In 1896, Ransom E. Olds wrote: “The time will come when the horse will be relegated to comparative discard. Men will travel from town to town in a vehicle driven by power machinery at a speed of at least thirty miles per hour. Soon every house will add an automobile room to shield their horseless carriage. Barns with their odors from horses will disappear from the city.”
After experimenting with both electric and gas powered cars, Ransom settled on gas. A fire in the factory destroyed all prototypes except one, named the Model R1, popularly called the Curved Dash
According to the Curved Dash Olds Club, the decision to produce the R1 was made before the fire, but the story persists. The first year production was 425. An estimated 20,000 were built between 1901 and 1907. Models include Model R1 ( 1901 ),
Model R ( 1901-1904 ), Model 6C ( 1904 maybe into 1905 ), Model T, N, and B ( 1905 possibly into 1907 )
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