In 1897 Ransom E. Olds founded a small car company and they produced vehicles under Ford later, all the way until the line was discontinued in 2004 due to declining sales and declining dealerships that carried the vehicle. Having lasted for almost 110 years, this company would have had its 110^th anniversary this year.They began to manufacture vehicles in 1897, and by 1901 they produced 400 cars, making it the first to produce a high volume number of luxury automobiles. Olds was the first to implement the oft Henry Ford credited assembly line, by doing so years before Ford started using an assembly line to speed up production. After Olds sold the company it was later renamed.

He sold it in 1899 after working in it for many years, and thus the Olds Motor Works was formed and it moved to a new plant. By 1901 the company had lines of new innovative vehicles ready for mass production, but tragedy struck. A careless worker caused a fire in the plant, destroying what could have been the first mass marketed car in the U.S. Only one prototype survived the fire – the Curved Dash.

Later on during the thirties Olds used a two digit model number and since then were numbered through 66 and 99. In the later thirties they introduced a four speed semiautomatic transmission that was revolutionary at the time – however it was actually built in the Buick plant. Throughout the 40s they were the first to use a fully automatic transmission rather than a semi automatic, and it featured four speeds, however during the war they produced many large caliber bullets and guns, along with materials for the war. During the 50s and 60s the car was very successful and capable of selling quite well, however the 1958 recession did set them back for a year.

During the 70s and 80s the Oldsmobile vehicles had larger sales than ever before with more cars being brought out with faster engines and better fuel efficiency while maintaining their great legacy of luxury. However, the 90s suddenly changed everything, with the brand losing pace to Pontiac and Buick. Their cars later just became re-branded autos and finally they had begun to falter in sales. With failing sales and no plans to save the company they phased out the brand in 2004 after 107 years.

1. The Oldsmobile company was founded by Ransom Olds in 1897, by 1908 Olds had left the company and it had been purchased by General Motors.
2. Oldsmobile was the first car manufacturer to offer a fully functional automatic transmission.
3. The most popular year for Oldsmobile, in terms of vehicles sold, was 1985 when more than 1,060,000 units were sold.
4. Contrary to popular belief, Oldsmobile (then the Olds Motor Vehicle Company) not Ford was the first automaker to utilize an assembly line during production.
5. After announcing that it was discontinuing the brand, the last Oldsmobile vehicle was produced in April of 2004. The final vehicle built was an Oldsmobile Alero GLS.

Though the company and brand name are no longer with us, Oldsmobile’s place in the history of automobile manufacturers is safe. The company has kept their reputation as one of the most innovative and modern car brands throughout there existence, despite having a couple of runs through periods of time where they were thought of as left behind by other car makers. Despite the fact that the world has seen the last of cars produced with the name Oldsmobile attached to them, there remains a great many people that continue to have an attachment to the Olds company name.