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Does anyone remember this? Does this mean some of the older cars could use our modern gas?

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Back in the day, it was nicknamed "gasohol", been around since the 1920s. When I drove out west in the 50s you could easily find it, especially in the midwest. Though the alcohol is the same as we have in current gasolines, the gasoline itself in the blend was a far different product.

No, it is not working in our Packards now so there would be no reason it would work well (long-term) back in 1933 when the photo was taken.

By the mid-1930s tetraethyl lead was added to gas and ethanol went away. Had is stayed around any longer they would have found out about its corrosive effects on fuel systems just as we are discovering today.

This photo is making the e-mail rounds (I received it twice in one day) and I am doing a short write up for my PAC regional newsletter.

You can read more about it here:
http://newsroom.unl.edu/releases/2006/11/03/'Ethanol's+Lost+History'+is+Nov.+16+presentation+topic

And here:
http://www.environmentalhistory.org/billkovarik/research/henry-ford-charles-kettering-and-the-fuel-of-the-future/

...and this link will lead you to a collection of photographs of long gone service stations and from where the subject photo appears. Oh yes, the vehicles in the photos are interesting too. Enjoy.

http://hipspics.freewebspace.com/gas/gas.html

(o{}o)

Begs the question:
What kind of vapour lock problems were experienced in the 30's thru 50's with the gasahol???

Or let me put it another way. If no vapour lock was experienced back in the day then why is vapour lock experienced now???

Vapor lock is mentioned in Packard (and other manufacturer's) owners manuals and service letters well before the advent of the gasohol era. Ethanol in gas certainly has exaggerated the problem, but it didn't cause it in and of itself.

I beg to differ with Roger about ethanol going away with the intro of tetraethylead in the 30s, I clearly remember seeing gasohol for sale in the Midwest in the 50s, though that product no doubt also contained TEL. I suspect it was a regional product of the corn belt.

Hello Owen:

My comment about ethanol "going way" by the mid-1930s was meant in general terms, not absolute terms. Yes, corn gas, gasohol, E10, etc. have been going on for years.

If you read the full article in the second link I provided, then you learn that by the mid-1920s the future of gasoline as a motor fuel was in doubt.

From the link:

Interestingly, Kettering and Midgley came up with another fuel called "Synthol" in the summer of 1925, at a time when the fate of leaded gasoline was in doubt. Synthol was made from alcohol, benzene and a metallic additive -- either tetraethyl lead or iron carbonyl. Used in combination with a new high compression engine much smaller than ordinary engines, Synthol would "revolutionize transportation." When Ethyl leaded gasoline was permitted to return to the market in 1926, Kettering and Midgley dropped the Synthol idea.

By the mid-1930s, the alliance between General Motors, DuPont Corp. and Standard Oil to produce Ethyl leaded gasoline succeeded beyond all expectations: 90 percent of all gasoline contained lead. Public health crusaders who found this troubling still spoke out in political forums, but competitors were not allowed to criticize leaded gasoline in the commercial marketplace. In a restraining order forbidding such criticism, the Federal Trade Commission said Ethyl gasoline "is entirely safe to the health of [motorists] and to the public in general when used as a motor fuel, and is not a narcotic in its effect, a poisonous dope, or dangerous to the life or health of a customer, purchaser, user or the general public."

So, in the mid-1930's, when 90% of the fuel contains tetraethyl lead and caused other gas additives to be in a small minority that to me has the effect of ethanol of going away from the mainstream. Was ethanol still out there? Sure, but not at the level the promoters of ethanol has envisioned.

Hello Owen:

My comment about ethanol "going way" by the mid-1930s was meant in general terms, not absolute terms. Yes, corn gas, gasohol, E10, etc. have been going on for years.

If you read the full article in the second link I provided, then you learn that by the mid-1920s the future of gasoline as a motor fuel was in doubt.

From the link:

Interestingly, Kettering and Midgley came up with another fuel called "Synthol" in the summer of 1925, at a time when the fate of leaded gasoline was in doubt. Synthol was made from alcohol, benzene and a metallic additive -- either tetraethyl lead or iron carbonyl. Used in combination with a new high compression engine much smaller than ordinary engines, Synthol would "revolutionize transportation." When Ethyl leaded gasoline was permitted to return to the market in 1926, Kettering and Midgley dropped the Synthol idea.

By the mid-1930s, the alliance between General Motors, DuPont Corp. and Standard Oil to produce Ethyl leaded gasoline succeeded beyond all expectations: 90 percent of all gasoline contained lead. Public health crusaders who found this troubling still spoke out in political forums, but competitors were not allowed to criticize leaded gasoline in the commercial marketplace. In a restraining order forbidding such criticism, the Federal Trade Commission said Ethyl gasoline "is entirely safe to the health of [motorists] and to the public in general when used as a motor fuel, and is not a narcotic in its effect, a poisonous dope, or dangerous to the life or health of a customer, purchaser, user or the general public."

So, in the mid-1930's, when 90% of the fuel contains tetraethyl lead and caused other gas additives to be in a small minority that to me has the effect of ethanol of going away from the mainstream. Was ethanol still out there? Sure, but not at the level the promoters of ethanol has envisioned.

I have had very little contact with bio-fuels, however, it is a subject that I might be involved with in the future. I was, however, involved with a 1961 Mercury station wagon that was imported from Brazil. Along with being right hand drive, it was built to run on pure Ethonal. The car was collected by a friend that owned Baldwin Auto Wreckers in Elmonte Ca. around 1973-5. It was pure Mercury if you didn't mind sitting behind the mirror. If I hadn't been a GI bill college student with a 5 year old, it would have been mine. The striking feature was the stainless steel fuel system from the gas tank to the carburetor. Every thing in contact with liquid, including the gas cap was stainless. I spent some time in the library (remember them?) looking up Brazil. It seems the overwhelming amount of available land for corn reduced the cost of Ethonal to less then pennies. The life of a pot metal carb using pure Ethnoal is, give or take, two years. Considering the almost free fuel, the upgrade to stainless is cheap. Brazil is not a big exporter of cars to the US, so that's the only one I have seen. It has, though, refined my opinion of agriculturally based fuels. I hope the last 50 years of better living through chemistry has reduced the problem while keeping costs in line. I hope we don't trade our dependence on the worlds oil supply for a dependence on the world's supply of pot metal. Should we pay $0.30 for gas and $30.00 a cob for barbequed corn?

Happy hundred dollar tank, Tom

Owen is very correct about the gasoline formulation of today being very much different than what was available then.

And this is a long read but well worth your time:

http://m.motherjones.com/environment/2013/01/lead-crime-link-gasoline