Damaged or Unservicable parts

[JonE]

You have a stock of high quality steel and aluminium that can be turned into something else, all you need is imagination, this is the example I referred to entirely made from scrap box materials.

This is very interesting, as seeing it, one can start to see the possibility for doing things yourself. But a lot of us don't have lathes or the ability to weld. I'm starting to investigate what can be done with a plumbers propane torch -  could that aluminium weld be done with that? What are the functions at the left hand end and which are the recycled bits which contribute to them please? Is that a spring shackle half way down the gearstick?