Wolf's Head Oil?

rrupert wrote:

Born To Travel wrote:
I use Wolf's Head Super Duty in my Chevy 454 Rv.. The reason I do is when I used to be a school bus maintenance supervisor years ago, we used this oil in all our buses and when we had to remove an intake manifold they would still be clean inside after 100,000 plus hard miles..This is what sold me on this oil.. Also drag racers used to use this oil as it was the best you could buy...

You probably knew Chuck that ran the Wolf's Head distributor business in Mercer. He was a good friend of our family.

I used to go there and Buy Wolf's Head 50 weight aircraft oil for my old Harley.. Also remember the plant in Rouseville and the tanks in Reno were they stored the oil...

rrupert wrote:
It's Pennzoil in the Wolf's Head can. I live near where the Pennzoil and Wolf's Head refineries were, Oil City, PA. After the Wolf's Head refinery shut down Pennzoil pumped their oil down the road about four miles and filled the cans after that. Now they are both gone and Pennzoil moved to Texas. So if you like Pennzoil you should be good with Wolf's Head. I haven't seen it sold here for a long time.

Interesting thanks for the info!

This article about Wolf's Head was in this morning's Oil City Derrick,

" Posted: Thursday, May 15, 2014 3:00 am | Updated: 4:45 am, Thu May 15, 2014.

By JUDITH O. ETZEL Staff writer

The history of Wolf's Head Oil Refining Co., plus a wealth of anecdotes related to its oil refinery at Reno, was the topic of an Oil City Heritage Society program Tuesday at the Venango Museum in Oil City.

Established as Empire Oil Works in 1879 at Reno, the refiner of Pennsylvania Grade crude oil took the name Wolf's Head in 1941 and remained independent until bought by Pennzoil in 1963. When refining operations ceased there in 1977, the plant was putting through about 1,500 barrels of oil a day.

"It really had good management and its product was excellent. That's why a small refinery was able to last so long," said Ron Campbell of Reno, a retired Wolf's Head/Pennzoil employee who presented the program. "We made oil the old-fashioned way. It was a neat place to work."

The Wolf's Head product line was extensive and included "oil from 10 weight to 70 weight, racing and marine oil, specialty oils, gear lubes and more," Campbell said. Over the years, the containers earmarked for the refinery changed from tin cans to composite cans and eventually to plastic bottles.

Oil, lubes and gasoline were marketed with distinctive advertising campaigns that included "Finest of the fine since 1879,""The uncommon motor oil" and "Run with the Wolf," said Campbell. Wolf's Head was the supplier of choice to Pan American Airways and its oil was used exclusively to break in the military's Flying Fortresses and B-29s during World War II."

There was more to the article but this section was of more general interest.

Born To Travel wrote:
I use Wolf's Head Super Duty in my Chevy 454 Rv.. The reason I do is when I used to be a school bus maintenance supervisor years ago, we used this oil in all our buses and when we had to remove an intake manifold they would still be clean inside after 100,000 plus hard miles..This is what sold me on this oil.. Also drag racers used to use this oil as it was the best you could buy...

You probably knew Chuck that ran the Wolf's Head distributor business in Mercer. He was a good friend of our family.

rgatijnet1 wrote:
Wolf's Head oil company has been around since the 1880's or a few decades before Pennzoil was started.
The important part is if the oil in the can meets the required specs for your engine.

That's right!

Wolf's Head oil company has been around since the 1880's or a few decades before Pennzoil was started.
The important part is if the oil in the can meets the required specs for your engine.

I use Wolf's Head Super Duty in my Chevy 454 Rv.. The reason I do is when I used to be a school bus maintenance supervisor years ago, we used this oil in all our buses and when we had to remove an intake manifold they would still be clean inside after 100,000 plus hard miles..This is what sold me on this oil.. Also drag racers used to use this oil as it was the best you could buy...

I'd be more concerned with it's API Rating then who made/canned it

I bought Wolf's head ATF. My local NAPA and auto mechanic say it's pretty good.

rrupert wrote:
It's Pennzoil in the Wolf's Head can. I live near where the Pennzoil and Wolf's Head refineries were, Oil City, PA. After the Wolf's Head refinery shut down Pennzoil pumped their oil down the road about four miles and filled the cans after that. Now they are both gone and Pennzoil moved to Texas. So if you like Pennzoil you should be good with Wolf's Head. I haven't seen it sold here for a long time.

I just did a little research and found that Shell bought Pennzoil and in turn sold Wolf's Head to Amalie which was also a local refinery but was shown to be in Tampa,Florida. It was a fine product once upon a time but have no idea about it now.