fake flimsy petrol can
 

Hi,

After reading through the water can thread on the carrier forum, and it mentioning the 4 gallon flimsy petrol cans, I thought this might be interesting to some...

I found that the US 5 gallon tin cans, used for lubricants and chemicals into the early 60's I think, bore a very good resemblance in size and appearance to the Imperial 4 gallon returnable flimsies I've seen photos of on this forum.

Bought one and painted it. These cans are expensive if they have a good petroliana subject matter, but no one will probably lament the loss of a vintage "ammonia compressor oil " can... :doh:

I'd like to get one more of these and crate the two....would make an interesting addition to my display.

Thanks, David

Nice
 

now - about that Dodge you are working on that you never told me about ? :nono:

Nice indeed.

Reminds me of large sunflower oil cans used in professional kitchens...that may be a source for replica's also.

truck and cans.....
 

Hello Gordon,

Didn't mention the truck because it's not mine. It's a friends' WC 12 that he has been restoring at my shop for nearly a year now. He has been posting his progress on G503. Nice truck and no expense spared...I help a little and he buys a lot of used parts from me... :)

Hello Hanno,

These cans are close, but..

I researched buying new versions of this type of can, with or without contents, and it appears that modern ones are not sold in the US for any purpose I could find.

Thanks, David

Is the only difference.....
 

...that the original did not have a screwed lid and required punching a hole to pour out the content?????

Very ingenious!!!!

Bob

don't know for sure, but....
 

Hi Bob,

It appears that there was one type of "flimsy" can that you punch a hole into, or pull a plug out, and another type that had a removable cap. The black and white photo above seems to show both types.....

Thanks, David

The ones with the screw cap are an improved flimsy. They turn up occasionally, I have found two that appeared in my scrap bin overnight, both wartime dated, one in sand paint. They are considerably more robust than a real flimsy and were clearly intended for re-use unlike the true flimsy.

Cross reference to a related thread - my bold. The ones with screw caps were intended to be returnable and reused.

101 uses...............
 

These cans or at least similar 4 gal cans were used up into the mid to late 70s.
I recall seeing footage of cars being refueled somewhere in northern Africa (Timbucktu?? area) during one of the African Safari rallys. The cans had no cap (no chance of sabotage) and were opened for use with a billhook type tool. I'd guess about 1976, about the time that the newish Mitsubishi Lancers took out the first four places in that event.

I remember a similar tin, as a kid. Honey came in them with a large dia. removeable (push in) lid, as the 4 gall can and as a half height 2 gall can.

thanks...
 

Thanks all for the great information!

So, the true "flimsy" is a light-weight one time use tin can that you pried an un-threaded lid off, or punched a hole into, emptied the contents and threw away.

The other type is much heavier construction with a male-threaded removable cap......both types referred to as a "flimsy".

Here's a link to a website I found showing the cans that are still littering the western desert.
http://www.qattara.it/60-99%20taniche.html

Don't mean to bore y'all with a discussion on tin petrol cans, but I find this stuff interesting. :)

Thanks again, David

Olive oil
 

David

You might have more luck if you search for 20 litre Olive oil cans

http://www.oliveoiltimes.com/olive-o...il-trade/26246

It was easy to see the European heritage of the families living in my area, there was always empty olive oil cans in their rubbish :thup2:

I am sure that kero was sold in those 4 gallon cans in the 1960's when most houses had a kero heater .

You can find the cans that are similar and used for olive oil but here in the US I have found no one that will supply an all metal can. The spouts now are the plastic push in type or a plastic screw in insert.

I wish I could locate the all metal cans again. We had a bunch stored away that we used to transport and store water in our trenches at a our WW1 site but they have all rusted out and I can't find anything to replace them.

Thanks Mike and Eric for the replies,

I couldn't find new all-metal cans in the US either, but as the cans I need are for display only, the rusty cheap ones will do....bought another one today:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/201537908262

Was at a hobby/home decoration store yesterday and bought a cheap Chinese replica Shell sign for about 5 dollars on sale. It had all the features in the sign embossed in the tin. Cut out the shell carefully with industrial scissors, epoxied it to the can and repainted it.

Thanks. David

Wow Dave, nice work!!