Fill it up... with Ethyl

[chainblu]

I remember as a young child in the 60's, my dad would sometimes ask (or was asked) for Ethyl gasoline at the filling stations. Looking back, my first thought was Ethyl was an early attempt at gasohol, but Google quickly informed me that it was the addition of tetraethyl lead to the fuel.

What I can't seem to find on Google is - What were the other options? Was 'non-ethyl' gas simply unleaded gas before unleaded became a thing?

 

[kschachn]

"Ethyl" was used as a generic term for the higher octane gasoline. Most stations had two grades, regular and "ethyl". Some stations had additional octane grades.

In common use it was irrespective of the presence of TEL because at the time you're asking about, nearly all gasoline had the additive except for "white gas". Once in a while a blender or refinery would market an unleaded gasoline for vehicle use but it was not common. TEL was just too good at raising the octane rating and wasn't very expensive.

If you drove into most filling stations and didn't ask for ethyl then you got regular. And nearly always it contained TEL.

 

[2005jettatdi]

I remember as a young child in the 60's, my dad would sometimes ask (or was asked) for Ethyl gasoline at the filling stations. Looking back, my first thought was Ethyl was an early attempt at gasohol, but Google quickly informed me that it was the addition of tetraethyl lead to the fuel.

What I can't seem to find on Google is - What were the other options? Was 'non-ethyl' gas simply unleaded gas before unleaded became a thing?

There was regular and high ethyl, high octane premium gasoline back then. Both had the tetraethyl lead as anti-knock compound in them. Then we got to the point where you had a choice of unleaded, regular or premium. If your car had a catalytic converter you had to use unleaded only.

 

[shortyb]

As a very young kid, my grandparents owned a small roadside general store in Black Mountain NC, that sold Gulf branded fuel. Remember they had just 2 pumps, regular and super. Both had a sticker that said it contained tetraethyl anti-knock compound for better performance. I do remember both had a very distinct, strong odor. Oh, and regular was $.29 a gallon and super was $.32 per.

 

[b4autodark]

As a very young kid, my grandparents owned a small roadside general store in Black Mountain NC, that sold Gulf branded fuel. Remember they had just 2 pumps, regular and super. Both had a sticker that said it contained tetraethyl anti-knock compound for better performance. I do remember both had a very distinct, strong odor. Oh, and regular was $.29 a gallon and super was $.32 per.

We must be about the same age (74). Many times my Dad said to me " Here's a 50 cent piece, grab the gallon can and run down to Tony's Garage and get a gallon of regular for the lawn mower, you can get a candy bar for yourself and one for your brother and don't forget to give me my dime back when you get home."

30 cent gas and nickel candy bars. . . . those were the days.

 

[Wrenchturner44]

Amoco was the first major brand to become all "lead free" in 1986.

 

[spasm3]

We must be about the same age (74). Many times my Dad said to me " Here's a 50 cent piece, grab the gallon can and run down to Tony's Garage and get a gallon of regular for the lawn mower, you can get a candy bar for yourself and one for your brother and don't forget to give me my dime back when you get home."

30 cent gas and nickel candy bars. . . . those were the days.

The average yearly income in 1960 was around $3-6000.00

 

[Propflux01]

I remember “regular”, “premium”, and “ethyl”. Ethyl was the highest octane. All had TEL.
Smelled good, too!

 

[loneryder]

We must be about the same age (74). Many times my Dad said to me " Here's a 50 cent piece, grab the gallon can and run down to Tony's Garage and get a gallon of regular for the lawn mower, you can get a candy bar for yourself and one for your brother and don't forget to give me my dime back when you get home."

30 cent gas and nickel candy bars. . . . those were the days.

When I was in college in NC, for .25 you could get a beer or a gal of gas or a pack of cigs. For $2 I could fill up my vw bug, get a pack of cigs and go to the bar on Fri nights. circa 1970

 

[k1xv]

i got my drivers license in New Jersey in 1964. At that time, stations either had two or three grades of gasoline. All, except for Amoco premium, had tetraethylead, (TEL) so, technically, they were all "ethyl".

By 1971, I was an engineer working at a Exxon oil refinery. We made three grades of gasoline, regular, "plus", and premium. Environmentally sensitive consumers began wanting a gasoline with less lead content. So Exxon decided to make the Plus grade a 'low lead" blend. However, this was all smoke and mirrors, as it actually resulted in more lead entering the atmosphere from tailpipes.

Why was that? Because TEL in gasoline was the most expensive component. The first unit of volume added gave a good octane boost. But the second yielded a smaller octane boost, and the third unit even less. A 'diminishing return" situation. And consumers using regular and premium started to notice a greater incidence of lead fouling of spark plugs.

this was because, to lower the lead in the "plus" gasoline, better octane distillates had to be diverted from the premium and regular blends. To bring those blends back up to the octane spec, the amount of TEL in those blends had to be approximately doubled.

As a result, to blend all three grades, including the low lead grade, the total TEL we blended into gasoline went up by about 35%. The TEL came in by railroad car. TEL was made by Ethyl Corp and DuPont

 

[Pablo]

Back when siphoning gasoline was a spectator sport.

I'm not sure why, but I wasn't doing the pulling. Nor was my brother. We may be the only ones from the hood who made it out.

 

[benjy]

OH YES .19 a gal for no name-SPUR gas + coupons for glassware, dad used amaco white gas in his coleman lantern for fishing!!!

 

[97prizm]

I remember as a young child in the 60's, my dad would sometimes ask (or was asked) for Ethyl gasoline at the filling stations. Looking back, my first thought was Ethyl was an early attempt at gasohol, but Google quickly informed me that it was the addition of tetraethyl lead to the fuel.

What I can't seem to find on Google is - What were the other options? Was 'non-ethyl' gas simply unleaded gas before unleaded became a thing?

Apparently leaded gas came about as Buick and Cadillac had upped the compression on their engines to make more power. The downside was all of the sudden drivers started getting terrible knocking. Without hardened valve seats, and computers manufacturers needed gasoline that would work.

 

[Kira]

.

 

[Chris142]

If Ethel don't mind.

 

[CoachRoss07]

If Ethel don't mind.

Exactly where my head went when I saw this thread.

"Fill it up with ethyl".

We all know that ol slant 6 wouldve taken regular happily lol.

 

[shortyb]

If Ethel don't mind.

Dang Chris, thought that was gonna be something like this:

 

[Oldwolf]

I remember filling up my Volkswagen beetle for $3 plus some change. I also remember filling up my 5 gallon gas can for my lawn mower for $2 and some change. I cut a lot of yards back in the day.

 

[2005jettatdi]

Exactly where my head went when I saw this thread.

"Fill it up with ethyl".

We all know that ol slant 6 wouldve taken regular happily lol.

Two things I thought of as I watched; 1. That car would run just fine on regular gas, 2. The attendant did not set the nozzle to keep filling.

Three things, that was a great movie.

 

[CoachRoss07]

Two things I thought of as I watched; 1. That car would run just fine on regular gas, 2. The attendant did not set the nozzle to keep filling.

Three things, that was a great movie.

I noticed that too....along with not showing the driver of the truck getting out. Wait. That was just part of the movie