Anybody who has ever read my work knows that I have a soft spot for cars built between 1973 and 1990 or so…you know, the years most normal people avoid like the plague because a bottom-of-the-barrel horsepower level can somehow overrule the good parts. And of course, I’m affixed to the unloved years of Mopars. Fine, I’ll own it. Malaise-era vehicles have many things going for them: they are either the last versions of cars that actually were hot back in the day (see: A-body Mopars, GM F- and X- body cars, anything Ford that can trace to the Falcon) or were the early versions of good later-model vehicles (GM B- and G-body cars, Ford Fox platform, etc.) And the aftermarket is starting to take notice. We’ve seen some restoration companies start to field parts for the obvious choices, like G-bodies, and if the demand is there, expect more parts to come down the pike and for the used parts market to do well.

Now, you recognize that hubcap in the leading photo, don’t you? Any Chrysler Fifth Avenue from the 1980s ran this locking-style, wire unit. It was supposed to appeal to older buyers who missed the days of true wire wheels on their cars. Honestly, they looked like crap to me, like any other fake wire hubcap or lace-style wheel for the most part. And unlike a G-body, I highly doubt that anybody outside of a handful of people I personally know are tripping over themselves to restore a Fifth Avenue. But what the hell…maybe you want a set of new covers to spruce up the car that a now-gone relative left you in the will so that you can punt it on Craigslist for maximum value. What do you reckon to spend? $50 for a whole set? How about this:

I’m sure I’ll catch hell for pointing this out, but I don’t care: the decimal point is at least one place off in that quote. For $1,200 you can score a pretty nice Fifth Avenue, hubcaps and all. You might have to clean the caps on your newly-acquired M-body, but you’ll get more bang for your buck. Yeah, I laughed. And I hope that there was a typo. But with Mopar guys, you never know.

What about you? Since a good portion of the country is nice and frigid right now, I’d imagine that plenty of you are surfing the ads, looking for what’s out there. What was the last thing that caused you to burst out laughing that you found up for sale?