After History of the Car
The car is now in the hands of the customer, and after he has had some service out of it, it finally becomes necessary for him to have the car gone over and adjusted. He brings the car to the repair department for this work, which requires various specialists such as, for example, engine specialists, and specialists on ignition. In time the car is practically worn out or the owner wants a new one, and he therefore trades his old car on a new one or sells it outright.
Possibly the used-car dealer gets hold of it for resale. If so, he cleans it up, adjusts it, and possibly has it painted. Here again the services of helpers, mechanics, and salesmen are required.
Eventually the car finds its way to the junk dealer as no longer usable. This dealer tears the car to pieces and sells the brass, aluminum, iron, and steel taken from it. In many cases the car is an orphan—i. e., a car that is no longer manufactured—and the junk dealer saves such parts as may be sold to owners who have cars of the same make, but who are unable to purchase new parts. In this way many old cars are rebuilt and the life of the car extended several years. But in the end the car and its parts find their way to the scrap-iron dealer.
The scrap-iron man carefully assorts the various metals. Frames and other parts are cut to pieces with oxy-acetylene cutting torches, and the pieces are eventually sold to manufacturers, automobile companies, and other buyers. Material used in a car 10 years ago may in some cases be remolded and used in a car of the same make. From the beginning of the first piece made to the return of the junked automobile, the services of many thousands of men, skilled and unskilled, are required at every stage in the manufacture, maintenance, and salvaging of cars.