Shell diesel

My father bought a new Austin A40 tourer in 1951 because you could get one quicker than anything else. It was way slower rhan the 500 Norton it replaced but definitely a comfort upgrade.

Roger
The A40 was the best selling car in Australia in 1950. Had a reputation for short ring life if driven hard.
 
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Standard 1950's practice, pull the head off every year or 10,000 miles and decarbonize. When Ion Idress travelled to WA and back in a 203 in 1950 the first thing the owner did on return to Sydney was to pull the head off. After all it had 15000 miles on the clock. The A40 was heavier than a 203 but out performed it except for top and cruising speed. Those long stroke British engines had a high piston speed and weren't at their best in fast highway cruising.
 
Given the roads of the time 40 mph was probably considered fast enough. Good little cars, David McKay drove one in the first Redex to be second in class behind Tubman and everyone loved Winifred Conway in her A40 tourer. Her strategy was to leave well enough alone and never lift the bonnet, it was only asking for trouble.
 
The standard for the fuel component of premium is identical to normal. Both are covered by it by law, and both fuel types have identical combustion characteristics. The standard applies to all brands.

Premium additives are the magic secret ingredients of the individual oil companies, but we know that they include detergents, anti-foaming agents and corrosion inhibitors. None will improve firing.

I normally fill at Shell and Liberty. I prefer the latter because of price. The car performs exactly the same on these. The purpose of marketing is to encourage you to feel a difference.
Where does Liberty source their fuel?
Many moons ago I worked for Shell, back in the days when they had their own tankers and drivers. When the Gateway Bridge was about to open (with a toll charge for use) there was talk of filling the shell tankers from the Ampol terminal to save on toll charges. This didn't happen, but we all know that there are only so many actual fuel companies, and that our service stations will be filled from one of the nearest fuel terminals, despite the sign outside the service station. Yes/No???
 
Liberty is a bit vague - they do the best deals they can with Australian refiners (still a few) and importers. It may even be derived from Australian crude, whether refined here or in Asia. Liberty wholesale is owned by Viva Energy so Viva probably is the main supplier

It gets complicated - when you look up Viva, who owns the Geelong refinery and lots of servos - Shell, Coles Express, and some Liberty too.

Then it gets very complicated - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitol
 
Ah with our driving "horizon" extended from a 5km radius to a glorious 25 km radius, this puts Cosco Epping in range and I needed some tins of Coffee and a big tub of vegemite :love:(y) so decided to go out and see the price of Diesel, I had seen letters complaining about fuel increasing in price by 30 cents a liter when restrictions were lifted, and I am halfway through the 20 liter reserve I purchased 3 months ago. Filled the tank with just under 40 liters at 104.7 cents a liter for Diesel and that seemed reasonable. Gave it a squirt down the Freeway to clear the cobwebs too..:)

Ken
 
Fuel is so anonymous.
It is all the same stuff. The rest is marketing bull..t. At one time I drove petrol tankers for a living, refilling underground tanks at petrol stations. Depending on what brand I was delivering, I simply changed the signage on my truck to read Shell, Caltex or whatever.
 
Yes, my supply agent changed from Shell to Caltex but his tanker still fills from the same tank at the refinery.
 
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