Aren't "Distillates, petroleum, solvent-refined heavy paraffinic" group 1? I see that in some of the synthetic blends in small amounts, even SP rated ones.
From the post:Out of curiosity, and since you have possibly dated yourselfwhat was the standard weight of oil that Joe Anybody would be running in their plain as white bread Ford Pinto or the likes back in the mid-70's? 10w-30 or 40 I assume?
Found this old thread about 5w-30's introduction which also touched on the issues with 10w-40's...
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/when-did-5w30-first-come-out.59456/
Ha! This thread, entirely based on a counterfactual understanding of the world, went on for a long time after you closed it!!! BITOG folks really know how to make something out of nothing.
Yes a 5W, there were other 5W winter rated oils in existence.
Small amounts, maybe.
The can on my shelf says allows 25k miles between oil changes, helps start engines at -35F, provides excellent hot weather performance, keeps engines cleaner, reduces engine wear and outperforms premium 10w-40 motor oils.
I guess it comes down to what you mean by high performance. In my view, a two-liter, DI, turbo engine producing more than 260 horsepower is high performance, and there are a bunch of them from Germany, and a couple from England and Italy that are perfectly able to safely (safely to the drivetrain) blast down the Autobahn at 150 MPH using X W 20.
It does the job well.
I remember growing up in the seventies how awesome the M1 ads were, and how I was hopeful that one day I would be in a position to use this elite, "from the future," product. Their advertising was top notch. It's amazing that, while still great, it is now just one of many solid synthetic choices, and has a gazillion variations. I thought about this when I topped up the family chevies with Texaco 10W30 from the cardboard can.
