In the early days of motoring it was soon apparent that trends in automobile design in Europe and in America were quite different.
American designers favoured simple, light designs which betrayed their horse-drawn buggy origins, but while they were still influenced to some extent by European technical developments there was one area where they quickly went ahead of their European counterparts.
In America there was a lot of interest in the automobile industry by existing transport companies. Good examples were the larger bicycle manufacturers such as Albert Pope and George Pierce. Horse-carriage builders also eyed the emerging automobile market with envy and one of the first into the market was the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company - then the largest carriage manufacturer in the world.
One man who did not have these sort of resources or a wealthy backer to ease his way into automobile production was Ransom Eli Olds who established a small motor firm in Detroit. Having invested $80,000 (€54,025) through bank loans, Olds developed a working prototype which he planned to put into production. Just then he had the misfortune to have his workshop burn down. Saving only his precious prototype, Olds began again and raised the capital to begin production of his car which he called the Oldsmobile.
Ransom Old's car turned out to be just what the market wanted - cheap, sturdy, reliable and well-suited to many different road conditions. In the first year of production, 1901, Olds sold 600 of them at just $650 (€439) each. In 1902 he sold 2,500, 4,000 in 1903 and he sold no fewer than 5,000 in 1904 - making the Oldsmobile the most popular car in America.
Sadly, Ransom Olds left the company after a series of bitter arguments with his partner Samuel L Smith. He immediately formed another motor company - the Reo Motor Car Company - and began production of a similar but improved design.
Smith failed to see the potential of the Oldsmobile which could have taken the place of the Model T Ford and become the car "that put the world on wheels". The Oldsmobile had a single-cylinder engine mounted in the rear, magneto ignition, a planetary gearbox and its maximum speed was 22mph.
However, its most important feature was its price which made it the first "popular" car ever produced.