1997
Hubcaps for sale by the roadside
Ron Young's "Hubcaps on Wheels" is a seasonal
business that debuts each April
They lie on the side of the road, abandoned and not serving any particular purpose unless someone takes the time to pick them up. What are they? Hubcaps, of course. There is a resident of Uxbridge, Massachusetts who is helping to clean up the sides of the highways in our area as he collects hubcaps and sells them back to the public.
Ron Young has been collecting since he was six years old. "One day I was going for a walk with my Mom and I found a hubcap lying on the side of the road," Ron says, "I brought it home. From that day on, whenever I was driving with my parents and I saw a hubcap lying on the side of the road, I would yell and they would stop and pull over to get the hubcap."
Ron started selling the hubcaps in the mid-80's. He says at one point he owned 10,000 hubcaps. He kept them in the woods near his house and started selling them when a woman passing by saw his collection and asked if she could buy one. He sold her a hubcap and from that point on, it became a business.
Ron is out on the road five days a week in several Worcester County and Bristol County, Massachusetts locations selling his wares. Ron also buys hubcaps and restores and reconditions wire hubcaps.