Distinctive motoring `sniffs`

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Wed 7 Apr 2010 22:23
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - oilrag

Well you do sniff at some motoring things, don`t you? ;-)

Duckhams Q20/50 stood out as really different to other motor oils at the time I had a Mini van in 68. Not just in it`s green colour but it also smelt great. Wonder why? - I certainly don`t notice anything attractive about the smell of Mobil 1 currently.

Wonder if it was a youth thing. Too long in chalky classrooms perhaps, only a couple of years before and experiencing `motor` related smells for the first time.

Of course it could be the nose `goes off` as years advance - but without a can of Q around to peel back that silver strip - who knows?

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Wed 7 Apr 2010 22:36
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - BorisTheSpider
I remember, an old university professor who taught organic labs told us we should be able to distinguish different organic solvents by smell. TBH not sure I can distinguish oils though.

Boris
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Wed 7 Apr 2010 22:58
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - johnny

Swarfega. Probably the same colour as Duckhams too. Haven't seen it since my dad used it in the 70's. Does it still exist in the same form?

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Wed 7 Apr 2010 23:51
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - bathtub tom

Gunk, on a hot engine. Even better if it's a two-stroke burning 'R'.

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Thu 8 Apr 2010 03:34
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - billy25

Dead decaying crabs in your inner panels!!! once sniffed never forgotten!!

(i know i`ve mentioned crabs and cars in another thread! funny how some things mark you for life! - i fished for crabs in those days, now i use crabs to fish!!!)

Edited by billy25 on 08/04/2010 at 03:34

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Thu 8 Apr 2010 09:08
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - Cliff Pope

Duckhams 20/50, Swarfega and Gunk all still exist.

I'd also add:

EP 90 oil

Old leather

Mould

Damp wooden door frames

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Thu 8 Apr 2010 09:58
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - Clk Sec

The unique and unwelcome smell of a bone dry radiator on a day trip to the seaside.

Clk Sec

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Thu 8 Apr 2010 10:06
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - Armstrong Sid

My dad had a motorbike and sidecar in the early 1960s.

Getting into the sidecar on a sweltering hot sunny day was always a revelation. A combination of heated plastic/leather from the seats; the stale stagnant air from just being stationary for hours; feint whiff of oil from the bike engine; that smell from my dad's motorbike gear; the curious smell of the fabric roof of the sidecar (canvas?).

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Thu 8 Apr 2010 10:25
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - bathtub tom

>>Duckhams 20/50, Swarfega and Gunk all still exist.

As does Castrol R40

www.castrol.com/castrol/sectiongenericarticle.do?c...y**=9014107&contentId=7027099#7094387

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Thu 8 Apr 2010 10:39
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - DP

The smell of a hot motorcycle engine in a garage, a few minutes after a hard run is almost as enjoyable as the ride itself. I will often return to the garage a few minutes after parking the bike up, and just breathe deeply, listening to it ping and tick to itself as it cools. A lovely aroma of hot oil, mixed with just a tinge of petrol and uncatalysed exhaust that you just don't get from the plastic entombed, cleansed, and sanitised mechanicals that power a typical modern car.

Edited by DP on 08/04/2010 at 10:40

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Thu 8 Apr 2010 13:54
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - apm

I'd add a 350LC or powervalve coming past and leaving that wonderful aroma of burnt two-stroke oil. Mmmmm!

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Thu 8 Apr 2010 22:11
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - oilrag

STP used to look so good coming out of the can that it seemed you could spread it on bread, or perhaps put it on your porridge.

I think it had a metallic smell too -- but that`s really pushing the memory as it was 45yrs ago.

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Thu 8 Apr 2010 22:26
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - johnny
Nothing I wanted more than a STP sticker when I was 13. No idea what it was, just that rally cars always had them. Still don't know what it does.

Does anyone else like the smell of tyre fitting shops?
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Thu 8 Apr 2010 22:52
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - bathtub tom

We used to play a game called 'saddle sniffing' in my teens.

I won't go into the details!

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Thu 8 Apr 2010 22:58
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - Sofa Spud

Castrol R was probably the most distinctive smell I remember - from when I went to vintage car meets at Silverstone as a boy.

Also the 2-stroke petrol / oil mix my grandfather used in his Atco lawnmower.

EP90 is one motoring smell that I really don't like though, it makes me feel ill.

Another thing I remember is that while neither diesel fumes nor stale tobacco smell nice on their own, when mixed together, like you used to get on buses, they smelt nice.

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Fri 9 Apr 2010 19:16
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - SteveLee

A friend of mine used to like Hylomar blue so much, everytime he used it he would put some on his finger, give it a loving sniff then eat it - god knows what that stuff did to his insides or whether he's still alive! He must have eaten a fair few tubes in his time!

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Fri 9 Apr 2010 19:24
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - SteveLee

I avoided Castrol R due to it guming up the engine requiring frequent stripdowns for cleaning, My favorite tipple in my good old Suzuki GT380 was Sikolene 2T. lovely smell and no frequent stripdowns to degum as a bonus!

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Sat 10 Apr 2010 08:05
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - oilrag

Steve, When we were kids and went fishing for Tench in Pontefract park lake - one friend used to eat the bait (fish `paste` - a small jar) and also used to warm maggots in his mouth....

The rest of us were never that keen...

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Sat 10 Apr 2010 21:05
Distinctive motoring `sniffs` - notathletic

also used to warm maggots in his mouth....

The rest of us were never that keen...

This used to be quite a common occurrence I believe but apparently the artificial colouring in some maggots may have been behind quite a few cases of mouth cancer.

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