From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Letter from a lubricant supplier regarding the appropriate oil for engine preservation during storage.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 144\1\ scan0304 | |
| Date | 20th January 1940 | |
| JWGB/VHG. PRICE'S LUBRICANTS LIMITED, BELMONT WORKS, BATTERSEA, LONDON.SW.11. 20th January, 1940. To: Messrs. Rolls-Royce Ltd., DERBY. YOUR REF: Hd{Mr Hayward/Mr Huddy}/Sd3/MW17.1.40. Dear Sirs, We have your letter of the 17th Instant, and note your reference to an occasion when we have recommended or supplied Olympia L for filling up a car destined for storage. We recall an occasion when we did supply Olympia L for this purpose, but cannot at the moment trace particulars. It is our recollection that the customer asked for a supply of pure mineral urgently required, and we thought it best to supply an oil without argument. Unless we are mush mistaken it was a customer who was already familiar with our Olympia grades. Olympia Motor Oil "L" is a pure mineral; it is specially recommended and widely supplied for commercial vehicles, and will be perfectly safe for storage purposes in a motor car engine. We should add that whilst there has been a case where we have supplied Olympia L to meet a specific request for a pure mineral, there have been several occasions where we have advocated the use of Motorine. We have not the slightest hesitation in preferring Motorines which contain fatty oil to Olympia, which is a pure mineral, for engine preservation, and it is our intention to continue to advise motorists to use Motorines in cars laid up. As bearing on this preference which we have for a compound oil for protection against rusting and other damage to metal surfaces, we would refer you to a paragraph which has appeared in the Press this week to the effect that anti-aircraft guns which were put into storage after the last war have lately been put into commission again without apparently the slightest depreciation through long keeping. It is on record that these guns have been preserved by the use of a mixture of tallow and vaseline. There could hardly be a more convincing argument in favour of the use of a proportion of fatty material for preservation of ferrous surfaces against -continued- | ||