Auto recycling in the 1950's, early 1960's

[rickr]

Someone from a car club sent me a link to this. I think this would be from the mid to late 1950's, to very early 1960's by the look of most of the cars being recycled and in the salvage yard, even though the video is listed as 1960's. Look at those rust free vintage Califorina cars.

I thought the vintage crusher was much cooler than the car crushers that I recall seeing in the scrapyards in the 1970's and up to the present time.

 

[petek]

It reminds me of those old cartoons where some character like Wile Coyote goes in and comes out a cube..

Speaking of rust free cars,, yeah. When I moved to Vancouver in the mid 70's that was one of the first things I noticed walking around.. all the 60's and even early 70's cars let alone the 50's,, no rust.

 

[austinado16]

HOLY CR@P!

How many million tons of hydraulic force is that crusher producing? Make it look like those cars are made out of aluminum foil.

 

[goatfarmer]

Thanks Rick, that was very interesting. But sad.....

 

[classiccaprice]

That was hard to watch. I've been dreaming of a car like that for a long time! Kind of reminds me of the crusher in the first James Bond flick "Dr. No" and that beautiful Lincoln that they crushed.

 

[jeffg]

That was Goldfinger I think.

 

[bygted]

Neato

Very cool vid - a little sad... but you can't save everything.
I agree that the old style crusher that makes the cubes is much cooler/ more impressive than the new style crushers.

 

[appnut]

I can't watch, too upsetting.

 

[qsd-dan]

Cool retro vid, but at the same time, very painful to watch.

 

[tolivac]

Scrapyard equipment is strangely fascinating to me-VERY POWERFUL machines that can crush a car to a coffee table sized cube.these things have engines or motors that run 1,000Hp or more.The (something is happening here-messages are being cut off??)

 

[alr2903]

Rickr, thanks for a cool vid. I wonder if the USA melted them down back then, or has there always been a foreign interest in american scrap steel? alr2903

 

[jeffg]

Rex, I noticed this too. I had quotation marks in one of my posts, and the text got cut off right before the first of these marks. I think Robert knows about it.

 

[tolivac]

Other machines besides the crushers are the Newell and Harris shredders-these beasts can have motors up to 6500hp and a rotor that spins up to 600RPM armed with clublike 1000Lb hammers that can smash auto bodies or other scrap to fist sized bits.the cube crushers are less favored now-newer car crushers just merely flatten the car with an overhead moving crusher platen-the cars are then fed to Newell and Harris shredders.Sadly appliances get fed to these critters too.Newell is out of business-but many companies still make parts for them-hammers-liners,rotors,etc.Look up Harris or Newell on the web-you should find info on these interesting machines and even videos of them in use.Years ago there was one of those coffee table style crushers at Jalopy Jungle in Rapid City SD-was awsome to watch-and the thud that the cubed car as it fell out of the machines discharge opening!Oh yes some Newell shredders still in use are considered historic landmarks!

 

[ironrite]

Clip from Movie

Off to the side on Youtube it mentioned the clip was from the movie Mondo Cane. As a kid recall the movie was sensational in its day, from 1962.

If 1962 is the time frame the cars they crushed weren't that old. Though I recall around 1958-59 friends of the family that had a 1951-53 Cadillac and the car was just trashed out. The interior was rotted, headliner falling down and the paint faded. Granted it was Phoenix and the desert, but it really seemed to take its toll on cars. My father's 1954 Pontiac seemed rather old and worn out, especially when my sister bought her new 1959 Ford.

 

[a440]

This was wild!
Sad for the vintage cars but the crusher was just wild!
Thanks for the link.
Brent

 

[jetcone]

Gawd! I remember Mondo Cane

what a movie! Like The Helstrom Chronicle, scary and real. Must google and netflix those , its been too long.
I remember one scene that really got to me in MC, the slaugher of pigs by Polynesians and how when they started clubbing them to death they all turned on each other. It was shocking and I only saw the movie once.

 

[spookiness]

recycled content in steel

"Rickr, thanks for a cool vid. I wonder if the USA melted them down back then, or has there always been a foreign interest in american scrap steel? alr2903"

Almost all steel has significant recycled content. Depending on the manufacturing process, it's at least 25%, sometimes way higher. I worked for a consulting firm that dealt with the LEED green building rating system. For purposes of calculating the recycled content of steel, they allowed 25% by default without having to provide additional documentation.

I have heard a saying among architects and LEED-APs, "there's no such thing as 'new' steel".