#94501
Tue Oct 03 2006 05:31 AM
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1
Veteran Member
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OP
Veteran Member
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1 |
 HI EVERYONE! IT'S 'DOC" AND I'M FILLING IN THIS MONTH FOR "GASOILDUDE" WHO COULD NOT PRESENT HIS SCHEDULED COTM FOR PERSONAL REASONS. I WAS GONNA DO QUAKER STATE, BUT THEN REALIZED THAT I DID IT ALREADY BACK IN FEBRUARY....SO THERE WENT MY "EMERGENCY" COTM FEATURE. SO NOW I'M GOING TO FLOUNDER THROUGH THIS MONTH WITH A FEATURE ON CASTROL. I JUST NEED TO DO SOME RESEARCH AND GET IT GOING! HOPE MANY OF YOU CAN HELP ME OUT HERE WITH PICTURES OF YOUR COLLECTIONS AS WELL AS ANY HISTORY ABOUT THE WAKEFIELD/CASTROL OIL CO. THANKS! ~DOC.TAG.WEST COTM OCT 'O6 AUTHOR AND CO-HOST!
DOC @ THE AMERICAN GARAGE
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Please - NO offers to Buy or Sell in this forum category
Statements such as, "I'm thinking about selling this." are considered an offer to sell.
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#94502
Tue Oct 03 2006 05:37 AM
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1
Veteran Member
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OP
Veteran Member
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1 |
HISTORY IN A NUTSHELL:
Burmah Castrol traces its roots back to two companies founded towards the end of the 19th century - Burmah Oil Company Limited which was registered in Edinburgh in 1886, and CC Wakefield & Company which was formed in 1899 and head quartered in London.
Burmah (spelt this way by the Victorians and retained as such ever since) had its roots in oil exploration and production in Burma and in a company founded by Scotsman David Sime Cargill. The first two decades of its existence proved so successful that by 1909, when the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later to become BP) was founded, Burmah Oil was able to purchase 90% of the shares. Subsequently Burmah retained 26% of the stock following the British government's decision for strategic reasons to acquire a majority interest in Anglo-Persian during World War One.
By the 1920s Burmah was a fully integrated exploration, production, refining and marketing operation. In 1938 Burmah began a major exploration programme in Burma and India with BP and Shell. This partnership lasted until 1949. World War Two rocked Burmah's stability and many of the company's assets were destroyed. But post-war recovery proved swift and by 1962 the acquisition of Lobitos Ltd. brought the company to the UK. The following year BP and Shell attempted a joint takeover of Burmah which was repulsed. Three years later, in 1966, Burmah entered the North Sea and was the first company to find evidence of oil there.
CC Wakefield (named after founder Charles "Cheers" Wakefield) specialised in selling lubricants to the railway, marine, colliery and textile industries. Early in the 20th century it introduced motor oil followed soon after by oils for motorcycles, aeroplanes and racing engines. In 1909 it launched the Castrol brand name. From the outset Wakefield regarded advertising and publicity as vital to the success of the company and Castrol-backed drivers, riders and aviators quickly provided a high profile.
After World War One Wakefield opened branches in India, Australia and the US. By 1939 the company was trading across Europe, North America, Asia and southern Africa. During World War Two the company's founder died, its manufacturing plant in Liverpool was bombed, it supplied all three British armed services with critically-needed oils and lubricating equipment and it was also floated on the London stock market in 1943.
Following the war, Wakefield experienced a decade of firsts in the 1950s including the first fully synthetic lubricants for passenger jet engines. But by the early 1960s cars were needing fewer oil changes and competition in the lubricants market was growing. In response The Castrol Group (as the company had been renamed in 1960) diversified into complementary activities including metals treatment, plastics production and the manufacture of waterproofing compounds, anti-corrosion materials and joint fillers. The cost of this expansion proved high as did the development costs of the new products. In need of cash, Castrol accepted a takeover bid by Burmah Oil in 1966. Subsequently the new company expanded rapidly.
DOC @ THE AMERICAN GARAGE
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#94503
Tue Oct 03 2006 05:42 AM
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1
Veteran Member
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OP
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1 |
MORE HISTORY IN A NUTSHELL...
In 1974 the oil market collapsed and the price per barrel of oil rose 400%. Burmah Oil Company ran into serious financial difficulties and had to be rescued by the Bank of England in 1975 at the cost of its shareholding in BP, then valued at £178 million. It was not until 1980 that shareholders again received a dividend. Throughout this period Castrol continued to trade profitably and launched many new products including Castrol FX (an oil designed to reduce fuel consumption) in 1979.
The 1980s saw a period of rationalisation and acquisitions which increased the range of products and services marketed by Burmah Oil. New subsidiaries were opened in many parts of the world. Geographic expansion continued in the 1990s with the focus on lubricants and chemicals following a successful £270 million hostile takeover bid of Foseco plc, a speciality chemicals company, in 1990. During the decade ground breaking products were introduced such as Castrol GTX Magnatec with molecular attraction properties and Castrol SLX a zero viscosity product giving unprecedented levels of fuel efficiency.
Throughout its history Castrol has had a high marketing profile, in part thanks to its association with pioneering achievements in aviation, motorsport, motorcycling, powerboat racing, rallying and land and water speed record attempts. World land speed records have been set by Castrol-lubricated cars for more than 80 years. In the 1930s Castrol-lubricated planes smashed a succession of long-distance flying records. More recently Castrol-lubricated and sponsored vehicles and teams won world speedway championships, Formula 1 Grand Prix drivers and constructors championships, and world rally and world motorcycle titles throughout the 1990s.
DOC @ THE AMERICAN GARAGE
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#94504
Fri Oct 06 2006 11:55 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 185
Petro Enthusiast
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Petro Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 185 |
Burmah-Castrol was puchased by (then) BP-AMOCO (now just BP) in 2000.
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Jim Hinds
Columbus, Indiana
Jim Hinds
Columbus, Indiana
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#94505
Mon Oct 16 2006 10:44 AM
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1
Veteran Member
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OP
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1 |
C'MON YOU GUYS!....NONE OF YOU HAVE ANY CASTROL STUFF????
THIS THREAD NEEDS SOME IMAGE HELP! LOL!!
THANKS!
~DOC.TAG.WEST
DOC @ THE AMERICAN GARAGE
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#94506
Mon Oct 16 2006 01:06 PM
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 23
Member
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Member
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 23 |
  Thanks for doing this great feature on Castrol! Here is a Castrol oil can display from old Europe - I have posted it before when I got it. I have just painted the base since it was quite rusty - I wanted to keep the rest as it is since it does have its own character. And I have restocked it with some good stuff...
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#94507
Wed Oct 18 2006 04:22 PM
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1
Veteran Member
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OP
Veteran Member
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1 |
THANKS, STEVE FOR THAT AWESOME DISPLAY CABINET! --------------------------------------------------------- HERE ARE SOME BOTTLES: 
DOC @ THE AMERICAN GARAGE
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#94508
Wed Oct 18 2006 09:46 PM
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,251 Likes: 88
Veteran Member
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Veteran Member
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,251 Likes: 88 |
Here is a nice heavy 24 inch double sided porcelain sign that was used in Canada at various stations in the 40's... 
Wanted early tin litho signage.
petro, farm, auto, etc.
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#94509
Fri Oct 20 2006 08:33 AM
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,377
Veteran Member
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Veteran Member
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,377 |
Some small oil can banks.  The one on the right is European.  [This message has been edited by wfort39663 (edited 10-20-2006).]
Bill Fortune
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#94510
Thu Oct 26 2006 10:00 AM
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1
Veteran Member
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OP
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VARIOUS SAMPLES OF CASTROL BOTTLE SPOUTS:   ~DOC.TAG.WEST YOUR C.O.T.M. OCTOBER 2006 HISTORIAN!  [This message has been edited by THE AMERICAN GARAGE (edited 10-26-2006).]
DOC @ THE AMERICAN GARAGE
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#94511
Thu Oct 26 2006 05:36 PM
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1
Veteran Member
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OP
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1 |
DOC @ THE AMERICAN GARAGE
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#94512
Thu Oct 26 2006 05:40 PM
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1
Veteran Member
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OP
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Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1 |
DOC @ THE AMERICAN GARAGE
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#94513
Thu Oct 26 2006 05:45 PM
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1
Veteran Member
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OP
Veteran Member
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1 |
WHADDAYA KNOW!..... .....MORE CASTROL CANS!     THANKS! ~DOC.TAG.WEST
DOC @ THE AMERICAN GARAGE
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#94514
Mon Oct 30 2006 05:08 PM
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1
Veteran Member
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OP
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1 |
A COUPLE BILLBOARD SIGNS...ACTUALLY PAINTED BRICK WALLS ON BUILDINGS...... 
DOC @ THE AMERICAN GARAGE
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#94515
Wed Nov 01 2006 06:13 AM
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1
Veteran Member
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OP
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Posts: 12,110 Likes: 1 |
DOC @ THE AMERICAN GARAGE
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