Mobil advertisement from the '80s Australia

[Shannow]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/56133443@N00/15910904051

I remember the ads well, Mobil had 3 tiers of oils on the market.

This was their mid tier 20W50, which they advertised on T.V. as driving "Sydney to Perth...and back...and back".

20,000km (12,000 miles), or a year, dino in the 80s (SF was the good stuff back then).

The M1 of the day (15W50) was advertised as 40,000km protection (25,000 miles)...the ads had the cars going "back and back" a few more times...again, 25,000 miles or a year...from Mobil, in '80s Australia.

 

[Silk]

I worked at a couple of Mobil stations in the early '80's ('81 to '85) and can't remember what oils we used, but Mobil 1 was 5-50 and the bottles had to be dusted on the shelf...it never moved. No one was prepared to pay that much for oil, no matter how good it was.

 

[Shannow]

Pretty sure that it was 15W50...I used to buy Duckhams 15W50 (it was green) to make my syn blend - 2 mobil 1 to 3 Duckhams, and I was keeping the ratings the same.

Shell servo that I worked at had for some reason Agip Sint 2000, a full proper synthetic at $10.50/L, when you could walk out with 4L of Shell super SF 20W40 for $7.

That was 1986

 

[Shannow]

Can't read the bottle...

 

[Shannow]

But had completely forgotten this oil...but now remember the ad.

 

[SR5]

Yes I remember the Mobil 1 adds of the late 80's and early 90's about driving from Sydney to Perth and back and back etc.

I did a bit of reading, with a book, in the library, and decided synthetics were they way to go. M1 was probably the first "for the masses" synthetic offered and advertised in Australia. It was quickly followed by Castrol Formula R (which later became Edge).

I can't recall what the first M1 in Australia was, either 15W50 or 5W50. I suspect the former, because not wanting to follow the masses, I went for Castrol Formula R 10W60. My solid logic for Castrol 10W60 being better than M1 15W50, was that it "started sooner (10W) and went later (60)". I now have a different view of things.

Still hardly anybody was using synthetics in Australia or New Zealand back then, as Silk points out. It was considered too expensive and a waste of money by most, but I loved the 10W60. Compared to the mineral GTX 20W50, it seemed light years ahead. I think minerals have caught up a lot since then.

In the 90's I recall Castrol Formula R brought out a second oil, a "light weight" they called 0W40. It probably took me 10 years to see the point. Of course it's now one of the most respected weights in the world. I don't like to rush these things.

 

[Silk]

I'm pretty sure it was 5W50 here, I might've considered using it if it was 15W50. Most of my vehicles would've used 20W50 back then - British bikes (BSA, Triumph's and Norton), I would've used the best in my Norton, likewise the R60/5 BMW. BMC's, the Morris Oxford and Austin 1800 both had good engines I wanted to look after. The Triumph powered CF Bedford, KM and RL Bedfords just took oil. I just didn't think a 5W50 would be suitable in those old aircooled bikes back then, and wouldn't use it now either...but I would've used a 15W50....but the price !!!

 

[aquariuscsm]

I remember motor oil ads used to come on all the time,same with car ads. Seems you never see then anymore. The ones I remember the most are the Castrol Syntec ads and the "Stop,Go,Pennzoil" ads.

 

[Ducman]

Originally Posted By: Silk
I'm pretty sure it was 5W50 here, I might've considered using it if it was 15W50. Most of my vehicles would've used 20W50 back then - British bikes (BSA, Triumph's and Norton), I would've used the best in my Norton, likewise the R60/5 BMW. BMC's, the Morris Oxford and Austin 1800 both had good engines I wanted to look after. The Triumph powered CF Bedford, KM and RL Bedfords just took oil. I just didn't think a 5W50 would be suitable in those old aircooled bikes back then, and wouldn't use it now either...but I would've used a 15W50....but the price !!!


Silk, your recollection is absolutely correct.
It was indeed a 5w-50 grade when it was introduced in the 80's.

I remember the oil clearly and the outrageous(in the day) viscosity spread.
We used to talk about it a lot and how Brocky was supposedly running it in the Commodores.
On One Bathurst they were pouring in a liter of the stuff to top up the engine oil while it was being broad cast on TV with a close up of the brand/bottle during a long pit stop.
If I recall correctly it was back when they were still using 5 lug nuts on the wheels and a line of melted wheel bearing grease was emanating from each of the wheel studs.

I'm embarrassed to say that we used to ridicule that thin s**t Mobil 1 synthetic(5w-50) was burning off so much they need to top of the oil during the race.
Then declare we would never use a 5w anything in our own cars as it's just too thin.
Not to mention the outrageously exorbitant price of the stuff.
A mate of mine has only recently, just used the remaining bottle out of the dregs of an old stash in his old mans Toyota Corolla.
We were reminiscing about how old it must be and recalling the adds.
A couple of people used it back in the late 80's with one cam failure attributed to it.
I remember that it was claimed the cam lobe was literally ripped of because of "THAT THIN S**T".

Penrite HPR 30 was the go to oil for the bulk of us bench racers.
It ticked all the boxes as it was the "required thickness" and available at the right price as well as being a true blue Aussie made product. Just right for a true blue Aussie muscle car.

I remember the Duckhams oil as it was blue in colour. That had to be better?
I even used it once or twice and I think it was the thinnest oil I ever used back in those days as it was a 15w-50 grade.

How times have changed.
Now I'm running a GF-5 10w-30 grade synthetic as the only legitimate alternative to the now obsolete Mobil 1 10w-30 originally spec'd for my LS2.

 

[Ducman]

Yes I remember the Mobil 1 adds of the late 80's and early 90's about driving from Sydney to Perth and back and back etc.

I did a bit of reading, with a book, in the library, and decided synthetics were they way to go. M1 was probably the first "for the masses" synthetic offered and advertised in Australia. It was quickly followed by Castrol Formula R (which later became Edge).

I can't recall what the first M1 in Australia was, either 15W50 or 5W50.


SR5,

Nah it was definitely a 5w-50.
The viscosity spread was out of this world.
I think it was to get people's attention about the new synthetic technology along with the looong drain intervals.

It certainly got our attention all right but for all the wrong reasons when a cam failure happened.
There's a highly regarded major engine builder here in Brissie who still curses "THAT THIN S**T", and all synthetics are still tarred with the same brush around these parts.

I don't dare to confess the use of my GF-5 full synthetic for fear of being looked at as though I have 2 heads.
I'm a closet 10w-30 user.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

Kendall The 2000 mile oil //

 

[SR5]

Originally Posted By: Ducman
Originally Posted By: SR5
Yes I remember the Mobil 1 adds of the late 80's and early 90's about driving from Sydney to Perth and back and back etc.

I did a bit of reading, with a book, in the library, and decided synthetics were they way to go. M1 was probably the first "for the masses" synthetic offered and advertised in Australia. It was quickly followed by Castrol Formula R (which later became Edge).

I can't recall what the first M1 in Australia was, either 15W50 or 5W50.



SR5,

Nah it was definitely a 5w-50.
The viscosity spread was out of this world.
I think it was to get people's attention about the new synthetic technology along with the looong drain intervals.

It certainly got our attention all right but for all the wrong reasons when a cam failure happened.
There's a highly regarded major engine builder here in Brissie who still curses "THAT THIN S**T", and all synthetics are still tarred with the same brush around these parts.

I don't dare to confess the use of my GF-5 full synthetic for fear of being looked at as though I have 2 heads.
I'm a closet 10w-30 user.


Hi Ducman, I think you and Silk are correct, it was M1 5W-50 from back in the day in Oz.

I suspect I was comparing the Castrol 10W-60 to the standard of the day 20W-50. I liked how Castrol had better cold start properties but was a thicker oil when hot.

I agree, Mobil tried to sell the 5W-50 to Oz by impressing us with their large viscosity range, but it probably scared half of us away, thinking 5W was waaaaay too thin. They should have given us the 15W-50, as this was so closed to the 20W-50 that we were all using, a lot of use would have been happy to try it. Baby steps in Oz when going to thinner oils please.

Yep, I also recall the Penrite HPR 30 (20W-60) being the affordable go-to performance oil of the day. I used lots of HPR 30 in my old air cooled motorcycles. It was (and still is) good stuff.

 

[peejaycruiser]

Originally Posted By: SR5
thinking 5W was waaaaay too thin.

Nah not too thin. Gives the VT almost instant oil pressure.

 

[peejaycruiser]

But mind you, my mate will have something to say about it when he finds out. Something about being too thin hot at 5w.....