Jiffy Lube traces its origins to the early 1970s, when Ed Washburn opened the first service center in Ogden, Utah. He began franchising shops throughout Utah until 1979, when he was bought out by Jim Hindman, a millionaire nursing home developer. At the time Hindman purchased Jiffy Lube, he was working for free as the football coach at Western Maryland College. Reportedly, one of his players had challenged him to earn another million dollars.
Jiffy Lube grew rapidly throughout the 1980s, from ten shops to about 1,000, and was acquired by Pennzoil in the early 1990s. In 1998, Pennzoil merged with Quaker State, whose Q-Lube oil service centers were then rebranded as Jiffy Lube. Pennzoil-Quaker State was ultimately purchased by Shell Oil in 2002