UP IN SMOKE

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17326, 11 February 1928, Page 10

UP IN SMOKE

AN INGLORIOUS END

Desolation stalked in tragic form at Frankton on Tuesday, when autopsies and vivisection having been mercilessly performed, thirty or forty old, decrepit and useless car bodies were casually thrown in a heap and cremated. It was a pitiful spectacle to see the sad end'to the lives of long and useful service in the interests ot mankind, but no hope was held out for the lingering sufferers and it was thought expedient that they should be consigned to a hot place. No more will those bodies pulsate with life, their rush restrained like that of hounds in the leash. Never again will - they feel the delicate touch of feminine fingers, experience the admiring gaze of fascinated eyes or the vibrant throb which sends them pulsing on their way. They are gone—gone the way most good old cars go—merely junk. On Tuesday morning the section adjoining the premises of Mr J. A. Thomas, motor wrecker and replacement specialist, of Frankton, resembled a grave-yard and the owner had a der jected look as he gazed at the remnants of what were once smart cars. Their bones lay bleaching—or rather their sides lay rusting—in sorrowful repose, maudlin green bodies mingling with sickly yellow and sombre black. It was a harrowing sight as they were prepared for cremation. A more heterogeneous collection of abandoned nondescripts, many nameless, would have been difficult to Jmd. The mass represented the untiring efforts of a number of car doctors who bad taken their working glands to sell

for grafting on to other vehicles, and discarded the mutilated remains with true professional discretion. Some were obviously of the late “Elizabethan’ period, while others bore tangible .evidence of early origin. Once these frail and broken frames were the pride of their owners and the envy of others. Lately the masters they have served so faithfully cruelly passed them with a scornful sniff, a disdainful turn of the nose and a glance the opposite of recognition. These steely-hearted “auto”-crats passed by in smart, polished cars, but assuredly the inevitable day will come for those sleek-looking cars just as it does for everything else. Then they too will be just junk. All cars at some time reach a venerable old age and strain and clank their way along in misery to the Hamilton motor replacement specialist, Mr J. A. Thomas, who removes their sound organs and sells them w'here they are needed. Ilis is a profession calling for

f-ociUriUo (ind that lie is successful in his operations is borne out by the extensive trade lie does in selling spare car parts hardened with usage, and well able to bear the trials which some motors undoubtedly have to suffer at the hands' of an impatient or overhasty owner. From the wrecks of good cars of the past, he salvages the parts which he can sell to introduce a new lease of life into other vehicles. “Where do the old cars go?” is a question which is often asked. A Times’ representative saw where they went on Tuesday. Some parts of them are sold to rejuvenate others, while

CAR REMAINS INCINERATED: A FRANKTON CREMATORIUM.

the remains go up in a blaze of glory and vivid black smoke, groaning and harshly crackling as they depart on their way to the cars’ paradise, but freed from the shackles which have held them at the beck and call of their former owners. With what frantic sobs for breath had they panted their .ways up hill, with what rushing haste had they torn impatiently downhill, and how they had strained miles in faithful service never emitting a sound beyond a few hoarse chokes as they ground ceaselessly until one day, breaking down, it was evident that their exertions had been too much. Careful doctoring and surgery for a while did not suffice and they were dispatched to Mr J. A. Thomas, who awaited them with a few handy implements and a staff to give a few exquisite wrenches to their battered and tortured frames before they were discarded as useless, their vital parts being disposed of to be infused into weak and halting engines. That is the way all good cars go at Hamilton—to Mr J. A. Thomas, wrecking and replacement specialist—and that is where parts are sold for the rejuvenation of cars. Most of these cars are driven in under their own power and are still good for years of service, but their antique bodies have provoked a feeling of mistrust. The engines are reconditioned if worth it, while spare parts are sent all over New Zealand and engines which formerly functioned on land in many instances take to the sea in light-powered craft about the coasts.