Unless you’ve been cut off from the internet or spent the previous few years under a large rock, you’re probably aware that ’80s and ’90s-vintage cars are red-hot. These rad-era rides were on the posters on recently minted adults’ walls when they were kids, and those recently minted adults now have the cash to go out and buy the Toyota Supras, Ferrari 355s, and old Mercedes-Benzes they grew up worshipping. The nostalgia can run thick for those who manage to snag their dream ride —perhaps thicker than oil. So it seems fitting that the oil they put in their engines drips with the same hazy nostalgia, right?
Enter Motul’s new line of classic engine oils, which are geared toward cars of a certain age (and beyond). While not limited to “emerging collector car markets”, such as those covering the 1980s and 1990s alone, Motul’s classic oils are decade-themed for specific engine types and various technological developments over the years.
For example, the Modern Classic Eighties 10W-40 blend caters to the decade’s forced-induction engine, while the Modern Classic Nineties 10W-30 is formulated for “the demands of high-revving engines with more modern valvetrains.”
Motul has blends for the 1970s, too, made for engines with flat tappet cams, and a 20W-50 oil for those same cams, as well as high-lift cams from hot rods and muscle cars of the 1950s and 1960s. Got something even older? Good for you. Motul also has that covered by way of its pre-1950-spec SAE 30 and 50 straight-weight oils that work with gasoline and diesel engines. Such backward-facing oils are becoming more of a thing lately—Porsche even sells its own line of classic oils for older 911 models.
You can check out Motul’s full lineup of oils at its website, but we’ll end on perhaps our favorite part about the brand’s era-specific offerings: The cans. Motul has developed an array of sweet retro designs and photographed each can next to period vehicles. So, you may not yet have that classic car that starred in a poster on your childhood bedroom wall, but now you can make a poster starring those same cars and some cans of oil. Or, you know, just buy a few cans of this stuff and show ’em off in your garage, on a shelf, or wherever, because—in our eyes—they’re that cool.
