A Short History Of Motor Oil Brands

Edwin Drake was the first person to strike oil in America. His world-famous well was drilled in Titusville, Pa, a small town located in Crawford County Pa. His innovative method of drilling for oil using an iron pipe not only caused a "black gold rush" but also placed him in the books of oil industry history.

Drake was hired to drill for Seneca Oil Co, but met with little success. He used a steam engine to power an iron pipe drill he invented. Most of his chosen drilling sites yielded only trace amounts of oil. Meanwhile...he endured fires, financial setbacks, and the heavy ridicule of the locals.  With little to show for their investment, the Seneca Oil Company gave up on Drake and withdrew his funding. Drake was determined, and obtained a personal line of credit to continue drilling. On August 27, 1859, Drake struck oil at 69 feet below ground, just before his funds ran out. This is considered the "first large-scale commercial extraction of petroleum".

Unfortunately for Drake, his success would not last. He had secured a limited number of oil leases in the region, and after his discovery, the oil industry exploded all around him, outside of his control. Sadly he never patented the drilling method he pioneered, which worked so well, it quickly become the standard method of drilling. He went on to loose the balance of his modest earnings from the oil business, speculating on Wall Street.

Annual domestic output of crude swelled from 2,000 barrels in 1859, the year of Drake’s “discovery,” to 10,000,000 barrels in 1873

Petroleum jumped from the sixth most valuable US export to the second most valuable during this period. At the peak of the oil boom, Pennsylvania wells were producing one third of the world’s oil.

But 1892 was the last year that Pennsylvania wells provided a majority of the oil produced in the US, and in 1895, Ohio surpassed Pennsylvania as an oil producer. By 1907, the decline of the Pennsylvania fields and the great discoveries made in Texas, California, and Oklahoma, left Pennsylvania with less than 10% of the nation's oil production.

One of the first products offered for sale from was motor oil and gasoline (which was originally a by-product of the refining process and was considered waste) until the automobile came along. Oil on the other hand was needed for lubrication for all types of machinery, and kerosene for lighting. So that lead to the founding of various oil companies many of which are still in business today. Here are a few...

The Sun Oil Company began in 1886 as the Peoples Natural Gas Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, its partners decided to expand their gas business with a stake in the new oil discoveries in Ohio, and Sun Oil diversified quickly, active in production and distribution of oil as well as processing and marketing gasoline. By 1901, the company was incorporated in New Jersey as Sun Company and turned its interest to the new Spindle Top field in Texas.

Wolf's Head motor oil dates back to 1879 and was one of the original oil brands in Pennsylvania. Pennzoil acquired the company in the early sixties. When Shell bought Pennzoil they sold the Wolf's Head brand to Amalie Oil in Tampa Florida.

Pennzoil was never Pennsylvanian. It was founded in Los Angeles, California in 1913. In 1955, it was bought by South Penn Oil, a former branch of Standard Oil. In 1963, South Penn Oil merged with Zapata Petroleum, and during the 1970s, the company moved its offices to Houston, Texas.

Quaker State Motor Oil is an American brand of motor oil produced by SOPUS Products, a division of Royal Dutch Shell, and the successor of the Pennzoil-Quaker State Company.

Amalie Motor Oil founded in Franklin, PA, in 1903 by the Sonneborn brothers. It was one of the original "Pennsylvania Crude" oil companies. Amalie was quick to develop a steadfast reputation for high-quality, well-engineered petroleum products. In 1953, Amalie was the first oil company to introduce a multi-grade motor oil: Imperial 10W30.

Kendall Motor Oil…. 3 partners witnessed an 1875 oil well gusher, and decided to go into business together to establish a refinery.

In 1881, they established the first oil refinery in Bradford Pa., a business-deal that has kept the oil town prospering for over a century. The Bradford Oil Refinery remains the oldest functioning petroleum refinery in the world. In 1902, the Penn Lubricating Co. purchased the refinery.

In 1913 was the incorporation of the Kendall Refining Company, which became the first producer of motor oil to extend oil change intervals from the average 500 miles, to the greatly improved 2000 miles.  The Bradford Refinery, which was later renamed the Kendall Refinery was sold to the Witco Chemical company in 1966, and produced both the Kendall and Amalie oil lines.

Phillips Petroleum Company was founded by Lee Eldas "L.E." Phillips, and Frank Phillips of Bartlesville Oklahoma, on June 13, 1917. The new company had assets of $3 million, 27 employees and owned land throughout Oklahoma and Kansas.

After discovery of Texas's huge Panhandle gas field in 1918 and the Hugoton Field to its north in Kansas, the Phillips Company became increasingly involved in the rapidly developing natural gas industry. In particular, the company became specialized in extracting liquids from natural gas, and by 1925 was the nation's largest producer of natural gas liquids.

 In 1927, the company's gasoline was being tested on U.S. Highway 66 in Oklahoma. When it turned out that the car reached the then breakneck speed of 66 mph, the company decided to name the new fuel Phillips 66

(I know there is some controversy over how the Phillips 66 came about...some same say the 66 was the octane rating of the gasoline, some say it was because they were testing on U.S. Highway 66, but the 66 mph story came from the Phillips Company, and they should know better than anybody.)

Phillips was the second oil company to introduce multi-grade motor oil in 1954 (The first was Amalie). Such motor oils were designed to be used year-round in automobile engines, as opposed to single grades for which different grades of motor oils were recommended to meet weather variances.

Phillips sold gasoline in Canada's western provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan under the name Pacific 66 until the late 1970s. In 1966, Phillips entered the United States West Coast market by purchasing Tidewater Oil Co.'s refining

In 1967, Phillips became the nation's second oil company, after Texaco, to sell and market gasoline in all 50 states, by opening a Phillips 66 station in Anchorage, Alaska.

Gasoline for automobiles was first sold at local hardware stores, it was quite an innovation when stand alone gasoline stations came along. Early automobiles required lots more maintaince and repairs and the gasoline or "filling station" was the logical place to have that work done.

It was convenient for the customer and met more profit for the station owner. We have come along way from those early days where the gasoline station only sold gasoline and oil and offered full service. Today's modern stations that sell groceries, snacks and beverages of all kinds, but no service work and no fixing of flat tires. The younger generation has no idea what they missed out on...