completely intact depression era american industrial freestanding oversized automotive repair shop "visumatic" parts shelving unit designed and fabricated by or for the echlin company, san francisco, ca. the brightly colored orange and blue enameled all-metal cabinet contains a multitude of pressed and folded steel shelves from top to bottom. the manufacturer's name and logo are used throughout. the original baked-on enameled finish is worn, but largely intact, considering age. the tall freestanding shelf was salvaged from an old west side chicago automotive repair shop and filling station. jack and earl echlin founded echlin and echlin in san francisco in 1924. they manufactured automotive replacement parts such as igniter gears and oil pump gears. eventually, they bought a small ignition company and went on to become one of the leading u.s. ignition manufacturers. in 1928, echlin signed a contract to supply oil pump and ignition gears to the national automotive parts association (napa) which, in turn, distributed those parts to garages across the country. soon after echlin began supplying ignition parts as well, and this was the beginning of what has become a lifelong relationship between napa and the echlin brand. continuing to demonstrate their understanding of the industry's needs, echlin commenced publication of an ignition catalog in 1929. it was the first time an entire list of ignition parts was listed within a single car guide and proved to be a boon to mechanics. this innovation was quickly followed with another--the echlin visumatic business system, a specially designed cabinet in which a mechanic could organize a small inventory of popular replacement parts. commonplace today, the visumatic system was groundbreaking. this device (in effect, an inventory management system) moved automotive parts into the repair facility, where the mechanic had immediate access to them. the visumatic system is still used by the napa echlin brand today. measures 30 x 14 x 70 inches.