He was born Ransom Eli Olds on June 3, 1864, in Geneva, Ohio, In 1886, Ransom began experimenting with a steam-powered engine. In 1886, he received his first patent for a gasoline-powered car, and founded the Olds Motor Vehicle Company to manufacture it in 1897.
Olds in 1899 relocated from Lansing to Detroit and started the company Olds Motor Works. In 1901 Ransom designed the legendary Curved Dash Oldsmobile which was the first commercially successful car mass-produced on an assembly line in the U.S. It sold for $650.00. This was the first factory to employ an assembly line process in a manufacturing environment.
Although the factory was destroyed by fire in 1901, 600 models of the Curved Dash were sold. In 1904 sales were up to 5000 units. Because of issues within management, Olds left the company he founded. It was later sold to be part of the formation of GM, by William Durant in 1908 and eventually became the Oldsmobile Motor Division of GM. The Oldsmobile brand, after a successful production run of 107 years, was discontinued by GM in 2004.
After leaving Olds Motor works, Olds formed the REO Motor Company back in Lansing, MI based on . his initials (R.E.O.). By 1907 he had built REO into one of the automotive industry’s leaders with a 25% market share. In 1938 it was reorganized as REO Motors, Inc. a bus and truck company. In 1954, REO merged with Diamond T. and became Diamond Reo Trucks, Inc. known for high-quality trucks. It went out of business in 1975. Thus, Olds had 2 car companies named after him.
http://www.reoldsfoundation.org/ransom-e-olds
http://www.nndb.com/people/060/000203448/
http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=2535
