Uploaded July 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
"It's Tune-Up Time. Engines need it twice a year!"
Twice a year. Hmmm.
"In 5,000 miles of driving each piston travels up and down over 16 million times--valves open and close over 8 million times. Sparkplugs, contact points and coil have delivered over 24 million--10,000 volt charges of electricity. . . the carburator has handled about 350 gallons of gasoline and one-third million cubic feet of air. Drive in today. INSPECTION IS NOW DUE!... Last service was --and here the dealer fills in the blank by hand-- miles."
Sound Your Z. 100% pure Pennsylvania Pennzoil Safe Lubrication."
Now, it's kind of curious that a postcard mailed to customers.. from an auto service facility, a card that was sponsored by Pennzoil, would say so little about oil or lubrication. They're talking wear when they talk about pistons going up and down and valves opening and closing and that might be a good time to pitch the benefits of their presumably wonderful oil, but they exercise restraint. Is that just the way things were back then? Or were they just smart enough to know that whenever you brought your car in for service, whether for a tune-up or anything else, the dealer would inevitably ask, "so.. when's the last time you changed the oil in this bucket of bolts?"
On the Pennzoil logo and again at the bottom we see the slogan "Sound Your Z." Whatever that means. I looked up the meaning of that slogan and.. no one on the internet seems to know. And they know everything! The guesses are that "Sound Your Z" was Pennzoil's way of getting car owners to ask for Pennzoil specifically. You are supposed to sound out the "Z" as in... "and please check the tires and change the oil.. and use PennZZZ oil." This doesn't make a lot of sense to me but, that's what the internet thinks.
So,.. did engines back then really need a tune-up every 5,000 miles? I don't know. But I do know something about marketing and this card's message about the 16 million piston trips and the 24 million charges of 10,000 volts of electricity--this is good stuff and a great way to pull in a reluctant customer, like my father, for instance, who would have said, "Tune-up? What? I don't need a tune-up. I just had one, maybe 5,000 miles ago." Getting a card like this in the mail quite persuasively turns "just 5,000 miles" into a piston moving 16 million times. And that's just one piston! I've got 8! I'd better get over to Kramer-Eberts for a tune-up right away!
"It's Tune-Up Time. Engines need it twice a year!"
Twice a year. Hmmm.
"In 5,000 miles of driving each piston travels up and down over 16 million times--valves open and close over 8 million times. Sparkplugs, contact points and coil have delivered over 24 million--10,000 volt charges of electricity. . . the carburator has handled about 350 gallons of gasoline and one-third million cubic feet of air. Drive in today. INSPECTION IS NOW DUE!... Last service was --and here the dealer fills in the blank by hand-- miles."
Sound Your Z. 100% pure Pennsylvania Pennzoil Safe Lubrication."
Now, it's kind of curious that a postcard mailed to customers.. from an auto service facility, a card that was sponsored by Pennzoil, would say so little about oil or lubrication. They're talking wear when they talk about pistons going up and down and valves opening and closing and that might be a good time to pitch the benefits of their presumably wonderful oil, but they exercise restraint. Is that just the way things were back then? Or were they just smart enough to know that whenever you brought your car in for service, whether for a tune-up or anything else, the dealer would inevitably ask, "so.. when's the last time you changed the oil in this bucket of bolts?"
On the Pennzoil logo and again at the bottom we see the slogan "Sound Your Z." Whatever that means. I looked up the meaning of that slogan and.. no one on the internet seems to know. And they know everything! The guesses are that "Sound Your Z" was Pennzoil's way of getting car owners to ask for Pennzoil specifically. You are supposed to sound out the "Z" as in... "and please check the tires and change the oil.. and use PennZZZ oil." This doesn't make a lot of sense to me but, that's what the internet thinks.
So,.. did engines back then really need a tune-up every 5,000 miles? I don't know. But I do know something about marketing and this card's message about the 16 million piston trips and the 24 million charges of 10,000 volts of electricity--this is good stuff and a great way to pull in a reluctant customer, like my father, for instance, who would have said, "Tune-up? What? I don't need a tune-up. I just had one, maybe 5,000 miles ago." Getting a card like this in the mail quite persuasively turns "just 5,000 miles" into a piston moving 16 million times. And that's just one piston! I've got 8! I'd better get over to Kramer-Eberts for a tune-up right away!
