Check out the lubricants specs for '42-'47 Chevys...

[jtantare]

maybe somebody should try the "10-W plus 10% Kerosene"

Does 10w and 20w mean the same thing today as it did 60 years ago?

 

[Matt89]

I agree with Spector on how "maintenance intensive" cars used to be.

Of course they probably could/would do half of that stuff for you when you were getting gas at a 'full service' station

 

[pscholte]

quote:

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One day people will nostagically look back at lubrication in 2005. I wonder what they will think?

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It will go something like this. "Great-grandpa, what was motor oil like back in 2005? I'll bet it was pretty primitive." Great-grandpa: "Yes, Johhny, but there was one oil...oh, it was a marvel...glowed green or gold like the fuel in today's Hypersonic Transdrives...some say it was made by Elves...GC we called it...now THERE was an oil!"

 

[wlkjr1951]

That site has some very interesting reading.
I can remember the days when a car with 70,000 miles was considered worn out. I don't think long commutes were the order of the day either.
Us country folk also had dirt roads to contend with. I can still remember getting into those old cars and smelling the dusty smell of the interiors.
A man I knew that owned a service station had a 66 Jeep wagon and he changed the oil every 1000 miles. Not only have the oils changed dramatically in the last 50 or so years, so have materials and the manufacturing processes and skills, not to mention our lifestyles.

 

[Alan]

I like the 10W as the factory fill part myself.