John Simister
John recalls classic lubricants from decades gone by
Tea gives John time to think.
We all like tea, don’t we? We like decent oil in our cars, too. So I was very pleased to receive – from two good friends – a Christmas present that combines both tea and oil. It was not one, but two mugs bearing the image of a patinated and rather gungy can of Duckhams Q.
One has the image reversed in error. My friends complained to the supplier about this, so it sent another. This was the right way round, but broken. The third attempt was successful, but they gave me the first, the reversed one, as well anyway. They are perfect garage mugs.
Duckhams Q was previously Q 20-50, and finally Formula Q before it vanished from the shelves. Alexander Duckham and Co’s oil brand was one of Britain’s most popular during the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies. It was bought out by BP in 1969 but the brand continued to flourish, with updated Hypergrade and QXR formulations to match modern engines’ demands, but BP’S purchase of Castrol in 2000 spelt the end of the road for the blue and yellow oil cans.
Memory lane
All of this sparked memories of the motor oils I used to use, and how they compare with what I use today in cars that certainly weren’t classic when I started driving but are now. My first three cars were all Rootes Group products: a 1959 Hillman Minx (a terminally rotten gift for me to learn about a car’s oily bits), a 1959 Singer Gazelle (roadworthy, a good recipient of spare Minx bits and the car in which I passed my driving test), and a 1961 Sunbeam Rapier (very racy). Their oil filler caps instructed the owner to use Shell oil, thanks presumably to a lucrative endorsement deal, but I didn’t.
Instead I used Castrol GTX, mostly because I liked Castrol’s motorsport-flavoured publicity material and I figured that a company focused exclusively on oil, and not distracted by petrol and diesel, was more likely to know its stuff. On such flimsy notions are brand loyalties made, it seems.
Then I had a series of Hillman Imps. One in particular used to blow its head gasket at least once a month, eventually cured with a new block and skimming the head, but that cure had to wait until I’d finished school and got a holiday job at, amazingly, the local Rootes/chrysler main dealer as a mechanic. My only credentials were that I’d worked on my own Imps, but they watched me tackling a customer’s car and decided that I was capable. It would never happen now.
Each time these gaskets blew, I left it long enough for the oil to go milky, so an oil change was needed. The local car parts shop stocked Esso oils, so sometimes, if there was an offer on, I’d forsake GTX and try Esso Extra or, as a special engine treat, the whizzy Esso Uniflo that was thinner when cold.
However, a friend who was very hands-on in motorsport reckoned Duckhams was the oil of choice, so he converted me. I was happy to be converted, because Duckhams had a very compelling USP. It was green, so it stood alone on its lush green island in a sea of golden yellow. And its greenness, before that word took on today’s connotations, was as good a reason as any to buy an oil that was, in truth, functionally just the same as its many rivals.
Today, you can still have a green 20w50. It’s in Comma’s Classic range. But I’ve found myself seduced by the racing pedigree, ample ZDDP, impressive hot oil pressure and ready availability at my local spares shop (the wonderful Apsley Motor Spares of Hemel Hempstead) of Valvoline Racing VR1. This is just right for a staid Rover P6, I think you’ll agree, and it goes very nicely in a speedy Stiletto. Meanwhile, it’s time for another cup of Duckhams tea, I think. My Archers mug (see page 106) is in the parts washer.