Diagram of a 1902 Curved-Dash Oldsmobile

THF120812 / Diagram of a 1902 Curved-Dash Oldsmobile
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Artifact Overview

Shortly after the company moved to Detroit, a fire destroyed the Olds Motor Works factory in 1901. Several prototype automobiles were lost and only the Curved Dash survived. Left with no other options, Olds put the small, inexpensive car into production. The little runabout became the bestselling car in the United States, and that fire became the happiest of accidents.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Photographic print

Subject Date

circa 1902

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

P.O.7471

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Material

Paper (Fiber product)

Technique

Gelatin silver process

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 8.25 in
Width: 10 in

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    Detroit contractor Albert Albrecht posed in a 1902 Oldsmobile circa 1920. Twenty years after its debut, the Curved Dash Olds was an antique with its tiller steering, chain drive and 4.5-horsepower engine hopelessly out of date. But the affordable Curved Dash had pointed toward a day when automobile ownership would be commonplace -- a day that had arrived by 1920.