ARCCO graphite

[k1xv]

"ARCO" stands for "Atlantic Richfield". It was formed with the merger of the Atlantic and the Richfield oil companies. As a little larvae in the 1950s, I remember both Atlantic and Richfield gas stations. Later, it seems to me, ARCO merged with Sinclair. In areas where there was overlapping marketing, the Sinclair stations were sold to BP, its first appearance in marketing in the USA. Then BP merged its USA unit with Sohio.

It goes on and on. Finally there will be only one oil company, and the Standard Oil break up way back when will be undone.

ARCO indeed was one of the oil companies that was part of the initial find of crude oil on the North Slope of Alaska. However, I doubt it is refined there. Crude oil is brought south to Valdez Alaska and refined on the west coast.

 

[JohnnyO]

I'm 44, I remember the oil but I never tried it.

 

[y_p_w]

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Originally posted by k1xv:
ARCO indeed was one of the oil companies that was part of the initial find of crude oil on the North Slope of Alaska. However, I doubt it is refined there. Crude oil is brought south to Valdez Alaska and refined on the west coast.

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I was driving past the Chevron refinery in Richmond, California one day to drop off household haz waste (coolant) at a county facility. I noticed an Arco tanker truck driving by, and I thought it might have been loaded from one of Chevron's tanks. I was told Arco (maybe BP?) owns several tanks loaded with refined gasoline shipped from Alaska and pumped at the dock off of San Pablo Bay. There are several refineries (Flint Hills, Tesoro) in Alaska, so it could have been from one of those. I don't think BP has any refineries near the West Coast, and they would require California Phase II gas anyways. A lot of companies do nothing more than "market" fuel in areas where they can't practically transport fuel from their own refineries. I doubt that Citgo branded fuel sold in California comes from the Citgo refineries on the Gulf Coast.

 

[robbobster]

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Originally posted by DavoNF:

TYRE CASINGS AND TUBES: Use as a dusting powder inside tyre, prevents sticking and corrosion to rims and makes tyre removal easy.

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I really hope that my tires stick to my rims

 

[Ray H]

ARCO has been owned by BP for at least three years. Valero is owned by French Total. Here in the southwest, they're in a death grip for market dominance. What else is new between the British and the French? Oh, yeah, there was that little row that Lord Nelson had to settle in the English Channel. The Brits won on two counts - they put the French and Spanish armada to "bed" once and for all, and simultaneously lucked into not having to pay Nelson a pension. Life can be sweet.

 

[Jimbo]

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Originally posted by Gary Allan:
All I can say from memory is that it just quietly disappeared. ...and Arco shortly thereafter. Arco Chemical may still exist ..but some local facilities are closed.

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ARCO has not disappeared. It is the number one selling brand of gasoline on the west coast. They are now a unit of BP and do not market lubricants anymore.

I tried the graphite oil in a Chevy pickup and had no problems except for black stains on the driveway. It seemed to find a seal leak that didnt exist with other oils.

 

[ArBee]

I used Arco Graphite in my old '75 VW Dasher. The little 1471cc four would wind like crazy with that stuff in it, or so it seemed to me then. And yes, it was vile stuff to work with, and I think it was rather thin.

 

[Jimbo]

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Originally posted by y_p_w:
... I was told Arco (maybe BP?) owns several tanks loaded with refined gasoline shipped from Alaska and pumped at the dock off of San Pablo Bay. There are several refineries (Flint Hills, Tesoro) in Alaska, so it could have been from one of those. I don't think BP has any refineries near the West Coast, and they would require California Phase II gas anyways. ...

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BP has two refineries on the west coast, Cherry Point WA and Carson CA. Both were ARCO facilities. No BP refineries exist in Alaska.

While it would make a good Anglo-French story, Valero is not part of Total-Fina-Elf. Total is probably part of a marketing agreement. Shell and Texaco used to market gasoline and lubricants through a joint venture, Equilon. They never merged. Valero has aquired Ultamar Diamond Shamrock and a couple of Mobil refineries and others to become the largest refiner in North America.

The Unocal 76 story is more complicated than Equilon. Unocal sold the 76 brand, refineries, gas stations and lube business to Tosco. Tosco was aquired by Phillips and Conoco aquired Phillips, forming ConocoPhillips. Unocal is a crude producer that is being aquired by Chevron with a competing bid from a Chinese oil company.

 

[y_p_w]

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Originally posted by Jimbo:

quote:

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Originally posted by y_p_w:
... I was told Arco (maybe BP?) owns several tanks loaded with refined gasoline shipped from Alaska and pumped at the dock off of San Pablo Bay. There are several refineries (Flint Hills, Tesoro) in Alaska, so it could have been from one of those. I don't think BP has any refineries near the West Coast, and they would require California Phase II gas anyways. ...

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BP has two refineries on the west coast, Cherry Point WA and Carson CA. Both were ARCO facilities. No BP refineries exist in Alaska.

While it would make a good Anglo-French story, Valero is not part of Total-Fina-Elf. Total is probably part of a marketing agreement. Shell and Texaco used to market gasoline and lubricants through a joint venture, Equilon. They never merged. Valero has aquired Ultamar Diamond Shamrock and a couple of Mobil refineries and others to become the largest refiner in North America.

The Unocal 76 story is more complicated than Equilon. Unocal sold the 76 brand, refineries, gas stations and lube business to Tosco. Tosco was aquired by Phillips and Conoco aquired Phillips, forming ConocoPhillips. Unocal is a crude producer that is being aquired by Chevron with a competing bid from a Chinese oil company.

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Cool. I wasn't sure about the Arco deal. Perhaps the Arco fuel is shipped or pipelined to Richmond. Or maybe some of the Arco trucks actually get their fuel from Chevron. The 76 brand name is a bit strange these days. Some of our local 76 stations are clearly marked with "ConocoPhillips" while others aren't. As a resident of Contra Costa County, California, I'm quite familiar with the names Equilon and Tosco. The former Equilon (now Shell) refinery in Martinez comes up in the news whenever there's a plant accident. I used to drive by the former Pacific Refining (then Tosco) refinery in Hercules. The name came up prominently in local traffic reports. Now it's been turned into housing.

http://www.thelynottgroup.com/hercules.htm

 

[Volvohead]

I only recall a couple of rumors that it had clogged the lands on a few poor running engines. But they were exactly that - rumors. I never saw an engine that was harmed by it. I sort of liked the stuff, even though I felt it was a little too thin for the engines I was running at that time. And it DID stain, big time. If you had a leaker on unpainted concrete, I'll bet the stains are STILL there. I think the "change the oil when it looks dirty" crowd had a real problem with it.

That was an interesting time: Arco Graphite, Mobil 1 and 25K OCIs, the widespread use of 10w-40 oils, and unleaded fuels. And then we had Xerex self-sealing antifreeze (the pink stuff), with all those holes they punched in the bottle.

 

[Ugly3]

I used Arco Graphite for years in a `74 Vega and a `79 Camero. I found it to be an excellent oil for my purposes. I was also running 5w30 in the winter here in Chicago.

The story I liked was about a motorcycle that ran Arco Graphite from the breakin on. After 38,000 miles the bike was not running with the power it should have had. They tore it down and found it had not broken in yet. They switched oils to a regular dino and ran 10,000 miles, the power came up and they switched back to Arco Graphite.