It depended a bit on what brand you bought. When I was driving my 51 Merc with the flathead in high school as long as the pump said "gas" on it it ran just as well on the cheap stuff as it did on the spendy stuff. My 55 Buick with the Super engine in it (Special with an engine swap) was another story. It wanted premium and was a bit picky about who's premium at times. It sure didn't run worth a hoot on my grandfather's farm gas.
It also depended on what rating system you use to get the numbers. they've changed over the years...used to be a Motor number, and Research number, and the modern numbers are an average of the two.
In 1968, I was a young man of 21 years of age;I bought a 68 Plymouth Road Runner from a dealer in Temple.Texas;paid $2842.80 driveout. Super Shell 104 octane was $0.25 per gallon. Nobody cared your Road Runner, 396 Chevelle,Pontiac GTO, etc got 10-12 mpg; nobody cared!!!
Premium 100 to 110 octane, Regular 92-92.. However, this was due to a very dangerous lead additive.. I think todays gasoline is better so long as the engine was built around the octane to be used.. Remember pulling plugs at least once a week to clean the lead deposits off them or they would short and screw the timing up..
This is very close. I worked for Standard Oil in the late '60s/early 70s and IIRC Chevron (regular) was 93, Chevron Supreme was 99, and Chevron Custom Supreme (white pump) was 105. These numbers could vary from place to place and even season as the mixes were semi-tailored to local conditions. These were all research octane numbers, not the lower motor octane.
If you were pulling plugs once a week to clean them it was way too rich or burning oil. Exactly how does a fouled plug change the ignition timing? Answer: It can't.
I remember pulling my '55 Chevy into the Sunoco station and filling the tank with 260. It kept the 301 running strong.
and had 8 seconds to respond to bell going off or you were fired, all for a buck an hr. and closed the station down 6 days a week at 12 pm......... but did get to use the racks after work for my own use that was worth the min wage gig............
I pumped alot of gallons after school from one of those at the Sunoco station. At the other end of town was the Texaco with Fire Chief regular and Sky Chief high test. In the center of town was the American station and they had the little circles that spun around when the gas was pumped. Any regular was$.26 a gallon.
Although I have never heard of this issue i think he was referring to the deposits causing issues with the spark because of the electrical conductivity of the lead. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
B/A station in small town Canada mid sixties, regular was 88 hi test was Super 98. I always thought that was the octane. Blue Sunoco 103 octane. All gas was leaded back then, we also sold naptha gas for blow torches, coleman lanterns and stoves, it had no additives.
I thought I read Amoco sold unleaded back in the day? By that I mean long before TEL was banned for automotive use. I wish they still sold "White Gas" for stoves and lanterns, it's well north of $12 a gallon now. Why, I'm not sure, it's 50 octane first cut Naptha with no additives. Seems like it should cost less than auto gas, at least wholesale.
I was talking about the gas stations I worked at, I don't think they sold Amoco around here. Unleaded gas was a new thing in the 70s, they had special pumps for it at first.
Amoco white gas late 60s early 70s was about 100 octaneby the method they used then (motor I believe). No lead, but there was another additive that wasn't too good for us either, however it didn't foul plugs. It was the recommended gasoline for 2 stroke engines, as it had adequate detonation/ping resistance, and as 2 strokes didn't need the TEL to protect valves and seats it was good for most purposes. Add a little Fuel Activator to boost octane for racing snowmobiles (well a lot actually, a whole bottle per 5 gallons...) and good to go.