Fiat rims and hick tire stores

[James Seabolt <jseabolt@domain.elided>]

>Those old Fiat wheels that they first put on the X-1/9's didn't have the
>large chrome hubcap of the older Fiats. No, they had the little hub cap
>that covered a very small hole. 
>
>A hole too small to fit over the shaft of a Coat tire machine!


There's this guy up the road who runs a small auto repair/tire store. I took
the wheels that's on my X 1/9 (right now) to him so he could remove the old
tires so I could strip and repaint them.

He said he couldn't do it because the hole wouldn't fit his tire changer. He
claimed that the wheel was "old" and it wouldn't fit his modern machine. He
also said that those machines that were used to fit my wheels were hard to
find and that nobody carried them anymore.

So I called another place and they were confused at my story but they said
it wouldn't be a problem to demount the tires. I brought the second place my
wheels and they said, "no problem". I told him what the first guy told me
and he laughed.

The truth was the first guy's machine was the type of manchine that was used
back in the 1950s! And he didn't want to admit to me that he hadn't caught
up with technology. the real reason is this guy is cheap and didn't want to
buy a new machine. 

I also explained that this guy still uses a bubble balance because he says
they are more accurate than computerized balancing.

Then he really laughed.

I finally figured out why the centers of the factory Cromodora X 1/9 wheels
were crapped out like someone tried to enlarge the holes. I had to reshaped
the centers with a hammer so they center caps would stay on!


 


James Seabolt -----> mailto:jseabolt@domain.elided
Webpage: http://pages.preferred.com/~jseabolt
ICQ # : 7344463

United States

1980 FIAT 2000 Spider (injected)
1981 FIAT X 1/9 (Injected)
1994 JEEP Wrangler (2.5l )
1976 Chevrolet Pickup (454 Big Block)