by Tammy Neal
VehicleMD Staff Writer
Originally published in Winter 2011 Issue

What does an Air Force fighter pilot have in common with an oil change? No, this is not an awkward beginning to a joke. The answer is synthetic oil.

If you are familiar with synthetic oil, you probably know that it is some of the best motor oil money can buy. However, it's time to take a trip to the past and learn about the history of synthetic oil and how it helps protect your vehicle, especially in winter.

While flying fighter jets, such as the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star, pilot Albert Amatuzio learned about the benefits of the jets' special oil. He created a version of the oil for passenger cars and pioneered the synthetic motor oil we know today.

Time Machine Rewind
Step into my time machine and follow me back to a time when carriages weren't horseless. We're taking a journey through time to get a glimpse at the life of synthetic oil.

More than 100 years ago, scientists realized that by understanding the makeup of organic compounds (those are substances found in nature if it's been a few years since your organic chemistry class), they could create custom molecular designs to make the substance do something special.

A byproduct of this process was the invention of synthetic oil. It is believed synthetic oil's building blocks (synthesized hydrocarbons, if you'd like to get technical) were created by French chemist Charles Friedel and American chemist James Crafts in 1877. But, it was more than 50 years until the commercial development of synthesized hydrocarbons was undertaken by Standard Oil. However, with crude oil-based lubricants being plentiful and inexpensive, there was no demand for synthetic lubricants in 1929, and this first introduction of synthetic lubricants to the marketplace failed.

The Second World War changed all that, with scientists on both sides developing synthetic engine oils, primarily for use in aircraft engines. Later, after the war, the U.S. Air Force began using synthetic oil in all its jet engines, mainly owing to the fact that the oil could function better than petroleum-based oil at the high altitudes (and corresponding cold temperatures) in which its jets operated, while also protecting the jet engines from their high operating temperatures.

From Jets to 'Vettes
Because of synthetic oil's cold-weather benefits, the pilots who flew the aircraft began experimenting with putting the oil in their cars. (At the time, synthetic oil was not intended to be used in passenger vehicles because of the differences in engines and potential seal incompatibility; it wasn't fiscally viable either—the military was paying $35 a quart for the stuff!) Pilots thought the used jet oil seemed clean enough to mix with conventional motor oil to help their cars with cold-weather starts. But one enterprising pilot took this theory even further.

In the mid-1960s, Lt. Col. Albert Amatuzio was a jet fighter squadron commander at a northern Minnesota airbase. He had become familiar with the "extraordinary" lubricants that protected the engines of the jets he flew, and he began a research project that eventually became his second career.

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