1929 White truck spare tire holder

[WPVT]

I'm attaching a photo of my 1929 White 1 1/2 ton truck taken just before I acquired it a few years ago. Note the cast iron spare tire holder mounted on the running board adjacent to the driver's side door.

I've since removed it, but I believe it may have been original, as was the toolbox. Not a good practice to remove something when you don't understand its purpose. I have no idea why that location would be chosen to carry a spare. It took a good bit of agility to exit the truck with the holder in place. With a spare tire and rim, it would be impossible. I have seen one or two photos of old trucks with a spare mounted by the driver's door.

 I can speculate as well as anyone, but does anybody actually know why this spot would be chosen ?  I can already vouch for the inconvenience of having to lift the seat to access the gas tank filler. I know that the truck was supplied as a chassis, but you'd think that they would have given at least some thought to how things would work once a cab was installed. As far as I can tell, everything's original on this truck. It spent most of its life in storage. 

PS I think the rims are original. Budd rims with balloon tires were an option.

[studeboy]

Most vehicles in this time period had the door lock on the right hand door. The others were locked from the inside without a key. It was considered safer to exit a vehicle on the sidewalk side rather than the traffic side. perhaps the spare was there as the driver was expected to exit from the other door.