Sunoco oil in glass bottles?

[ToyotaNSaturn]

This will be auctioned off at Mecum auctions this weekend. Perusing through the list, I found this item.

Never knew oil was sold in clear glass bottles!

http://www.mecum.com/auctions/lot_detail.cfm?LOT_ID=OH1110-101333&entryRow=217

 

[saberz]

Thats nifty, I bet they didn't do it for long though. Nasty clean up jobs if one of those broke lol.

 

[Jimmy9190]

I learned from watching American Pickers that years ago, inn the 20's and 30's that is how oil was packaged and sold, in the glass bottles with rubber funnel-spouts. One of the guys on the show is an oil can/oil memorabilia collecting nut. He said the bottles are worth less without the spout, and crate and the whole lot of 6 is worth more with the wire crate and being a complete set of 6.

The bottles in the pic look to be in great shape. Probably worth a few hundred bucks to the right collector. I myself wouldn't mind having a few vintage Quaker State or Valvoline oil cans for my garage.

 

[tpattgeek]

Too bad they're empty or ridgerunner would've used it on his wife's Grand Am...

Nice pic BTW

 

[Elmogus]

you "young-uns" wouldn't remember these----these were used pre 1960 at real "service" stations. Oil wasn't actually sold to consumers in these containers. These were filled from 55 gallon drums, and were put on the racks at the gas pump island. When you were getting gas, the service man would actually check you oil, and, if you were low, he grabbed one of these to top you off.
Ah....those were the days.......17 cents per gallon (and they pumped it!)

 

[uart]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
I learned from watching American Pickers that years ago, inn the 20's and 30's that is how oil was packaged and sold ...


This is how oil was sold at garages (service stations) up until at least the 1980's in some places. Basically the idea was that you filled up your petrol and and checked your oil. If you were low on the dipstick then you (or the attendant) put a bottle of that stuff in. They were usually just whatever bulk oil the garage was using. Mostly the customer would have no idea what brand or viscosity it was, you just put it in.

The bottles themselves weren't sold like that, usually just the oil they contained. In other words they were really nothing other than convenient carriers for selling bulk oil to customers. Most places then (as now) also had plastic bottles (or in earlier times, metal tins) of oil if you needed it "to go".

Edit : Elmogus just beat me to the punch.

 

[REDDOG]

I actually have one of those oil bottles that belonged to my grandfather. My mother said he was quite particular about such things. After my grandmother died and the family was going through things my mother saved me his oil bottle. Wonder why she thought of me, lol. I'm going to clean it up some and will always keep it. To me it is priceless.

 

[tinmanSC]

Originally Posted By: Elmogus
you "young-uns" wouldn't remember these----these were used pre 1960 at real "service" stations. Oil wasn't actually sold to consumers in these containers. These were filled from 55 gallon drums, and were put on the racks at the gas pump island. When you were getting gas, the service man would actually check you oil, and, if you were low, he grabbed one of these to top you off.
Ah....those were the days.......17 cents per gallon (and they pumped it!)


Haha! Awesome! That explains the big spout. It would be odd to have that in the store, at least in my opinion. Seems more apt for service station equipment. Thank you for sharing this.

 

[kballowe]

I'd go in early every morning and fill those bottles from a 55-gallon drum of bulk oil. We had quart bottles and we had pint bottles. We used a lot of pint bottles.

Customer drives up and says "gimme two dollars worth". You start the pump and wet the windshield then start scrubbing the bugs... keeping an eye on the pump.

"Check that oil sir" ??? "Sure"

Pull dipstick, wipe and reinsert then pull and show dipstick to customer. "Hmmm, half a quart low, eh.. better gimme half a quart".

Hahahahaha - biggest scam in the business. They'll ALWAYS show at least half a quart low when you've just shut the engine off.

 

[Kestas]

Originally Posted By: Elmogus
you "young-uns" wouldn't remember these----these were used pre 1960 at real "service" stations. Oil wasn't actually sold to consumers in these containers. These were filled from 55 gallon drums, and were put on the racks at the gas pump island. When you were getting gas, the service man would actually check you oil, and, if you were low, he grabbed one of these to top you off.
Ah....those were the days.......17 cents per gallon (and they pumped it!)

Elmogus......

 

[webfors]

That's old school for sure. Very cool.. thanks for the pic!

 

[mechtech2]

Looks like Kayo bottles.

 

[Papa Bear]

Originally Posted By: Elmogus
you "young-uns" wouldn't remember these----these were used pre 1960 at real "service" stations. Oil wasn't actually sold to consumers in these containers. These were filled from 55 gallon drums, and were put on the racks at the gas pump island. When you were getting gas, the service man would actually check you oil, and, if you were low, he grabbed one of these to top you off.
Ah....those were the days.......17 cents per gallon (and they pumped it!)


I was just about to post the same thing. When I worked at the local White Rose gas station in the late 50's/ early 60's the top rack of our oil shelves had those bulk oil glass bottles.
I used to let the empty bottles and cans drain into a barrel and that was what I used to change my oil in my 51 Ford.
Here's a pic of the station ....

 

[Hootbro]

Originally Posted By: Elmogus
you "young-uns" wouldn't remember these----these were used pre 1960 at real "service" stations. Oil wasn't actually sold to consumers in these containers. These were filled from 55 gallon drums, and were put on the racks at the gas pump island. When you were getting gas, the service man would actually check you oil, and, if you were low, he grabbed one of these to top you off.
Ah....those were the days.......17 cents per gallon (and they pumped it!)


17 cents a gallon? Think you memory is a little fuzzy Grandpa.

As around the late 1950's and early 1960's was 30 cents and with inflation factored in, would be about $2.25 in today's money. Not all that cheap back then either and given fuel economy, you paid out a lot more back then for gas. Gas was only 17 cents on average around 1930.

 

[KieferS]

this thread is proof this site is not about "saving money" and "not getting on the ground in the winter"

this site is about fanaticism for oil

 

[Jason8691]

If you can pick those up for a decent price you should, those glass oil bottles with the labels on them are worth a fortune. Ive seen them for $75 for just one at flea markets.

 

[JayhawkRoy]

While the overall national average might be correct at .30 per gallon, I clearly remember the gas wars of 1961-1963 or so, where lowest price for gas was .189 for a time period (Fayetteville, NC). My recollection was this was a nationwide gas war between major brands. A year later, gas was more like .299.

Gasoline has always been a pretty good bargain, overall, in the US, no doubt about that.

For my high school years, gas ran about .289 to .319 for regular between 1965 to 1969.

I also remember one gas station in Springfield, MO carried re-refined oil in bottles until about 1970. Only place in town that did that at the time.

 

[beanoil]

Originally Posted By: Hootbro
Originally Posted By: Elmogus
you "young-uns" wouldn't remember these----these were used pre 1960 at real "service" stations. Oil wasn't actually sold to consumers in these containers. These were filled from 55 gallon drums, and were put on the racks at the gas pump island. When you were getting gas, the service man would actually check you oil, and, if you were low, he grabbed one of these to top you off.
Ah....those were the days.......17 cents per gallon (and they pumped it!)


17 cents a gallon? Think you memory is a little fuzzy Grandpa.

As around the late 1950's and early 1960's was 30 cents and with inflation factored in, would be about $2.25 in today's money. Not all that cheap back then either and given fuel economy, you paid out a lot more back then for gas. Gas was only 17 cents on average around 1930.


I was born in 1960. I remember (vividly) hanging with my older brother one day when he filled his 65 VW Bug. This would have been 1968. It was 17.9 per gallon at the local FINA station. There was a gas war going on with the Conoco ( Hottest Brand Going!)across the street. He filled the bug for 2.00 and change.

 

[RTexasF]

I also remember gasoline in the 17-19 cents range in the 1960's. Texaco 100 octane was 25 cents per gallon for those that had to run premium. I'd say hootbro owes Grandpa an apology for popping off.....and maybe a few others here as well.

 

[ridgerunner]

Originally Posted By: tpattgeek
Too bad they're empty or ridgerunner would've used it on his wife's Grand Am...

Nice pic BTW


HEY I resemble that remark! Ya know what fella's, I have one of those Sunoco glass bottles, with spout and... it is 1/2 full of very old oil! Wonder what I can do with that? Hmmmmm... anyone want to pony up the $ for a VOA?