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economist suntribune wheels thursday june 6 2002 23 w hen the chapter clos es in two years when the final four tires snake off the final assembly line once and for alla little town nestled on us 20 between ashtabula and north madison will shed a collective tear and force a reluctant smile geneva ohio is not celebrated in the same respect as detroit is for being the birthplace of henry ford and the automobile or even the way ellis kan is for being the boyhood home of walter p chrysler located on the southern edge of lake erie and in only a few square kilo metres of space the biggest thing about geneva is the annual grape jamboree a fall harvest thats held the last full weekend in september and culminates in the crowning of miss grapette only 6470 live there one legend once did ransom e olds was born in june of 1 864 1 0 months after ford son of machinist pliny olds ransom moved his family to lansing mich and even tually established himself as an automo bile pioneer with cars such as the reo and the oldsmobile but not before call ing that little ohio town home not before taking what he learned in a small part of america and applying it to every car he ever built olds was a common man who would forever consider the common folk when he set out to build affordable transportation for the masses he was someone who never forgot his roots no matter how much his dream was real ized and olds was a dreamer the youngest of five children he signed up for a sixmonth course at a local business college by 16 by 18 olds had taken over bookeeping chores at his fathers business when olds turned 21 he was so adept his father made him a partner the youngest olds was a tinkerer a thinker and an inventor in his lifetime he would earn 30 patents the first for a new type of governor for steam engines by 22 he would have his first automobile on the road a three- wheeled steampowered car four years later hed build another a larger model which he sold to a british company for 400 the car was shipped to india but it ended up at the bottom of the ocean the ship sank on the way there ten years later after toiling around in his fathers shop and perfecting a self- propelled carriage that would run bet ter olds business began to roll internalcombustion engines were beginning to flourish and olds wanted to be on the cutting edge by 1884 with his third vehicle already built gas quickly running the world and the duryea brothers selling their first auto mobile in america the olds motor vehicle company was formed working out of his fathers old machine shop the young automotive wizard was in motion that year he sold four cars soon he would have the first car factory and would become the first to use an auto assembly line but he needed help with the aid of samuel smith a welloff friend olds turned the olds motor vehicle company into olds motor works three years later moving the business to a plant on east jefferson ave near detroits belle isle bridge becoming the first to manufacture cars in the city that ford would later make famous after several unsuccessful models i olds hit it big but it almost wasnt in 1901 a fire burned the company to the ground one prototype was saved which became the basis of americas first massproduced vehicle after a move back to lansing olds had the idea to make the floor of his new car curve up to form the dash board the vehicle featuring a seven- horsepower singlecylinder engine with two forward gears and one reverse would top 20 mph and would be the first to wear the oldsmobile name the curveddash was an immedi ate hit the first real success among commercially sold us models volume was key as was the ability to turn out quality product it would sell for 625 which would remain the same price for the sevenyear life of the car olds sold 425 the first year and by 1905 more than 6500 dramatic numbers for the time and using much of that genevalearned ingenuity he would help make these a musthave if the fire didnt give olds enough publicity he would also dream up musical jingles hire famous people for promotions and even do some things himself his creative ad campaigns were some of the first to use racecar drivers for largescale promotions in 1901 he asked driver roy chapin to pilot an olds from detroit to new york for the auto show in what would be the longest trip taken by a vehicle to that point it took chapin one week to get to manhattan olds was there in the lobby of the waldorfastoria to meet him with a hug and a smile the next year olds took the wheel himself racing against alexander winton on the beaches of daytona fla the first race on what would become a legendary speedway olds and smith eventually dis agreed on the companys direction smith wanted luxury cars olds wanted everyday vehicles and by 1 904 they had parted company smiths luxorides would fail while olds would be picked up by william c durant in 1908 in what would become general motors the rest was history olds would form the reo motor car company which would build cars and trucks until 1975 he would also start a power lawnmower business another invention all his own and he would dabble in securities and real estate olds died in 1 950 at age 86 iron ically about the time his onceproud product began to turn stale at general motors ultimately a lack of sales and a lack of creativity made the oldsmobile a dinosaur in spite of this seemingly unfitting turnabout olds cars would be the first to have automatic transmissions they would eventually carry the worlds first air bag and they would have loyal fol lowers most of whom were offended when gm tried to revive the brand with the not your fathers oldsmobile campaign younger buyers didnt get it anyway by 2004 the cars of which olds dreamt will be gone and so will the tra dition of firsts achieved by the quiet inventor from geneva jason stein is a feature writer and the editor of wheelbase communications race week racing page he can be reached at jsteinwheelbasecomcom wheelbase communications supplies automotive news and features to news papers across north america 10 earn the tide of automotive pioneer you had to he creative inventive businessminded and a visionary ransom e olds ifcy sumuch more thtmapioneer m acura in markham black fully equipped excellent condition m 5555 all prices pst gst admin lic gas acura in markham 5201 highway 7 east markham ontario 9059488866 wwwacurainmarkhamcom hwy 7 wml markville shopping centre acura ag markham steeles z it q cc a uj z z 401 1 0 0 z 1 1 0 s 2 i t t t i 4 lihm f i 1 a ft i jt ft a 4 m m 4 ft