Highway Oil Grease Servatory

Notice the "Pencoil" sign. I believe today it is spelled "Pennzoil".

You have it right. It was pronounced Pennzoil and the spelling was changed around 1930. I'm one of the few that refuses to use Pennzoil as it doesn't seem to hold up, additive wise, over time.

The guy who owned the milk route that I drove wouldn't use it either.

I stopped using pennzoil when they lied about their rebate program.

I love to see those old photos! But early on got a bad taste in my mouth for both Pennzoil and Quaker State. They were then known as Pennsylvania based oils,and oils from that region contained more paraffin, which would build up inside an engine. In the early seventies I bought a one owner 68 Chrysler from a lady, had a clatter in top of engine, (turned out to be a bad rocker arm). Lady said she always used Quaker State oil. OK, when I pulled the valve covers, it looked like somebody had packed them full of Play Doh! I have never seen such a mess.
I bought a new Ford Falcon in 62, and Ford recommended Pennzoil, so against better judgement, that's what I used. Can't remember the mileage, but when I pulled the valve cover to adjust the valves, there was already signs of crud buildup inside the valve cover. OK, Hey, Myrtle, bring me a few quarts of Havoline out here, will you!

ShadetreeRet Funny you would mention Havoline. That's ALL my Dad would use. He could get Trop Artic (Phillips 66) for cheap when he was hauling Propane after WWII, but he knew a LOT of fellows that couldn't get 5000 miles on an engine before it was using oil. I've been using Havoline since 1964 in ALL my vehicles and haven't had a problem. I STILL have my 1968 Mustang that I bought new and she doesn't burn oil, either. The Pennzoil comment goes back to my High School days; in 1965,m a friend rebuilt a T-Bird engine and that had so much thick sludge in it I was amazed. My Mustang had a valve cover leak back in the 1980's and the inside of one of the valve covers had a dime sized area that was beginning to show some buildup.

I apologize to Eric for monopolizing his post, but actually my experience goes back to when I was about nine or ten years old. We rented a farm and the owner had a 9N Ford which we used. He had a five gallon can of Quaker State. Well, when Dad started plowing in the spring, he was adding a quart a day! When that bucket was used, Dad went to the little Texaco station at the cross roads, and got a bucket of Havoline. That just about eliminated the tractor using oil! I guess I was born with motor oil in my blood, because I began to take notice of such things at a very early age.

I like the oldpix too ,, pen oils are ok for a few times ,, that paraffin coatin mite make motors last like they claim ,, had a 6cyl Ford , that was my 1st car ,,always would loose oil pressure if run hard ,, didn't know nuthin then ,but I realize now it was pumpin the valve cover full of oil ,,and it would take a little time for it to drain down because the rocker arms were gunked up,, top of motor would oil up bad so I chanGed valve cover gasket,, WHAT A MESS UNDER THERE!..HAD QUAKJER STATE STIKERS ON DOOR FRAME ,, washed it out with diesel fuel , changed filter and oil and added a qt of atf to the engine,, and ran it all winter ,,. ,when I changed oil again the filter was heavy with gunk ... fff-forward bought 69 marquis convertible ,, 429 motor,, quaker state stikers on door ,, ,leaky valve covers 68thousand miles in 1974,, pulled valve oer ,, FILTHY , cleaned it up with diesel fuel ,.poured qt atf in oil ,, motor developed low rpm miss,, figured stuck lifter ,since it was usin oil I decided to pull heads ,,b-I-l and I cheked compression and found 2 weak cyl ..clylandAr walls looked excellent so I did a valve job and new lifters ,,you WOULD NOT BELIEVE THE CRUD ON TOP OF THOSE LIFTERS UNDER THE INTAKE MANIFOLD, CREOSOTED , ASH /GRAVEL /SLUDGE ... HALE OF A MESS ,, CLEANED ITALL OUT AND AGAIN RUN MORE ATF in the engine for a week and changed it every thousand miles ,,,that 429 went from missing and using a qt of oil every 400 miles to not using a drop of oil,,. btw ,, I had switched to using Havoline oil back in the days of the ford 6cyl. now I use triple protection rotella in nearly every gasser I own ,,

In high school I bought a Karmann Ghia from the original owner that had 275000 miles on the original engine. He was so proud of that car and the pea green he had special ordered. It had set for several years so I split the engine to rebuild. That engine was packed to the gills with sludge. I'm glad a had never tried to start it. All of the records showed service done with Pennzoil. Never bought another quart. If it is small it gets Castrol. All of the big stuff gets Rotella.

Just took the pan off our case backhoe.Had ran over a big stick,and bent the pan up and the oil pickup tube. Clean as a pin inside. Especially for being 40 years old. Valvoline all fleet 15Wx40W

Well, here goes. Nearly all of today's modern base oils are paraffin based. Fact. Look it up. I don't use Pennzoil but I ended up with my son's car that had over 130K and drove it to 200K. Head gasket leaked at about 175K so pulled head. It was as clean as the day it was assembled. He used Pennzoil. Was not good about changing it. Some times went over 7k miles according to the stickers. Secret, he was on the road a lot. I have seen many, many engines full of sludge with all different brands of oil. Secret, they were used intermittently and with poor servicing on oil changes.

(quoted from post at 11:15:15 02/05/14) Well, here goes. Nearly all of today's modern base oils are paraffin based. Fact. Look it up. I don't use Pennzoil but I ended up with my son's car that had over 130K and drove it to 200K. Head gasket leaked at about 175K so pulled head. It was as clean as the day it was assembled. He used Pennzoil. Was not good about changing it. Some times went over 7k miles according to the stickers. Secret, he was on the road a lot. I have seen many, many engines full of sludge with all different brands of oil. Secret, they were used intermittently and with poor servicing on oil changes.

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I would agree a lot depends on how the engine was used. If running short trips synthetic is the way to go. As a test, let the dino oil cool down before you dump your container and watch for the lumps of sludge it contains when you dump it. Try that with synthetic, no lumps! Same thing happens in the engine..top end is where most ends up because the oil cools faster there.

(quoted from post at 13:58:59 02/05/14) You have it right. It was pronounced Pennzoil and the spelling was changed around 1930. I'm one of the few that refuses to use Pennzoil as it doesn't seem to hold up, additive wise, over time.

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It's highly unlikely Pencoil had anything to do with Pennzoil. Pencoil was the trademark of [i:1f07eb7d6b]Pennsylvania Petroleum Company [/i:1f07eb7d6b]of Kansas City, MO. The Pencoil brand name dates to around 1926 and was still in use at least until 1935.

[i:1f07eb7d6b]The Pennzoil Company [/i:1f07eb7d6b]was from Oil City,PA and was primarily a lubricants refiner and marketer prior to getting into the retail gasoline business when they opened their first gas station in 1921.
South Penn, which had been part of the Standard Oil Trust bought controlling interest in The Pennzoil Company in 1925. The gas stations were renamed Pennzip in 36 but were still part of the The Pennzoil Company.

Pennsylvania grade crude was thought to be the highest quality crude so several companies capitalized by using "Penn" in their name, or products name.

(quoted from post at 13:50:38 02/05/14) Notice the "Pencoil" sign. I believe today it is spelled "Pennzoil".

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Do you have any more info on Torch brand gas stations...I mean Servatories?
Pencoil and Pennzoil were totally different companies.

No, I had not heard of Torch gasoline until this morning. My
assumption about Pencoil was only a guess - sorry about that !

The building in the picture still stands, and is presently occupied
by the Montgomery County Farm Bureau.