Modern cars have ditched the full-sized spare wheel in favour of the ‘space-saving’ spare. Space-saving is something that car developers in the past have had to contend with. The spare wheel needed to go somewhere and to save room in the boot they had to use their imagination.

So, without further ado, here are the top 6 weirdest places to store a spare wheel. Some of these may surprise you, but they have all been tried in the past! To get your hands on any of the ‘wheely weird’ vehicles mentioned, try your hand at cash competitions that offer cars as their top prize.

1 On The Bonnet

Not all cars can get away with having a spare wheel on the bonnet, but there are some such as the Land Rover that somehow makes it work.

One of the main reasons for having the spare on the bonnet is so that the Land Rover can have another spare on the back.

Having a couple of spares is important if you are driving off-road somewhere, but not for road cars.

2 On the Running Boards

Before World War II, cars were elegant, beautifully made examples of good design (well, most of them). Because they had so much room at the front of the car, many manufacturers put the spare wheel on the running board behind the front wheel.

One reason for all this space is the size of the engines in these cars meant there was a long bonnet.

3 Under the Bonnet

Now, if I were to say that you can find a spare wheel under the bonnet, you might automatically think of the Volkswagen Beetle (old design).

Because the engine was mounted in the back, the natural place to put the spare was in the front.

Other cars also used this idea including the Citroen DS which strangely also had the engine in the front.

4 On Top of the Engine

The Land Rover has the spare on the roof, cars like the old Maserati were to have it actually on the engine itself.

Not many other manufacturers did this if any, but it was a cool way to save space if a little odd.

5 On the Back of the Vehicle

I have already mentioned the Land Rover, but other cars also had the spare wheel on the back. Some of the old 1950s cars had the wheel on the back, usually covered and colour-coded to the rest of the car.

In an odd way, it looks cool on these cars and the off-road vehicles that often have them on the back as well.

6 On the Roof

You won’t find many cars that purposely have the spare wheel on the roof. In most cases, this is used to store the wheel if other areas of the vehicle are needed for storage.

It isn’t terribly practical, but it will help if needed. You would need a roof rack though.

And there you have it – these are some of the weird places you have to store your spare tire. Of course, in modern cars, you can simply leave it where it is – in the boot.