Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John M Santamaria on June 27, 2019 at 6:48

I listened to, "we're gonna go broke," all during my youth.  Then made a ton of money during the gas shortages.  I think working in a gas station in the old days made you a special person.  To put up with the "demands" for service for any period of time made you a candidate for "sainthood!"

Permalink Reply by John M Santamaria on June 27, 2019 at 6:50

What about Amalie and Havoline oil.  Havoline always had a smell to it.  It was our best seller.

Permalink Reply by Two Dogs, Pirate on June 28, 2019 at 3:35

Have you ever tore into an engine that had been running Havoline or Quaker State for a long time? Full of a paraffin build up. If you run the engine hot the paraffin turns into an extreme crud that will clog all the drain holes and prevent the oil from flowing inside the engine.

Permalink Reply by Two Dogs, Pirate on June 28, 2019 at 4:01

I never had personal experience with Havoline other than my work at a very young age at my neighbors mechanic shop. Had several tear downs on very dirty engines on the inside and when asking if they had been using Quaker State the customers replied that they had changed oil every 3000 miles with Havoline. I did have personal experience with Quaker State Super Blend on my 1964 Ford Galaxy 390 4 speed back when I was in high school in 1967. I twisted a crank while drag racing. I took the engine out and had it boiled out and put it back together with a hotter new cam with solid lifters and new crank. I used Quaker State Super Blend for the new oil. I twisted the crank again about a month later while drag racing. I pulled the intake off and could feel the paraffin buildup on the interior of the engine block.

Permalink Reply by Two Dogs, Pirate on June 28, 2019 at 3:35

Amoco premium was my favorite to run in my 1970 Mach One 428 Cobra Jet.

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on June 28, 2019 at 3:48

White gas.  Yep, the best.  Ya still got that Cobra, TD?

Permalink Reply by Two Dogs, Pirate on June 28, 2019 at 4:30

Wish I did, Been on a butt kicking machine ever since I sold it.

Permalink Reply by John M Santamaria on June 28, 2019 at 4:17

Now you all are making me jealous.  In high school I wanted a Fairlane GTA.  My mother made Daddy buy a 67 Mustang with the 289 2 barrel.  Was a great car; could get 2nd gear rubber.  My brother had a Cadillac and used Quaker State.  When it needed a valve job I went in the shop and with the valve covers removed it looked like someone had packed mud on top of the whole valve train.  Never knew of any problems with Havoline.  They had another oil, Arco Graphite, the next greatest thing.  The graphite was so porous that it would soak into your skin and couldn't wash it off.  the bad news was it completely drained off the engine parts at night and when you started it in the morning it was a "dry" engine with nothing on the internal parts of the engine.

    Remember Amoco was lead free.  Way ahead of their time.

Permalink Reply by William C. Morrison on June 28, 2019 at 4:20

Interesting discussion about Gas brands.  We had Sinclair, Esso, Gulf, Amoco, Mobil and Cities Service bulk dealers in New Roads.  I once followed a tanker that had just filled up at the Esso (now XOM) refinery in Baton Rouge.   It was not in an Esso tanker but a generic tanker that pulled out of the loading platform in the Southeast Corner of the refinery on Scenic Hwy in Baton Rouge.  It went all the way to New Roads and pulled into the Mobil bulk plant.  I watched the manager come out and dump a milk can of stuff into the tanker and then they pumped it into the storage tank.  I concluded all the gasoline that came into Pointe Coupee Parish came out of the Esso Refinery.   The bulk managers would often add their companies additives into the gas and then the gas became their brand so to speak.  It made sense to me, who in the hell would pay extra for shipping gas out of Norco or Lake Charles to Pointe Coupee when Esso was closer.  Gasoline is gasoline and it has to meet certain standards (Octane rating).  Today, I believe there are only two bulk dealers in and around Pointe Coupee, one being XOM.  Cites Service, Mobil and Gulf have disappeared.  I figured Sinclair and Amoco died on the vine.  Walmart sells Murphy and I am willing to bet it all comes out of Baton Rouge.  We have a Magellan depot around the corner from me here in Texas and I see all kinds of brands of tankers lined Monday to get fuel, it all comes out of one pipe line here.  I do believe that different brands do add their additives to the fuel, it they add anything.  But in the end, gasoline is gasoline.

Permalink Reply by John Matherne on June 28, 2019 at 4:26

They all load into the same pipelines. 

Permalink Reply by John M Santamaria on June 28, 2019 at 4:32

We had the same situation.  We were a Shamrock dealer.  Their refinery was in Shamrock, Texas, way out in West Texas.  Since Mobil had a refinery in Houston we got our gas there and Mobil got their gas from shamrock in west Texas.  I'm bragging but we sold 11/2 million gallons a month and had 3 transports.  After I graduated from college I was running one of the stations.  My brother asked me if I was gonna work in a gas station all my life.  " I said if my name is on the building I will.  Like I say it is a thrill for me to have leased and got a check, not a big one off of a well for 15 yrs.

Permalink Reply by Two Dogs, Pirate on June 28, 2019 at 4:44

Back in the day it wasn't hard to tell the Amoco Premium because it was white gas or clear gasoline as opposed to all the others. Can you explain that?  I don't doubt that today all the gas is the same other than octane. My last fast car was a Chrysler Crossfire and with a 10 to 1 compression ratio it didn't run right on regular, in fact after running a little while on regular a light on the dash would come on.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• Next ›
• Page