Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Kendall Logo Change

Hi All. I'm hoping someone will have the answer to a question I've had for some time. It involves the Kendall 2 finger logo change. The early logo had a very graphic & detailed hand illustration, while the later logo has a somewhat generic or simplistic design. You Kendall guys will know what I'm talking about. Can anyone tell me when the change occurred? Possibly why?
Thanks for any help you can provide.

Sometime in the very early 70's appears to be when Kendal made the change. The first quart cans to show the more modern look are from around '70-'73 although I'm not completely certain of this so someone correct me if I'm wrong here. Like most companies in any industry, keeping a fresh modern image with updating of logos has always been a practice......not always for the better in my mind. Sometimes the old logos are so graphic that over time, they become more and more costly to produce on modern items as prices to produce those items continue to become more costly. Advertising after all, isn't cheap these days.

I would say 70s. Although I think they used the 2 finger logo on a smaller scale like on cans.

This is only a guess but the 2 finger symbol was to remind you to change your oil every 2,000 miles which was the practice at that time. As longer life oil & engine improvements came that changed.

Kendall also avertised themselves as the "asked for motor oil".
Many gasoline brands didn't allow there dealers to have other brands of oil on the island display rack. So a customer would have to ask for Kendall which the dealer had to keep inside the station.

Dave

The 2 fingers logo was exactly that, a representation and reminder of the 2000 mile oil change rule. The logo stuck even though in time, the amount of time between changes increased with better grades of oil.