The Oldsmobile Curved Dash is a Runabout from Oldsmobile, built from 1901 to 1907, when a car was a rich man's adventure and every maker was a workshop. Under the bonnet: 95 cuin horizontal one-cylinder.
The story
The gasoline-powered Oldsmobile Model R, also known as the Curved Dash Oldsmobile, is credited as being the first mass-produced automobile, meaning that it was built on an assembly line using interchangeable parts. It was introduced by the Oldsmobile company in 1901 and produced through 1907; 425 were produced the first year, 2,500 in 1902, and over 19,000 were built in all.
When General Motors assumed operations from Ransom E. Olds on November 12, 1908, GM introduced the Oldsmobile Model 20, which was the 1908 Buick Model 10 with a stretched wheelbase and minor exterior changes.
What is underneath
Power comes from 95 cuin horizontal one-cylinder. It shifts through a Planetary 2-speed. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
Its family tree is legible: its successor was the Oldsmobile Series 40; assembly was at Lansing, Michigan (Lansing Car Assembly), United States. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Fiat 10 HP, the Fiat 8 HP, the Mercedes-Benz Mercedes 35 hp — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Oldsmobile catalogue sit the Oldsmobile 442 and the Oldsmobile 88.
What it costs now
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Oldsmobile Curved Dash has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.