A friend of mine dragged home a '31 Ford that has been sitting in a garage since 1961. Along with the misc. parts and pieces was a full case of this stuff unopened.
'STEED Fuel Conditioner'

There is no indication of manufacture date and the label has all sorts of claims on it, just like snake oil. You know - frees stuck rings, cleans gum, varnish and stops pings and unfouls plugs, increases compression. Cures asthma, gout and balances the national debt. It does contain XYLOL What does that do? Brightens teeth with a minty taste - I don't know.

The can he gave me is still factory sealed and shakes normally as a liquid inside. Could it be 30-50 years old? I'm tempted to put it in my truck to make it like new again.

Any recollections of this stuff?
Tom

 

Given the style of label, and the "Harmful or Fatal if Swallowed" warning, I would say this crap came out in the mid to late 60's.

Don't recall a "Steeds" brand of fuel additive.

 

If there's no UPC bar code, it's pre '74. I don't recall ever seeing or hearing of the brand. But from this google search, there seems to be quite a bit of those old cans around, especially on ebay. https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...el+conditioner

 

I clicked on your Google link Wayne, and there is a boatload of that stuff flying around. Really like the hype and spin folks put in their Ebay ads: "Rare Vintage Steeds oil additive".

 

The 'snake oil' salesman moniker fit this thing perfectly. This product came out in 1972 and was gone by the end of 1973. Two con-men, Harvey Brown and Chuck Bissel set up Steed Industries and began packing some crap that ws marketed as Fuel conditioner and oil conditioners. STP sued them for copyright violation for the packaging and the SEC got them for securities violations. The company had no legitimate interest in any kind of products, it was a Pyramid scheme where they sold multi level distributorships and the two 'partners' took all the money and left the 'investors' holding an empty bag (or cans).

 

Now we know why there was a full case of it, heh. Gotta love multi-level marketing.

 

Bardhal, Marvel, Lucas, STP, Sta-Lube, Seafoam, etc. with "secret proprietary petroleum distillate ingredients" are all pretty much the same interesting snake oil. There may be more than one way to skin a cat, but it's still a cat.


the FTC and Slick 50
cleansed, not coated

 

Xylol is xylene, a product of the petroleum distillation process. Used extensively as a solvent, paint thinner, cleaner, etc. Would probably work pretty good for removing tar, fuel varnish, grease, etc.

 

A JC Whitney staple for years

 

LOL "send no money" yeah OK. Good stuff, I'm sure.

 

What does it do, seize the motor? If that is the case, it certainly would actually do several of the things it claims, like quieting the motor, stopping oil burning, lowering fuel consumption, and stopping exhaust smoking.

 

I laughed my butt off when I read that.
Good stuff right there. If we were all physically sitting around a shop talking like guys do, that is the sort of stuff that would be said.

Tom

 

Thanks Joe,
That explains why we never heard of it.
If I see a dried-out snake around, I'll open the can and pour it on for a full revival. The snake will be good as new again.
Tom