Was this ever popular?

Gotta agree with Grumpus, that's all you could do back then if your wide tires couldn't fit it the stock wheelwells. Luckily, the '70 Charger I had back then could fit L60-15 tires in the stock wheelwells and they wouldn't stick out past the body. Yeah, it did have the requisite Gabriel Hijacker air shocks to get the right look for the SoCal streets - just a little bit of a rake, not the ugly stinkbug look.
I've always had aftermarket wheels on my cars but never had any tires stick out past the body - always thought it was an ugly look.