Customs 3.5 Million dollars worth of stolen hubcaps circa 1956...Listen to this

Hub caps then, tailgates & cats now.

 

Don't ya just love those 50's B movies. Great acting........well know players......always up for Academy Awards!

But hey.....the cars and Hot Rods were spectacular!

 

I knew a guy in the early 60's that had his hubcaps stolen, and another local car, just happened to get a set just like them. So, the 1st guy simply stole them back, rather than make a big deal out of it. He said "lets have some honor among thieves".

 

I seriously doubt that $3.5 million number holds up.
The insurance guy in the audio said the avg. ins. payout was $25 to the victims...or $6.25 per hub cap. That adds up to over a half a million... 560,000 stolen hubcaps turned into the ins. companies, to reach that $3.5 million mark.

1956 musta been a busy year for teenage thieves

 

Doing tire changes for a top notch pit crew if they straightened out.

Doing tire changes for Pep Boys if not.

 

$3.5 million in 1956 would be $34,363,566.18 dollars today! HRP

 

The folks were on their way to dinner at a steak house near the stockyards in their ot brand new '68 Electra deuce and a quarter when at a red light four guys ran up to the car and each one popped a hubcap and ran off.

 

Agreed with you. The guy from the insurance company said 884 claims for an average of $25. He then mentioned that with over 600 insurance companies across country, it could be over $1M.

 

Did somebody photoshop-remove the cuffs on those guys? Seems weird they all have their arms in one handcuff confiuration or another.

 

Interesting that one of the car owners interviewed admitted to shooting (but not too badly) one of the young thieves, and there was no criticism about it.

A program of engraving the hubcaps, near the valve stem hole, with Licence plate numbers was discussed in the recording. Has any of you come across hubcaps (aka wheel covers) so marked?

 

When I was running through Atlanta GA a lot, it was pretty common to see cars on the side of the interstate sitting on a block or on the ground, minus wheels and tires.

A few years back, there was an organized gang of thieves that hit several car dealerships in my area. They came in in a small box truck, jumped out with floor jacks and battery impact guns and stole the wheels off of new cars, 10-15 at each dealership. Ten or fifteen minutes and they were gone with a truck load of new wheels and tires. One of the dealerships had some pretty good video of them, but I don't think they were ever caught.

 

In 91 I had a student who could slim jim a car as fast as you could use the key. He also had a reputation as a radio supplier. Order today, delivery in the morning.

 

I can't believe I watched the WHOLE thing

 

here, that was done in case you lost it and a decent citizen would return it if found.

 

Edsel hub cap spinners were very rare, and desired in San Francisco in 1956-1957. I remember hearing a hubcap making a wow-wow-wow-wow sound as it rolled down one of San Francisco's hills.

 

Maybe one positive result of all this hub cap stealing was that a lot of replacements were made, increasing the supply available to customs guys nowadays.

 

Back in the late 90s we were doing some work for the NY transit authority. At one large repair depot, I noted two vey tall fences with razor wire on top. I asked what it was for, and the guy told me to keep the graffiti artists” out. He said they used to have dogs also patroling between the two fences. It was a priority at the time to keep the street cars free of graffiti. Also in the same trip we got lost and stopped to ask this guy we saw walking down the road. As we got closer we could see his large overcoat pockets buldging with sideview mirrors. He was helpful and continued on snapping mirrors off the the parked cars. Haha!

 

Very rare, I would imagine, since the Edsel was introduced September 4, 1957.

 

The Chuy's Tex-Mex restaurant chain puts hubcaps on the ceilings in their restaurants. Wonder where they source them all?

 

A guy I knew years ago got screwed over by a body shop.

At least once a week , for years he would go and take a wheel cover, hub cap, windshield wiper off a newly painted car and toss it on the roof of the building.

when I asked him why he said “ just to fuck with the body shop owner, it’s one hub cap or a wiper blade . Not enough to get insurance involved so it’s out of pocket for the body shop owner.”
Then I asked, why toss them on the roof ?
He goes can you imagine 10-15 years from now he gets the roof done and the roofers drop all the crap he’s paid for down on the ground !!!

I know it’s a crappy thing to do, but revenge is a dished best served petty ? Right ? I think !

 

Back in the sixties Mustang and Firebird emblems were known to disappear from gas caps while you were getting gas.

 

Late 70s high school the hot items were car stereos (under dash cassette decks, most were just lying under the driver's seat) and mag wheel center caps.

 

Pioneer SuperTuner, w/ cassette, 6"x9"s in the rear deck, Cragers, and a spray can of Ozium. Bumper sticker that says "Goat Ropers Need Lovin' Too" or "Ass, Grass, or Gas, Nobody Rides Free" depending on location.

 

Pioneers were out of my league. Kraco or Realistic for this poor boy.

 

I have an older friend who told the story of watching a couple buy a new 55 Olds at the dealership, following them home, and waiting for them to go in the house. You know what happened next.

 

I could never afford them. So I started pulling busted ones out of the stereo shop's garbage bin and repairing them.

Here's my Pioneer KP-500. Funny story behind this one. A few years ago someone posted photos of an old project car they were selling and in the darkness under the dash I could see this one hanging there, so I asked the seller if he'd part with it. And now it's mine.

 

Anyone remember the "Bring'em back Alive" bumper stickers from AAA?????....

 

A few years ago I found a 13" heavy wire hub cap with a spinner on the side of the road, I assume it was from a Corvair. HRP

 

These had the owners name and phone number engraved on the backside...it’s the old letter / number phone number too

 

Anyone notice the fellow on the far left looks like a tall Toad in AG?