Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana COTM FEB 07..White and Bagley Company " Oilzum "

first off i would like to thank Doc for the banner... great work as always. second... any input, pictures and comments from you all would be appreciated. so... with that out of the way... lets go !!!.

White and Bagley.... Oilzum ... truly one of the most collected brands of oil. everybody loves that logo and more on that later but first a little history. F.W.White and H.P.Bagley established their small company in 1888. at white and bagleys worcester offices, the founders of the company and their little staff tackled the basic lubrication problem: to develop a practical motor oil of uniform quality with a long service life and good protective properties. a series of basic motor oil formulae were developed by white and bagley during the years when the automobile was changing from a scientific curiosity to a reliable road machine. at the turn of the century, the proud and affluent owners of new england's first unpredictable horseless carriages began to call on white and bagley for "gas engine cylinder oil". as years went by and cars appeared in greater numbers on the unpaved roads, a young, new market for motor oil arose. but there were pitfalls for the motorist: more often than not, the oil bought at blacksmith shops and corner stores was inferior, unbranded, of uncertain quality. to overcome this, in 1905, white and bagley created one of the very first brand name motor oils, oilzum. carefully produced to a high standard of quality, oilzum took the risk and guesswork out of lubrication. the familiar oilzum kid trademark became a fast friend of the early motorist. alot more history later... right now... lets see what you got !!!!!!.

outstanding collection by "jerry" of pete and jakes hot rod parts.... photos used by permission...

All the Oilzum 5 qts known -I think -the pennsylvania and Vita Film are the rarest


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Wanted 5 quart cans

[This message has been edited by 5 quart (edited 02-03-2007).]

very nice don !!!!... i believe thats all the variations.... anybody else ????????

Well, I only have one Oilzum quart. I reallyenjoy seeing them. C'mon guys there has to be more out there to share.



LARRY

thanks larry.... one or one hundred and one.... doesn't matter... lets see whats out there....

[This message has been edited by chadhaas (edited 02-04-2007).]

This railroad bridge in Worcester , Mass. with Oilzum logos was painted over in 1989 after decades advertising the oil.



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Jim "Oldgas" Potts
Your host and moderator

[This message has been edited by Oldgas (edited 02-04-2007).]

thanks guys !!!.... lets keep it going.... small company... BIG collectible...

[This message has been edited by kmann (edited 02-07-2007).]

5 QUART:



5 GALLON:



~DOC

thanks doc.... nice early stuff !!! .. appreciate the post... KEEP EM' COMIN'...

[This message has been edited by kmann (edited 02-09-2007).]

[This message has been edited by kmann (edited 02-09-2007).]

Here are a few more Oilzum cans from the Oldgas Oil Can Album .

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Jim "Oldgas" Potts
Your host and moderator

THANKS BIG JIM !!!

courtesy of aumanns auctions...

more from aumanns....

Sorry I didn't post these a while ago but I just took them this weekend. These are pictures of our friend Bob's Oilzum collection in Connecticut. He asked us to post these for him




Spare tire cover




Early Felt Pennant

Heres a few more from the same collection.

absolutely beautiful !!!!!.... thanks for posting....

The black one was found first in an antique mall. After following up and asking the seller where they bought it, the seller told our friend there was another one but it was a little different!!!!

And Finally here are some GREAT cans.



This is a brass bracket that held the square one gallon can to the running board on an early automobile.



These cans feature the "Bucktooth Kid". This is the earliest Oilzum logo. It came before the standard logo we are all familiar with.

great cans is an understatement !!!!... awesome !!!... never saw that steam engine cylinder oil before... got to be one of the first.... also... never saw the curb sign with the white background other than rich amistadis book ... beautiful !!!

[This message has been edited by kmann (edited 02-12-2007).]

assorted blotters

so.....a little more history! Herbert P Bagley followed the rise of the automobile with special interest. when racing became a national sport - and a priceless proving ground for new ideas in car design and operation - he decided to develop special racing oils. In 1906 he had his first success. Race driver Fred Marriott pushed an Oilzum-lubricated Stanley Steamer to the unheard-of-speed of 127 miles an hour at Ormond Beach, Fl - a new world's record. But, Herbert Bagley still had work to do. Bearing failures and engine seizures caused by improper lubrication were still too common in the races of the period. A new kind of oil had to be developed....and, it was!
The first order of "Crystal Oilzum" was shipped in 1912. A special racing blend, it gained immediate favor with Barney Oldfield, Jimmy Murphy, Tommy Milton, Eddie Rickenbacker and other great drivers of the time. In the Indianapolis 500-Race, Crystal Oilzum has been used in more winning cars than any other oil.
More history later....post 'em if you got 'em.

Few more pics of some cans

nice stuff there my friend... thanks for posting !!

Chuck...here's the only Oilzum item I have, finally got around to taking pics:

thank you gulfman... appreciate!!

with all due respect for gmstuff's post, i just had to pump this pic up... what a great early oilzum can !!!!....

Only one of these I've ever seen. Must not have cleaned too many hands. Ted


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Ted Pam & Ethyl Roach
Lodi CA.
Looking for Signal, Hancock, Mohawk, Douglas, Gilmore and Richfield

[This message has been edited by troach (edited 02-26-2007).]

Some cans of mine. Ted

Vita film all metal the hardest one to find.

Americas Finest Oil all metal.

Pennsylvania all metal

Motor Oil all metal.

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Ted Pam & Ethyl Roach
Lodi CA.
Looking for Signal, Hancock, Mohawk, Douglas, Gilmore and Richfield

Some more of my cans.

Motor Oil all metal orange and white

All metal later can.

Composite and last of my Oilzum cans. Ted

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Ted Pam & Ethyl Roach
Lodi CA.
Looking for Signal, Hancock, Mohawk, Douglas, Gilmore and Richfield

nice ted !!! .. and i/we appreciate your post. so..... maybe just a bit more history.
Through the years, friends and customers have often said that they think of "Oilzum" as another name for "quality". White & Bagley is very proud of this high reputation among car owners, fleet operators, engineers, mechanics, and race drivers.
White & Bagley concentrates on lubricants. The products of other companies include gasoline, kerosene, fuel oil, diesel fuel and many other petroleum products in addition to lubricants; but White & Bagley specializes in lubricants only. This means that time, energy and thought are devoted exclusively to the production of better lubricants. With excellent facilities for research, production and quality control; with an up-to-the-minute plant and laboratory; and, above all, with a close-knit staff of many years' experience, White & Bagley is well-equipped to produce fine lubricants.
Many dealers have sold Oilzum Motor Oil for forty years or more. This record of loyalty is the result of customer satisfication, sound company policies, and direct contact between customers and the company.
Oilzum lubricants were distributed through a system of exclusive dealerships that would include sections of a city, or in the case of smaller communities, the entire town. White and Bagley claimed that this system allowed them to provide a greater return on promotional advertising for the individual dealer. This exclusivity may explain why many of the Oilzum advertising pieces were of exceptional high quality and thus prized by collectors today.
The Oilzum retail locations were fore-runners of the Quick Lub stores that became outdated when the local gas station eliminated the service bay in favor of selling soft drinks and junk food. Sidewalk signs were placed outside to attract the motorists attention and they continue to attract the attention of the collectors today. sooooo... the parting shot will be how the logo developed and where oilzum is today... till then... lets see some more pics !!!....

o.k.... the wrap up... white and bagley was sold in 1987/1988 to dryden oil. the manufacturing facility, in worcester,was promply demolished. however... the brand is still alive today. dennison lubricants holds the oilzum name and markets the oil. as far as the logo.. it was adopted in 1905 as the oilzum kid or bucktooth boy, a cartoon childlike face. this logo was only used for three or four years. this led to the logo maturing into "oswald" the chauffer.. not the early race car driver as most people think he is. so... there it is. its been fun doing this and i want to thank everyone who participated.

Great job Kmann, thanks to you and all the contributors!

Tok likes COTM

Great job. Thanks Kmann and all who contributed!

Way to go Kmann! I enjoyed it a ton. I wish I had dome of that stuff!

thanks guys.... i appreciate it... it was a fun thing to do although alot of information i found was contradictory... just had to sort it out and do the best i could. i got to thank my redhead sue for typing the history... with my typing skills i think it might have been finished in july. ALSO... AND AGAIN... thank you for those who participated. with out participation you got crapola.

Sorry to bring up this old post BUT I for one would sure love to see these pictures...is it time for a new Oilzum COTM thread again! Its been 7 years..

You start it...I've got some stuff.

yeah... I miss the COTM threads. can we nominate someone to start it again each month?

Yeah all the pics on this thread are gone. I'd give cotm a shot but my knowledge isn't as much or enough as others that could do it.

I nominate Bryce.

^^^that is one corner of your building I do not think I've seen pictured yet. wow. and look at that chicken wing - pristine!

I'll shoot some pics tommorrow. Lets keep the thread going. Ray..I do love that corner of the barn. Can I rent that space and add a bed? Maybe paint an Oilzum headboard...lol

Are you people kidding???????????

Shawn worked his A$$ off for close to 2 years; to get the COTM going again... AND in the end only a handful of Members helped him....

When I did my COTM on Tide Water and Associated... I actually got PMs... Telling me that no one was interested in the History or the items I was sharing... That the real interest on Oldgas was what were items worth now? Not what the History was behind the items or the Companies...

Instead of waiting on others, why not just start a thread on the Company that you are interested in? But, do some research and give a History along with images of the items you have...

John, that is the problem... Too many on Oldgas... Keep waiting for "the other Guy" to do all the work... Do some research, work a little... Scott, Wayne, Jack, Craig (the poorman's museum) and a few others that are escaping my poor memory; have all written books(in some cases many books) about the Petro Hobby... In ALL CASES, one hell of a lot of research was done by them... They didn't wait, for the other guy to do it for them...

We all know that a number of Members here, have written numerous articles (you included John) on the Petro Hobby... They all have had to do more than a little research, to make those articles as complete and factual as possible...

A number of very knowledgeable Members have left Oldgas... Some because of death, some because of life's challenges, others because they didn't/don't feel that they fit in on Oldgas anymore...

Hundreds of years worth of knowledge, that used to be shared on Oldgas on a daily, weekly, monthly basis is now gone...

There are many Members on Oldgas; both "New" and "Mossback" that have knowledge to share... But, until the Membership actually proves that they are interested in the History of this Hobby, instead of what the "resale value" of items are... More and more of those with knowledge are going to drift away!

if the research & work is the issue... then why not just start a COTM thread that simply acts as a showcase to some of the items people have out there? maybe simplifying it will be the ignition that it needs to get started again?

Bob, I can't speak for everyone but I know I always enjoy reading the history behind an item and images. Although I have never been a COTM host, I always contributed with images (when I could) and always looked forward to the next COTM thread. It was one of my favorite threads in the past. It's sad that it never kept flight. It's unfortunate that you feel that ALL the "younger" or newer generation of this hobby is only concerned about the $$$. I can't speak for everyone...but I for one am not. There are a few diehard Oilzum fans on this site (some of which) wern't on this site when the Oilzum COTM thread aired back in 2007, myself included. I would love to have seen this thread in it's entirety.

As someone that's been there, done that, I agree whole heartedly with Bob's post.
It took a very dedicated group of people to do those Pump, Sign, Globe, Quart, Container, Collectible, Company and the rest of the of the month, and of the week features we did back in the day. For the most part the people that made those features successful no longer post on here.
To do those features, and do them well (that's the key),takes a tremendous amount of time.

Here are some more photos..some already seen in the wanted section thread.. some newly aquired items. Keep em coming!

more

more

more

Wow! - Eric you have a remarkable collection.

Ray

more

Very, very nice, Eric!

Eric, I'm impressed- thanks for sharing...

Thanks Bob for sticking up for me. I tried to keep it going for as long as I could but at the end of the day if members don't contribute the threads die, and that's what was happening. Also with the birth of my son I just got real busy to be honest. As I have said from the beginning anyone who wants to host it for a month to keep cotm go for it. Bob and a handful of others stepped up and did just that. To me the history of these companies is just as important as the photos.

This is a fantasy globe but it is still cool.

Thanks guys.. Matt I agree very cool globe. Been wanting to do a pump up in Oilzum.

Very nice stuff guys. I've been away from the computer quite a bit the last couple of weeks but was just reading all the discussion on COTM and other monthly special series. I for one really looked forward to those monthly threads and really miss them when they fall by the wayside. A good example of the education we can glean from these threads is the Oilzum pump that Matt posted with the fantasy globe. I've got a few Oilzum cans but was never really into the brand that much. I didn't even realize that there was an Oilzum gasoline! I thought I had pretty much seen every pump brand but this one slipped by me. With the colors and the unique logo, an Oilzum pump restoration would be a beautiful piece. Just a simple post of an item and a short reply from a knowledgeable member can offer untold benefit to those just browsing through a thread. I will be happy to help keep the monthly series of threads going if I can and will try to contribute from my modest collection and even more meager background of knowledge on subjects that I know. Keep it up everybody!.....GB

OILZUM was a motor oil, There was Never OILZUM Gasoline












[img]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk169/nonox8/Oilzum%20collection/OILZUM030.jpg[/img]

I didn't think there was an Oilzum gas but I miss a lot at my age.....

Rick I always love when you bust out photos of that collection...awesome.

Here is a pretty recent picture of my Oilzum stuff