People used to keep old cars lying around for the parts. Nobody where I grew up could afford the services of a professional mechanic or to order new parts. But everyone could do most work on their own car or knew someone who could.

I once met a guy who bought a car for a case of tenant’s lager. Certainly noone was buying new cars. Similarly everyone kept a giant pile of string and rope in their shed/barn because the closest place that sold string was an hour away. We also had a large pile of lead piping from when my parents replaced it with copper. I used to melt it down and cast things out of it.