Chemical Compounds was an important division of The Studebaker Corporation in the early 1960s: They manufactured the world-renowned STP Oil Treatment. That product was so well-known at the time that it brought a good cash cow to Studebaker's table and enabled the corporation to have considerable presence at The Indianapolis Motor Speedway when that venue was critical to any automotive marketing.
Automotive elixirs were nothing new, of course.
January 21, 2009 was a terrible winter day in Indianapolis. Nonetheless, fellow SDCer and good friend Mike Parker flew to Indianapolis from California retirement that day for a joint mission to which neither of us were looking forward...but, only two weeks later, were so happy to have undertaken: Driving 300 miles from Indianapolis to Mike's home town of Rockford IL the next day to see a long-time mutual freind, yet another fellow SDCer, Ronnie Powell.
Ronnie was gravely ill on oxygen and his passing was deemed imminent. Mike and Ronnie had been good friends forever, from high school days in Rockford, that Mike wanted to return and see Ronnie "one last time." So did I. It proved prescient: We had a wonderful visit with conversational, fully-lucid Ronnie Powell the next day: January 22. Ronnie then passed away peacefully 8 days later, on January 30, 2009.
While running around bitterly-cold, snowy Rockford after seeing Ronnie, we visited an old friend of Mike's who had just bought a big old garage full of long-stored items from a fellow who had been in the service station business in Rockford in the 1950s and 60s. Among the items rescued were maybe a dozen unopened cases of glass bottles. The boxes were stenciled with the shipping date 12/26/1951.
Each box contained a dozen bottles of an elixir identified as Moto-Vim, "The Motor Vitamin"
The guy had so much of the stuff Mike and I were each offered a case, but Mike had to pass. He was flying back to California the next day from Indianapolis, and glass bottles of this size and unknown contents would have likely set off every security device within five miles of Indianapolis International Airport!
I didn't know what I'd do with a whole case, but gladly accepted two bottles from one of the sealed cases he opened while we were there.
I've removed the cap from one of these and taken a whiff. Even though the liquid is more than 60 years old, I strongly suspect it is about 95% kerosene with some coloring and happy odors mixed in, along with trace elements of who-knows-what.
One side of the label instructions would have us believe you might want to use it in a new car, to desludge an old crankcase, or even to rejuvinate your starter or generator!
The other side of the label, meanwhile, leaves no doubt as to the benefits of using the product as directed during a comprehensive tune-up:
It certainly is good to know it will "stop oil pumping cylinder if not egg-shaped," among other things. Undoubtedly, their lawyers insisted on that disclaimer.
(Yeah, right; as if they would have had any lawyers reviewing this product's marketing claims!)
Methinks Studebaker could have saved the entire cost of the supercharged R2 engine program if they had just put STP Oil Treatment in the crankcase of an ordinary 225/289 engine, as they were doing anyway, and augment that with a bottle Moto-Vim in the initial gas tank fill...with instructions for a bottle to be poured down the carburetor during new-car pre-delivery prep.
Those were the days...."Why drive a sluggish car?"
BP
Automotive elixirs were nothing new, of course.
January 21, 2009 was a terrible winter day in Indianapolis. Nonetheless, fellow SDCer and good friend Mike Parker flew to Indianapolis from California retirement that day for a joint mission to which neither of us were looking forward...but, only two weeks later, were so happy to have undertaken: Driving 300 miles from Indianapolis to Mike's home town of Rockford IL the next day to see a long-time mutual freind, yet another fellow SDCer, Ronnie Powell.
Ronnie was gravely ill on oxygen and his passing was deemed imminent. Mike and Ronnie had been good friends forever, from high school days in Rockford, that Mike wanted to return and see Ronnie "one last time." So did I. It proved prescient: We had a wonderful visit with conversational, fully-lucid Ronnie Powell the next day: January 22. Ronnie then passed away peacefully 8 days later, on January 30, 2009.
While running around bitterly-cold, snowy Rockford after seeing Ronnie, we visited an old friend of Mike's who had just bought a big old garage full of long-stored items from a fellow who had been in the service station business in Rockford in the 1950s and 60s. Among the items rescued were maybe a dozen unopened cases of glass bottles. The boxes were stenciled with the shipping date 12/26/1951.
Each box contained a dozen bottles of an elixir identified as Moto-Vim, "The Motor Vitamin"
The guy had so much of the stuff Mike and I were each offered a case, but Mike had to pass. He was flying back to California the next day from Indianapolis, and glass bottles of this size and unknown contents would have likely set off every security device within five miles of Indianapolis International Airport!
I didn't know what I'd do with a whole case, but gladly accepted two bottles from one of the sealed cases he opened while we were there.
I've removed the cap from one of these and taken a whiff. Even though the liquid is more than 60 years old, I strongly suspect it is about 95% kerosene with some coloring and happy odors mixed in, along with trace elements of who-knows-what.
One side of the label instructions would have us believe you might want to use it in a new car, to desludge an old crankcase, or even to rejuvinate your starter or generator!
The other side of the label, meanwhile, leaves no doubt as to the benefits of using the product as directed during a comprehensive tune-up:
It certainly is good to know it will "stop oil pumping cylinder if not egg-shaped," among other things. Undoubtedly, their lawyers insisted on that disclaimer.
(Yeah, right; as if they would have had any lawyers reviewing this product's marketing claims!)
Methinks Studebaker could have saved the entire cost of the supercharged R2 engine program if they had just put STP Oil Treatment in the crankcase of an ordinary 225/289 engine, as they were doing anyway, and augment that with a bottle Moto-Vim in the initial gas tank fill...with instructions for a bottle to be poured down the carburetor during new-car pre-delivery prep.
Those were the days...."Why drive a sluggish car?"
BP
We've got to quit saying, 
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