In the early days of the auto industry, the chief competition wasn’t another machine. It was the horse.

It’s interesting to reflect that in the early days of the car industry, the chief competition to the automobile wasn’t another machine but an animal, the horse. In clear recognition of that fact, in 1903 the Olds Motor Works directed an entire series of advertisements to the auto vs. horse contest, touting the Oldsmobile’s safety and dependability.

“The Oldsmobile is never vicious,” one ad in The Saturday Evening Post declared. “With the Oldsmobile there is no danger from the horse’s uncertain disposition; no menace to life and limb from uncontrollable temper. Your desires are at the grasp of a lever, the turn of a crank, with the assurance of reliability, safety and speed, which the perfection of  the  Oldsmobile’s mechanical construction alone can give.”

With a price of just $650 complete, the Curved Dash Olds was nothing elaborate, but the appeal was in its utter simplicity. Steering was by tiller. Under the seat was a single-cylinder hosrizontal engine with a displacement of 95 cubic inches, capable of 5 hp and coupled to a two-speed planetary transmission. Its weight was only 850 lbs, the wheelbase was just 66 inches, and the top speed was quoted as 20 mph.

WIth its low price and predictable behavior, the little Olds became the best-selling car in the USA. The company’s factories in Detroit and Lansing, Michigan produced 425 vehicles in 1901, around 2,500 in 1902, and nearly 4,000 in 1903 before the Curved Dash Model R was replaced by the similar-looking but improved Model 6C. In 1904, founder Ransom E. Olds resigned and soon founded another auto company, Reo, while the Olds Motor Works was acquired by General Motors in late 1908. In 1910, it is said, the number of automobiles surpassed the number of horses in use in the United States.