Founded in 1896, Oldsmobile was one of the first U.S. C4120-783 firms dedicated to the fledgling automobile business and the first that, prior to the arrival of the Ford T, could claim to have manufactured automobiles in large quantities.

The trip that took Oldsmobile off.

With production moved to Lansing and parts ordered from other manufacturers, the car began to be built. Its simplicity (single-cylinder engine with two-speed planetary gear), its low price and its great distance to the ground (which was primitive to be able to get around with ease in the dusty roads of the North American West), made it a real success in sales. In addition, when one of them demonstrated its robustness in a trip that linked, in little more than a week, Detroit and New York, sales skyrocketed.

Ramsom Olds insisted that the best thing was to concentrate on making a single model car, but his capitalist partners, the Smith brothers, were obsessed with making luxury cars, so the founder left the company. After the departure of Olds, the brand diversified its offer. Thus, launched a car with twin engine and steering wheel (the Curved Dash lever), and later, four-cylinder versions.

Gerneral Motors absorbs Oldsmobile. The headline of the newspapers in 1908.

This diversification, however, entailed excessive development costs. In 1908, when General Motors was founded, Oldsmobile failed to maintain its independence and became part of the new corporation. After joining General Motors, Oldsmobile specialized in what the Smiths had always wanted to do, large cars, such as the Limited, which needed a double step to get on it.

Little by little was gaining a reputation for being the brand of General Motors that handled the most advanced technology, although they shared the engines with Chevrolet and Buick, the Oldsmobile were very innovative.

Oldsmobile, the avant-garde post IIWW

After World War II, Oldsmobile offered automatic retractable headlights, the first air suspensions and, in 1966, the Toronado, the first American front-wheel drive car since the 1930s.

Oldsmobile in the rear…

In the 1980s and 1990s, group synergies and common platforms and engines standardized the production of the firm, General Motors’ second best-selling after Chevrolet. At that time, at the end of the 1990s, the range was already similar to that of Buick or Pontiac, its sister brands, between 1999 and 2001, General Motors dispensed with it and made it disappear.