Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

I have always been amused by the "lead" vs "unleaded" scam the oil companies pulled on the american driving public. Their position was that they had to make the fuel unleaded so hence they had to charge more. What they never told anyone was that they never had to do anything to gasoline to make it unleaded. The natural refining process produces unleaded gas, they had to add lead to gas to make leaded gas. So they made millions by doing nothing. In the 60's you could purchase 104+ octane regular at the pump. Sunoco 260 was 101 to 104. Anything higher was 108+ flight fuel. The highest you can get today at the pump is 93+. In my 55 Patrician I use that and add can of leaded octane booster.

AL,

This squares with articles that I have read, including some old, old comparisons of gasolines, that often disparaged brands that achieved their high octane ratings by adding lead. One, in fact, said that a certain brand (I believe it was AMOCO at the time) would be a great gasoline if they'd "get the lead out." (Circa late 1950's.)

It's true to this day. 100+ octane rated pump gas is available that does not contain lead... often called "clear gas." Once again, visit a local Mobil station. Look for the "racing gas" pump. It has a nozzle that will not fit an unleaded filler, but the fuel contains no lead.

Lead was a cheap short-cut to boost octane ratings. Probably necessary in the early days of the "Otto" engine development. It's is awful, and unnecessary, that so much land, especially in cities, is contaminated with high levels of lead due to this practice being implemented far longer than necessary.

High test Amoco contained no lead. That is why they could make it clear. All other gasolines were colored red or blue or green or whatever because they contained a poison which was lead and the law said it must be colored to identify it as such. I used to run hi-test Amoco back in the early sixties. It was a very good gasoline.

We used the Amoco unleaded too, and you never heard about valve recession problems even though people used it for years in 10.5:1 engines and higher.

In the heyday of Amoco, at least here in NJ, only the premium was unleaded - the regular grade contained TEL. Premium Amoco is also what most campers bought for their Coleman lanterns, gas stoves, etc. in lieu of Coleman fuel which was more expensive.

I didn't see it mentioned in this thread before, excuse me if I missed it, but it takes considerably more crude oil to make a gallon of unleaded premium than it took to get that same octane using TEL. Though there are certainly disadvantages to TEL in regards to health and the environment, going no-lead, as well as requiring low-sulfur crude for home heating oil and diesel and other uses have all increased the demand for crude above and beyond other considerations. It's among the costs we're paying for a better environment.

PS - If you examine the list of other chemical compounds which had the ability to both raise octane and minimize valve recession, there were remarkably few from the hundred thousand or so tested. One that I do recall from the list was an organic iodine compound which probably presented even greater health hazards than TEL. And TEL's first commercial subsitute, MTBE (methytertiarybutyl ether) also had it's own severe environmental issues due to it's affinity for partitioning into ground water rather than rising to the surface with the gasoline and evaporating.

Thank you all for pointing out that AMOCO high test was one of the exceptions to the rule of boosting octane with lead. AMOCO was probably mentioned in the article I saw, along with several other gasolines, and, of course, not being able to recover the article, I mixed them up.

I, too, remember the Amoco "clear" premium but must point out that, well into the mid 1960s in west Texas, Chevron and other retail service stations regularly sold "White Gas" for use in Coleman lanterns and stoves. To the best of my recollection I never heard of "Coleman Fuel" until the mid-1970s. We just went to the corner service station and bought a gallon of "White Gas."