My father was a Packard mechanic who died when I was in the first grade (1952).

One of my memories of him was visiting his buddies at various garages - I was kept occupied by pairing up nuts and bolts from the junk boxes. Some of my toys were points and plugs.

To this day, I keep all old hardware that is still usable - including grounds that are still good.

BTW - my trick - I wrap old wire around a metal, one pound coffee can and tie up each bundle with two ties from old glad bags - once around the can is almost exactly one foot - I can count the loops to see how long the wire is!