--- Ian Rubrey <forwardlook59@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi,
> Does anybody have any information on the late
> fifties Mobilgas Economy runs. I have seen a few
> articles in early issues of Motor Trend and
> Car Life and was wondering if anybody else knew
> anything about these tests. Any info available
> on the net, I've used search engines but not
> turned anything up. I'm looking for a few
> pictures of some of the participating cars
> (forward look of course) to use as reference
> for a future project.
>
> Any pictures/ info would be much appreciated.
As much history as I can remember, hopefully you can
expand your search from here:
The Mobil Economy Run started as the Gilmore Economy
run in Southern California in the mid- to late-'30s.
It ran over varied terrain (Los Angeles to Yosemite
and back was one route IIRC), I believe during a time
of year when weather would have varied. Cars for the
Gilmore run were supplied by LA-area dealers. I'm not
sure how much of the '40s it was run through, and it
certainly would not have been run during WWII.
About 1940 or so, Gilmore Oil was bought out by
Socony-Vacuum's General Petroleum unit, but WWII
postponed the changeover from Gilmore to Mobilgas
until the end of the war. I believe the Economy Run
started again around 1950 under the Mobilgas name. At
some point I believe the Economy Run started running
in varied terrain nationally, as befit Mobil's status
as a national brand, but the '57 Run was apparently
run in the LA area, since one of the Chryslers that
ran that year was supplied by C-P dealer W. R. Shadoff
of Pomona CA (a suburb of LA).
At some point the factories started taking notice and
provided factory engineers as drivers, and of course
promoting their product with results of the Economy
Run. It got to be a pretty big deal, with driving
techniques nobody would use in normal driving to
squeeze every last drop of fuel. Not quite the level
of Smokey Yunick shenanigans but close. I believe this
was a factor in Mobil discontinuing the Economy Run
around '66 or so.
At some point in the early '60s (I want to say '60 or
'61 but I'm not sure) Mobil changed the names of their
gasolines (Mobilgas = Mobil Regular, Mobilgas Special
= Mobil Premium) and with this product name change the
event name was changed to Mobil Economy Run.
After Mobil pulled out, Pure Oil (Pure Firebird
Premium was the official gasoline of NASCAR) tried
filling that void with the Pure Oil Performance
Trials, which tested economy as well as performance.
This of course was many years after the Forward Look
era. The Pure Oil trials never got the attention from
the manufacturers or the general public that the old
Mobil runs did, and as the Pure name faded out of use
(having been taken over by Union 76) the Performance
Trials faded away with it.
=====
Mike Sealey, San Francisco CA
'57 Plymouth Sport Suburban
'64 Chrysler 300-K 2dr Hardtop
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