Whatever Happened To the Oldsmobile?

The Oldsmobile had seen many a great day before it became a discontinued product of General Motors. In its time it was the top selling car in the country. It was also the forerunner of the curved dashboard, something most people now take for granted. As time went by, the Oldsmobile outgrew itself and eventually was not manufactured any more.

But what is the history of the Oldsmobile? Oldsmobile was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897 and later purchased by General Motors in 1908. Oldsmobile's were first manufactured in Lansing, Michigan but later moved to Detroit after GM purchased the brand. In 1901 the car company, which was outselling all other cars, produced numerous prototypes ready for mass production when the factory caught on fire and burned to the ground, ruining all the prototypes except the Curved Dash model. It was the news of the fire, not the car, that generated interest in the Curved Dash Olds and shortly thereafter, with some positive publicity stemming from a Detroit to New York "road trip,"—the longest automobile trip made at that time—the new factory began to pump out the company's first high-volume vehicle. Mr. Olds followed up with a 1905 transcontinental race from New York City to Portland, accomplished in 45 days. It was an astonishing achievement for the day, and helped to solidify Oldsmobile's place as an automobile, which offered both innovation and confidence. It changed a lot of minds among people willing to consider trading in their horses for an automobile.


In its time, the Oldsmobile was known for its luxury vehicle the 1910 Limited Touring car. This vehicle retailed for $4,600, the same amount of money it would cost to purchase a house. Options on this vehicle included a speedometer, clock, and a full glass windshield. A limousine version was priced at $5,800. While Oldsmobile only sold 725 Limiteds' in its three years of production, the car is best remembered for winning a race against the famed 20th Century Limited train, an event immortalized in the painting "Setting the Pace" by William Hardner Foster.
The Oldsmobile was also known for pioneering the four-speed semi-automatic transmission called the "Automatic Safety Transmission. Although this accessory was actually built by Buick, it was offered in both cars, first in the Oldsmobile in 1937 and then in the Buick in 1938. This transmission featured a conventional clutch pedal, which the driver pressed before selecting either "low" or "high" range. In "low", the car shifted between first and second gears. In "high", the car shifted between first, third and fourth gears

In 1949, Oldsmobile once again was a pioneer when it introduced the Rocket engine, which used an overhead valve V8 design rather than the flathead "straight-8" design which prevailed at the time. This engine produced far more power than the engines that were popular during that era, and drivers who loved speed and stock car races, favored this vehicle.

In the 1970s, the mid-size Oldsmobile Cutlass was the division's best-selling model, and for several years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, it was the best-selling car in America. But the sales of the Cutlass and other Oldsmobile models fell beginning in the 1990s. The brand was hurt by its image as old and stuffy, and this perception continued despite a public relations campaign in the late 1980s that proclaimed this was "not your father's Oldsmobile.

The last Oldsmobile was built on May 5, 2004 at its one remaining factory in Lansing, Michigan.

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