The wipers on my wife’s F150 were streaking like all get out, despite my having cleaned the rubber wipers themselves. So, I made the trek to the local auto parts store for replacements. Every time I do this, I’m reminded about how back in the day you just replaced the rubber piece and its stamped metal support piece. It was typically as easy, or easier, than replacing the whole arm like we (have to) do today.
Well, I had a major reality check! The ‘premium’ blades were going to set me back some $60+! For wiper blades! I ended up spending just under $40 for the set. Yeah, I knew this transition had happened years ago, but it still spins me up every time I have to buy these things. I hate replacing an assembly that just has a part that’s worn and not being able to simply replace the worn part.
Literally the next day I was looking through some old magazines and saw this little ad.
This is from a January 1948 Mechanix Illustrated. Not sure I ever new that ANCO was from ‘ANderson COmpany’. I looked them up and learned that John Anderson had started his auto equipment manufacturing company in the early 1900’s in Indiana, and that he was a supplier to Henry Ford. His later creation and marketing of wiper blades defined that segment of the auto industry. I remember service stations with the yellow ANCO wiper blade metal boxes.
Fast forward to 2023 and the worldwide wiper business is worth some $10B! If we were still able to buy the rubber/stamped metal parts and replace them like before, this $10B would probably only be $3B. But look at it this way – we’re creating jobs in China, so that should count for something, right?
Actually Honda still does (at least they did as late as 2017) make the rubber piece with the reusable metal supports as their replacement blades.