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N0KFQ > TODAY 21.08.12 17:40l 63 Lines 3028 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 27061_KB0WSA
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Subj: Today in History - Aug 21
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<JH4XSY<JE7YGF<7M3TJZ<ZL2BAU<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 120821/1524Z 27061@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.52
Aug 21, 1897:
Olds Motor Works founded
Ransom Eli Olds of Lansing, Michigan, founds Olds Motors
Works--which will later become Oldsmobile--on August 21, 1897.
Born in Geneva, Ohio, in 1864, Olds went to work for his family's
machine-repair and engine-building business in 1883. In 1896,
Olds completed his first gasoline-powered vehicle, and the
following year he founded Olds Motor Works with financial backing
from Samuel L. Smith, who had made his fortune in lumber. After
the company moved from Lansing to Detroit in 1900, a fire
destroyed all of its cars except its small, one-cylinder
curved-dash model. Light, reliable and relatively powerful, the
curved-dash Oldsmobile (as Olds had renamed his company) became a
commercial sensation after appearing at the New York Auto Show in
1901. Olds returned to Lansing in 1902 and began large-scale
production of the car.
The curved-dash Oldsmobile was the first American car to be
produced using the progressive assembly-line system, and the
first to become a commercial success. Olds soon split with Smith
and his board of directors over the future direction of the
company, however: Olds wanted to continue the focus on smaller
cars, while the others favored the production of larger, more
expensive automobiles. In 1904, Olds left to found the Reo Motor
Car Company (for his initials, R.E.O.). After his departure,
Oldsmobile struggled, and in 1908 it was swallowed up by the new
General Motors (GM) conglomerate.
By the 1920s, Oldsmobile's six- and eight-cylinder models sat
solidly in the middle of GM's lineup--less expensive than Buick
or Cadillac, but still comfortably ahead of Chevrolet. Oldsmobile
survived the Great Depression years and earned a reputation as
GM's "experimental" division, introducing the so-called "safety
automatic transmission" in 1938, a precursor to 1940's
"Hydra-Matic," which was the first successful fully automatic
transmission. The 135-horsepower "Rocket" engine, introduced in
the new 88 model in 1949, made Oldsmobile one of the world's
top-performing cars. In 1961, with the release of the upscale
compact F-85 (powered by a V-8 engine), Oldsmobile launched its
Cutlass, which would become one of the industry's longest-running
and most successful names. The Cutlass Supreme would reign as the
best-selling American car for much of the 1970s and early 1980s.
In the 1980s, however, Oldsmobile sales declined, and in 1992 a
story in The Washington Post--denied by both Oldsmobile and
GM--claimed that GM had seriously considered killing the brand.
In August 1997, Oldsmobile celebrated the 100th anniversary of
its founding. Despite efforts to compete with foreign imports
with smaller, more fuel-efficient models like the Aurora,
Intrigue, Alero and Bravada, Oldsmobile continued to struggle,
and in 2004 GM finally discontinued the brand. At the time of its
demise, Oldsmobile was America's oldest continuously operating
automaker.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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