Antelope, Calif.-With more than 90 years of industry experience between the three of them, you might say dismantling is in the Duncan family's blood. With three generations in the automotive recycling business--as owners and operators of J&W Auto Wreckers, a Jeep and AMC auto recycler in Antelope -- Jack, Mark, and Neil Duncan represent the past, present, and future of vehicle dismantling.
Founder and President Jack Duncan, 73, now semi-retired, said he has worked in the dismantling trade for more than 50 years.
"I started in this business back when people couldn't even imagine things like computers and the Internet," he said. "If you had told me back in 1953 that we'd be selling parts the way we do today, I'd have laughed at you."
Jack's son, Mark, 51, said he has 26 years of experience as a dismantler and manages the business his father established. And he said his son, Neil, 25, co-manages the business with him. Neil Duncan started working at J&W when he was 10 years old and now coordinates most of the company's marketing and advertising, in addition to working at the front counter, his dad said.
"J&W Garage was founded in 1945. The original owners were James Auld and 'Wegge' Wigren, hence the name J&W," Jack Duncan said. "James purchased Wegge's portion of the business in the '50's. For many years the business was known as J&W for 'James and Wife.' We took possession of the business in 1981 and formed our own corporation, Can-Gro Inc., he said.
"Back when it started, J&W was recycling AMC vehicles only," Duncan said. "They had Javelins, Ramblers, Ambassadors, and Classics. But when we took over the yard in 1981, we saw a market in Jeeps. We started buying them and put every penny we made right back into the business."
The business has grown at an explosive rate in 27 years, Mark Duncan said.
"We've grown every year since 1981," he said. "We currently have approximately 1,500 cars on this lot and more than one million parts in our inventory. It's a big operation, that's for sure."
Eighty percent of the sales at J&W are via the Internet, with the rest coming from walk-in retail customers, Duncan said.
Seventy percent of the company's client base consists of retail customers, with the remainder coming from mechanical and collision shops, he said.
J&W sits on 10 acres and operates out of four buildings -- a 5,000-square-foot sales office/parts warehouse; a 1,200-square-foot transmission repair shop; a 2,400-square-foot dismantling shop; and a 5,000-square-foot warehouse for storing larger parts, Duncan said.
"Our transmission repair shop is where we rebuild engines, transmissions, and axle assemblies for resale," Duncan said.
"We also do mechanical repairs there. We realized that we were losing a lot of potential income by coring out these parts, so we started rebuilding them and reselling them.
"Then, we figured out that we could install them, too. Why sell someone a transmission and then have them take it somewhere else to have it installed? Now we capture that segment of the business."
The entire breakdown process is performed in J&W's two-bay dismantling facility, Duncan said.
"When a vehicle is first brought into the shop, all of the liquids are removed in accordance with EPA regulations," he said. "The oil is drained and stored for recycling, the radiator fluid is drained and recycled, and a specialist is brought in to remove the Freon gas following EPA hazardous-material regulations.
"J&W is not just a salvage yard or a wrecking yard--we are also a recycling center," Duncan said. "Our facility pays attention to all the details. All of our differentials are carefully inspected and the majority of them are disassembled, cleaned, and if necessary, rebuilt and reconditioned to good working order."
J&W employs 10 people, Duncan said: six dismantlers, two countermen, one shop manager, and one secretary.
Jack Duncan said that one of the secrets to his longevity and success in the dismantling industry has to do with his willingness to participate in professional organizations.
"Being involved is very important," he said. "There's more to this industry than just making money every day and then going home. Networking with other dismantlers and helping the industry as a whole is vital if we're all going to succeed. All of us have been officers in the State of California Auto Dismantlers Association (SCADA) and the Northern California Auto Dismantlers Association (NCADA). I was the president of SCADA in 1982 and of president of NCADA three different times.
Neil is currently the president of NCADA. If we don't look after our own interest in this business, no one else will."
Duncan said he has seen the dismantling business change significantly since he started in it.
"One of the biggest changes is how we get the cars," he said. "Back in the old days, you had to go to the vehicle, wherever it was, look at it and submit a written bid to the insurance company. I was on the road three days a week back then, driving around to service stations, tow yards, and shops. Now, we have salvage pools, and a lot of it is done by computer."
Specialization changed the dismantling business dramatically in the mid-60s, Duncan said.
"Specialty yards started becoming the norm about 40 years ago when it became burdensome to try and carry every make and model vehicle," he said. "It became necessary to find your own market and sell those cars. There just wasn't enough room in these yards to carry all the cars being made."
There are also more regulations to follow in today's dismantling world, Duncan said.
"We're regulated heavily," he said. "From the way we dismantle cars to the way we handle fluids and tires, we've got CAL-OSHA, the EPA, the Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR), the federal government, and the DMV watching us closely. It's good, because it means everyone has to do things the right way."
Neil Duncan said he has had great success building up J&W's Internet presence and sees it as the way most dismantling businesses are headed.
"It's where we're going," he said. "It gives us a wider reach, and more and more customers are finding us either on www.yellowpages.com or our site, www.jwjeep.com. We're getting more business out of places like Hawaii, Utah, and Nevada because of the Internet."