From the Archives: Kar Press
Automobiles at a Lynwood wrecking yard are flattened for recycling in Japan, where materials are used in new cars.
An article in the Jan. 26, 1972, Los Angeles Times explained:
The first stage in a recycling process that converts wrecked American-made autos into shiny new imported cars is taking place in south-eastern Los Angeles County.
On a sweep through wrecking yards in the area, a San Diego firm is buying up old cars and crushing them on the spot into 15-inch-high metal packages before shredding them and shipping them to Japan.
They come back in the form of new Datsuns and Suzukis.
Bill Ven Douris, general manager of the Scrap Disposal Co., said the firm shreds 500 cars a day for shipment. It is not only a good business, according to Ven Douris, it cleans up the landscape.
“It’s an ecology thing, more or less,” he said Tuesday in a Lynwood wrecking yard where he was forklifting about 100 old cars into a pressing machine. Only the tires are removed before the autos go in – glass, chrome, motor and all …
After pressing the cars, they are transported to San Diego, where they are fed into a shredding machine. ...
This post was originally published on July 2, 2012.
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