Oldsmobile Album Including Reo, Viking and Saturn

Ransom E Olds set up the Olds Motor Vehicle Co in 1897, and for many years Oldsmobile was the oldest American car marque still extant. Oldsmobile closed in 2004, however after producing more than 35 million vehicles, almost half of them built in Lansing, Michigan. Ransom Olds didn’t stay with his creation for long, however, leaving in 1905 to set up a company in competition, Reo, which is also described here. Oldsmobile survived reasonably well in the 1920s and 1930s, with only one hiccup; its Viking ‘companion car’ was launched in 1929, but it only survived for 18 months. Oldsmobile had a tradition of promoting its chief engineer to be general manager of the company, which meant that the brand was often at the forefront with new ideas and promising technologies.