Patent ID: 8579167

Claim:
A rear part structure of a vehicle body, comprising: a spare tire carrier that includes a steel frame part that is provided underneath a rear floor of the vehicle body via front and rear support parts, wherein the spare tire carrier stores a spare tire; and a tire cover that is disposed on the frame part and covers a bottom part of the spare tire, the tire cover including an external surface that faces away from the spare tire, the tire cover defining an embedding groove that is recessed from the external surface toward the spare tire, wherein the frame part is completely received within the embedding groove so as to not protrude from the external surface of the tire cover, wherein the frame part includes a substantially U-shaped main frame formed of a steel rod, and an X-frame formed of a steel rod and joined to an inside of the substantially U-shaped main frame to reinforce the main frame, and opposite end parts of the substantially U-shaped main frame form front connecting parts that are rotatably connected to support holes formed in the front support parts, and a rear connecting part that is vertically movably connected to the rear support part, so that vertical movements of the rear connecting part via the rear support part place the spare tire carrier in a tire storage position in which the spare tire is stored in position, and a tire access position in which the spare tire is capable of being accessed, wherein the tire cover comprises: a metallic bottom front cover part that covers a bottom front part of the spare tire; and a resinous bottom rear cover part disposed rearwardly from the bottom front cover part in a direction of the vehicle body, the bottom rear cover part covers a region of the spare tire extending from a position rearward of the bottom front part of the spare tire to a bottom rear part of the spare tire, and wherein the frame part is formed of a round steel rod, the embedding groove is defined by opposed side walls, each side wall having an interlocking projection protruding toward an interlocking projection of a companion side wall, the interlocking projections being elastically deformable to accept entry of the frame part into the embedding groove when the frame part is forced into the embedding groove, and the frame part is held in the embedding groove by the interlocking projections whereby the frame part is prevented from falling out, the embedding groove being defined in the resinous bottom rear cover part and the interlocking projections being part of the resinous bottom rear cover part.