fake flimsy petrol can

[Bob Carriere]

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

Very ingenious!!!!

Bob

[David DeWeese]

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

[tankbarrell]

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.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by tankbarrell

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.

Originally Posted by Lauren Child

Yes, I think the 4gal cans are flimsies, though I was quoting from the manual - I dont have a good (complete) example of one.

Jerricans are referred to as 4 1/2 gallon cans in some of the wartime docs, differentiating them from the mention of 4 gallon cans. There are diagrams for safe stacking of both types.

There's a good photo on various forums that shows the difference between 2gal, 4gal non-returnable flimsy, 4gal returnable later type, and jerricans - I've attached it below (shout if it's your photo).

[David DeWeese]

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=75286

[Lynn Eades]

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.

[David DeWeese]

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