Pioneered production line remanufacturing of windshield wiper motors and other replacement parts

Founded Cardone Industries, building the company into the world’s largest privately owned remanufacturer of automotive parts

Michael Cardone acted on a “crazy” idea and saved consumers millions of dollars.

Growing up in Pennsylvania’s coal country, Cardone saw his miner father develop a mining-related illness and decided to take his chances in the city of Philadelphia. There at age 18 he found employment as a garage mechanic. One year later, Cardone and his partners founded Cardone Automotive to remanufacture auto parts.

Cardone recognized a new product opportunity when his windshield wiper motor stopped during a rain storm. When he asked about the possibility of obtaining a rebuilt motor, he discovered that rebuilts weren’t available. Cardone conceived the idea of rebuilding wiper motors using production line techniques. An automotive parts distributor called Cardone’s idea “crazy”.

But with faith in his ideas and the support of his family, Cardone launched a new company — and eventually an entire industry — remanufacturing high-quality products that were available at major savings to automotive customers.