nobody will ever want this weird size.''
About 20 years ago, a Board Member [no names here] offered to sell me the 17.5 spare from his Suburban. He wanted a lot for it, and couldn't be bothered to take the overage bias ply tire off and just ship me the rim. The original tire might've had mint tread, but rubber that old was suspect and unsafe. Shipping for a whole mounted tire would have been a lot too. So I didn't take the deal.
I still have my OEM spare -- hardly used, and still in Argent Silver*, and a black Firestone rim, the same size, but a different Dodge center. The other four 5.25x17.5 were judged ''spent'' 100,000 miles ago. I'm not sure if the lug holes are bored out to excess by wear, or the ''hoops'' are dinged in from a lot of curb-hopping and trail driving offroad -- or both. I was simply told they were shot by the tire shop guys. [Who could have had an ulterior motive in selling me new rims. IDK.] *In 1977, when I rebuilt the first 292, I spray-canned the OEM rims with White Krylon. It was a fad.
I did like the white rims and white face '68 front grille trim together.
Then there's the availability of affordable 8R-17.5LT tires question...
Oh Yeah. Tire Rack lists Hankook 215/75/R17.5 for only $329.73 each. No other selections.