Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), Repo Man (1984), Gone in 60 Seconds (1974), Breaking Bad (2008), Goldfinger (1964).
These movies and T.V shows span across genres and decades, and are set all across the United States. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot was set in Montana. Repo Man was set in Los Angeles, California. Breaking Bad was primarily set in New Mexico. Gone in 60 Seconds was set in California. Although these movies are all very different from each other, they all stand out in film with the help of scenes set in American junkyards.
More specifically, automotive junkyards. In each of these works, characters are surrounded by dilapidated, crushed, and dismantled cars. Some of these scenes take place in a unique type of junkyard, one that lets visitors walk around the cars and take parts for themselves—the self-serve junkyard.
Self-serve junkyards provide an unmatched setting for any movie. The ambience of hundreds of cars, lined up, all in various states of disrepair, creates an atmosphere unlike any other. The crashed, old, and patinated cars in various states of disrepair creates a gritty and colorful background that can match the desired atmosphere of a plethora of movies.
The premise of self-serve junkyards is for visitors to be let into the yard with their own or borrowed tools, and be able to remove used parts off of damaged cars on their own. Although parts are coming off of broken cars, they’re appealing to people because they’re cheaper, and generally good quality. Self serve junkyards, also called “pick and pulls,” are inundated with original parts from the car manufacturers, whereas oftentimes replacement parts are of lower quality, from a brand unaffiliated with the car’s manufacturer. Many parts in pick and pulls come in broken and thus visitors can get a sense of the clips and fasteners so when they remove the one on their car they know how to do it without damaging the nice replacement pieces. Pick and pulls also give DIYers a chance to familiarize themselves with the repair they are attempting to make on their own car in the removal process so that they’re less likely to make mistakes with their car.
Most establishments have a unique setup that gives each one an unparalleled ambience. At the junkyard that I visited, the way things were oriented created an immersive experience, in addition to being practical for finding needed parts. At the site that I visited in upstate New York, and at many similar sites, the facility provides maps for customers to find their way around. As opposed to the haphazard mess one might see on T.V., there are numbered rows and columns. There are multiple sections in the yard, typically organized by regional origin of the car manufacturers. Oftentimes, they are organized by whether the vehicle is domestic (built in the United States) or foreign (from anywhere else in the world).
Some junkyards have different systems, but the one I went to had a cross referencing system that knew which parts fit which cars. When you visited, you needed to be looking for a particular part rather than a car model as a whole. The way that I entered the yard made for a very cool experience. The crusher, making cars into cubes, was right by the entryway. They were stacked up just like in the movie Wall-E. From there the cars spread out across a huge space. After visiting a pick and pull junkyard, I can see why similar places are used as a setting in countless movies. Seeing as cars are many different colors and shapes and sizes, it makes for a different, almost random scene in every different junkyard. Additionally, most yards cycle different cars through the shop on a regular basis, in order to make room for more desirable parts, so it feels like a new experience every time you visit the same junkyard.
Pick and pull junkyards are still useful to many people these days, but they are somewhat an echo of the past. Newer cars are becoming more and more difficult for the average person to repair in their driveway, and thus the average consumer has a lower demand for car parts. Additionally, new cars seem to be designed without much thought for the inevitable repairs as the car ages. The industry makes repair less viable and endorses replacement instead. This makes repairs more expensive, harder to justify, and overall less feasible. Older cars are generally built with more thought to those who will have to fix things as the car ages.
Today, there is what seems to be a surprisingly small amount of self-serve junkyards still open—at least in New York State. New York State’s population is roughly 20 million people, and yet with a quick glance of Google Maps, there are only around 10 self-serve junkyards across the entire state. Hagerty, an automotive insurance company, reports that well known junkyards like CTC Auto Ranch are closing. CTC Auto Ranch was open for 35 years and its layout and inventory of cars provided similar scenes to the ones used in backgrounds of significant films. The unfortunate reality is that as pick and pull junkyards become more obsolete, there is less of an incentive for people to own and maintain pick and pull junkyards.
Additionally, self-serve junkyards are a huge liability. Traditionally, customers are allowed to enter with their own tools, explore, and take apart cars in these self-serve junkyards with little to no restrictions. Often, the only ground rule put into place by the establishments is that entrees have to be at least 18 years of age. The costs and risks of self-serve junkyards are unlike that of any other business.
Essentially, as the yards contain complete cars in their inventory and don’t take apart the cars themselves, the yards are filled with cars that are completely worthless, and yards need to have constant turn around of in-demand cars to actually make money.
As the world continually progresses towards an attitude of “everything must be new,” where designed obsolescence permeates every product on the market, self-serve junkyards will only become more and more scarce. The iconic stacked cars in the background of old movie scenes will be replaced with electric vehicles, spaced 50 feet apart so as to avoid potential fires. Right now, we are lucky to still have access to pick and pulls. I intend on making full use of them, and I believe that despite the majority of the population having less and less use for them, there will be those who want to keep their old cars alive using pick and pulls, either out of passion, or out of care for the environment.
As the world continually progresses towards an attitude of “everything must be new,” where designed obsolescence permeates every product on the market, self-serve junkyards will only become more and more scarce.