The company's primary location in Sun Valley is now home to Aadlen Bros. Auto Wrecking, which focuses on wholesale parts and export, and domestic and foreign U-Pick Parts operations, which are primarily retail operations, Adlen said.  The company also owns Samson Auto Salvage in Los Angeles, which is a domestic and foreign self-service salvage yard, he said.

Adlen said the company was a typical full-service salvage yard until the mid-1980s when self-service became popular.  In 1985, U-Pick Parts was opened to serve the self-service market and grew rapidly offering parts for domestic vehicles, trucks, and motorcycles.  An import self-service business was added in 1988, he said.

"Self-service is where the deals are," Adlen said, "but the customer does all of the work."

Adlen said the self-service business is run with flat pricing based on the item being purchased, not the age or type of car.  Customers pay an entry fee of $2 and can then choose and remove the parts that they want.  He said small items such as hubcaps or headlamps sell for $2 each, while hoods, fenders, and doors are $29.95, for example.

The company's self-service yards get cars from the 40s to 2000 and represent the vehicles commonly driven in the area, Adlen said.  "That's what we've found customers are looking for," he said.

However, Adlen said the yard also includes more exotic vehicles, pointing to a Jaguar and a Rolls Royce in the import yard during Parts & People's visit.  "We have a big enough yard that we can offer everything that we can get," he said, noting that the Sun Valley location is 26 acres, with another five acres in Los Angeles.

The domestic self-service yard holds about 1,500 vehicles at any one time and the import yard another 1,200, Adlen said.  Cars remain in inventory for an average of about 30 days before being crushed by one of the two crushers on the property and sold for scrap.  "This place eats up a lot of cars," he said.

In recent years, the import business has been growing while the domestic sales have slowed, Adlen said, leading him to surmise that the import yard will soon be the larger of the two businesses with the greater number of vehicles.  "The overall number of customers is about the same, but what they are driving is changing," he said.

Older vehicles go straight to the self-service yards, Adlen said, while late-model vehicles tend to start out at Aadlen Bros. Auto Wrecking, which serves wholesale customers and offers cars, used parts, and rebuildable cores for export.  He said Aadlen Bros. sells its parts based on their market value with a discount for being sold "as is" with no warranty.

Adlen said Aadlen Bros. salesmen can walk out to the vehicle to determine what is available, describe the condition, or send the buyer photographs.  He added that buyers are welcome to come see the vehicle before parts are removed to gauge the condition, see how many miles are on it, and run any tests they would like, but there are no warranties and no delivery. 

"We are really focused on a no-frills strategy," Adlen said.  "We're trying to save people a little money and take the headaches out of the system."

The wholesale portion of the business has gradually changed over the years to be about 70 percent mechanical and 30 percent collision, Adlen said.  "I'm not exactly sure why that is," he said.  "We do sell a lot of drivetrain parts, though."

Adlen said he thinks shops sometimes overlook checking with his yards for some of the older vehicle parts.  "We have a lot of parts that would have to be a special order from the dealer or parts store, or might not be available at all anymore," he said, adding that they also have cars from lines that are no longer sold in the U.S., including Daewoo and Fiat.

Once a car has been in Aadlen Bros. for 60 or 90 days, it is often moved to the self-service yard for a final picking over before being crushed, Adlen said.

The company is always looking for ready markets for its products and in recent years has been regularly shipping containers of parts to New Zealand and Sweden where older American cars are popular, Adlen said.  Shipments include complete cars, as well as powertrain and collision repair parts he said.

Being near Hollywood, the yard has also learned to serve the film industry, Adlen said, which includes supplying vehicles for numerous films, TV shows, and even music videos, as well as filming being completed at the facility.  Its credits range from "Escape from LA" to "Starsky & Hutch," from "The 'A' Team" to "Sarah Connor Chronicle," and Sheryl Crow's "Sweet Child of Mine" video.

The relationship with the studios has also led Aadlen Bros. to put some unique souvenirs on display, including a tractor-trailer used in the  Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme film "Universal Soldier" to one of the original sharks used in the filming of "Jaws."