Hi everyone! As requested by Vmow here are a few pictures of my rarer or more interesting lawn mower fuel or oil cans! I am sure you will like these Jack!
I hope I got these pictures right... its been a while :p
This one is a Pace Lawn Mower oil can from around 1956-1957. This would have been the first type of Pace oil can.
One of my person favorite brands is Morrison's, so I was very happy to find this Morrison's Lawn Mower oil, dating from the late 1930s pop up on eBay about 2 years ago.
This one isn't a can, instead its a New old stock Castrol 2-stroke oil measuring chart, which would have sat on an oil bottle in the mid 80s. At the moment I am still looking for the plastic 2-stroke Castrol top for this chart to sit on.
I will try to get some more pictures tomorrow night for you all I have some more Rover cans and a Scott Bonnar-Flymo can. I also have some hard to find Cream Separator tins which I am sure you will love to see!
I just noticed the Esso can. Brings back memories of our local Esso servo that later became a Mobil in the 80s. Wouldn't it be amazing if Esso re-entered the Aussie market after such a long absence.
Last edited by Mowerfreak; 26/04/1809:32 PM.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
The marketing of fuel is a fascinating subject. I am convinced it is linked to a broader subject of the automobile and how allegiances to brands were historically marketed.
The even bigger picture was, and is, about ... FREEDOM. Automobiles enable it; fuel facilitates it. We crave it!
I'm glad the World has moved on from fuel marketing of the 20th century. Fuel simply conforms to set standards. Forget the BS.
This takes nothing away from the romance of fuel marketing last century. Kye's Collection reminds us of those earlier times. Brilliant!
Put a tiger in your tank. ------------------------------------ Jack
p.s. My eyes still focus, and are attracted to, the Castlemaine fuel can.
We are lucky to have images of the Turnbull Collection.
I have heard our P.M regularly rides public transport, but never knew he was into mower memorabilia. He really is relatable to the everyman for a multi millionaire prime minister who has a mansion in Point Piper!
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
You are correct about the Morrison's Jack! Its a bit hard to read in the picture I took so I will type it below.
"In order to obtain best results, first clean the bearings and oil holes. An old toothbrush dipped in kerosene will readily remove old dirt. Apply oil using oil can. After first application, rotate moving parts so that oil will circulate. After second application mower is ready for use."
Morrison's was marketed towards farmers or people in rural areas, so my guess is the contents of this tin was made for the larger sickle-bar mowers as you suggested. The tin also states that Morrison's makes Motor oil and Axle grease, I would kill to find those tins!!! I've seen one Axle grease tin, but never a motor oil!
Also Jack, We can't ignore Castlemaine!! Dad has about 5 Castlemaine/XXXX signs in the make shift shed at the moment. When the real shed is built They will all be put on display, if the shed is ever built :p
The original style of metal caps are the things that I personally find hard to obtain. I posted about caps some time ago but my thread did not receive a single reply.
Some of the caps come in so many different sizes, I have some that are around 2cm across, and others around 7-10cm across. Plastic caps are usually the go if you need a lid. Check out the local dump or ask around on some local buy swap and sell pages, there are usually a couple people with empty tins that they are willing to give away. Take the lids off, and there you go! Chuck them onto yours and your sorted.
G'day everyone I was browsing through the forums and found this thread about fuel cans so I thought i'd take a picture of an old Shell Fuel Can that i've kept in the shed since new. It's not really a vintage as such maybe a classic. I bought it back around 1995 or so from the local Shell servo here to mix up some 2 stroke fuel to mow the lawns.
The only reason I didn't throw it out was because of the picture of the V8 supercar on the can. It has [Censored] Johnson's Ford Falcon EF supercar on the can. Shell was a major sponsor of [Censored] Johnson racing back in those days. You don't see fuel cans like these ones anymore.
Cheers!
Last edited by Converse; 30/01/1911:12 AM.
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
Since then I have managed to get my hands onto the correct pourer to match my 1980s 2-stroke mixing chart. The 2-stroke version is actually really hard to find compared to the normal 'Castrolite' or 'Castrol XL' versions.
I have also found this cool little 70s BP EZIMIX bottle. The larger 1 Litre version is easy to find, I haven't seen many of the little kind however. It appears to have a Victa VC on the back too, adding to the cool factor.