Ransom E. Olds

Ransom Eli Olds (June 3, 1864 – August 26, 1950) was an American businessman and executive who was known as a pioneer of the American automotive industry, after whom the Oldsmobile and REO brands were named. He claimed to have built his first steam car as early as 1887 and his first gasoline-powered car in 1896. The modern assembly line and its basic concept is credited to Olds, who used it to build the first mass-produced automobile, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash, beginning in 1901.

Olds was born in Geneva, Ohio, the youngest son of blacksmith and pattern-maker Pliny Fiske Olds and his wife, Sarah Whipple Olds. He was of English descent, with origins in Dorset, England. His parents moved the family to Cleveland, Ohio, when Olds was still a boy. He eventually settled in Lansing, Michigan, where he attended high school before dropping out so that he could work full-time at the family company, P.F. Olds & Son. The company built and sold some steam engines, but made most of its money doing repair work. While in Lansing he also married Metta Ursula Woodward on June 5, 1889.

He founded the Olds Motor Vehicle Company in Lansing, Michigan, on August 21, 1897. The company was bought by a copper and lumber magnate named Samuel L. Smith in 1899 and renamed Olds Motor Works. The new company was relocated from Lansing to Detroit. Smith became president, while Olds became vice president and general manager.

By 1901, Olds had built 11 prototype vehicles, including at least one of each power mode - steam, electricity, and gasoline. In 1934, he received a patent for a diesel engine. He was the only American automotive pioneer to produce and sell at least one of each mode of automobile.

On March 9, 1901, the Olds Motor Works factory burned to the ground. Only one model, the little Curved Dash runabout, was saved from the flames. Ransom Olds claimed the fire made him select the runabout from among his many other models to put into production. His biographer questions the veracity of this story. He points to an Olds advertising blitz that had already led to more than 300 Curved Dash orders even before the fire took place. "Olds did not need the one rescued car from which to reconstruct the plans and patterns for the runabout."

Later that year, Olds had his company's test driver, Roy Chapin, drove a Curved Dash runabout to the second annual New York Automobile Show. Along the way, Chapin opted to drive up onto the Erie Canal tow path to escape the mire of New York state roads. After eight days of driving, he reached the Waldorf Astoria hotel, but was turned away at the door. His mud-spattered attire was so disreputable that he was sent to the servants' entrance in back.

During the auto show, Olds pushed hard to make sales. When one dealer offered to purchase 500, Olds retorted, "I would like to see you make this order for a thousand cars. Then the public would drop its jaw and take notice." The deal was signed, and though the dealer ended up selling only 750 to the public; everyone remembered the original number.

Olds was also famous for his auto racing on the beaches of Florida at Ormond and Daytona. He had the first timed run on the beach in a solo run sometime between 1894 and 1897. In 1896 or 1897, rich automobile pioneers Olds and Alexander Winton (Winton Motor Carriage Company) staged an unofficial event; Winton beat Olds by 0.20 second.

Olds was a Republican and served as a delegate from Michigan's 6th District to the 1908 Republican National Convention, which nominated William Howard Taft for president.

In the early 1900s, Olds built an elaborate Queen Anne-style mansion on South Washington Avenue in Lansing. Among the home's many technological innovations was a turntable in the garage, which allowed Olds to pull in at night and leave again the next morning without driving in reverse. The mansion was demolished in 1966 to make way for Interstate 496, which was then named for Olds himself. The architectural drawings of that house are in the archives of the State of Michigan.

He was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1968.

Olds was interred at the family's mausoleum at Mount Hope Cemetery in Lansing.

In 1992, the mausoleum was vandalized and remains were taken.