Yes, it’s true: In its early years, Oldsmobile produced trucks—and by the thousands, too. Let’s take a closer look at them.

For the first few decades of its existence, Oldsmobile navigated a zig-zag course through the automotive markets, never quite nailing down a fixed identity. From 1901 through 1907 the company offered the low-cost, one-cylinder Curved Dash models, then dramatically reversed course to produce the gigantic 1910 Limited, one of the largest cars on the market.

Trying a little of everything, the Lansing, Michigan automaker produced small cars, big cars, cheap cars, and expensive cars, powering them with four, six, and eight-cylinder engines. Even after it became a division of General Motors in 1908, the company rambled all over the map. So we shouldn’t be too surprised that in its free-wheeling early years, the company made several serious excursions into the truck market.

Oldsmobile dabbled in trucks almost from the start, offering a delivery-van body style for the Curved Dash models starting in 1903. Then the company entered the truck market in a serious way in 1905 with its Heavy Commercial Car. Boasting a hauling capacity of one full ton, it ran on 30-inch wheels with solid rubber tires, propelled by a 196 cubic-inch two-cylinder engine under the seat that was rated at 16 hp and coupled to a chain drive. The Heavy Delivery Car, as it was also marketed, was offered in various body styles through 1910.

In 1919, the automaker made its next serious run at the commercial vehicle market with the Oldsmobile Economy Truck. Rated at one to two tons, the Economy was extensively advertised in the living-room magazines of the day and marketed primarily to farmers and merchants. Under the hood was an overhead-valve four of 224 cubic inches with 40 hp that was shared with some Olds passenger cars, paired with a conventional three-speed gearbox. Geared for pulling with a double-reduction rear axle, the vehicle was limited to 24 mph. Available as a chassis, a chassis and cab, or an open express, the Economy Truck was offered through 1924 and more than 16,000 were produced.

Oldsmobile’s last serious foray in big trucks came in 1936 through 1939 and was strictly for the export markets. These one and two-ton rigs, offered in both conventional and cab-forward styles, were based on GMC truck chassis and bodies, but badged as Oldsmobiles and powered by Olds passenger car engines. The 213.3 L-head inline six was offered in 1936, then enlarged to 230 CID from 1937 on. Some GMC-badged trucks in these years also used the Olds L-head six, coincidentally.

Manufactured at the GMC Truck and Bus plant in Pontiac, Michigan, these Olds trucks were available in both fully assembled form and as CKD units (Complete, Knocked Down) for local assembly. Olds trucks were sold throughout Western Europe but they were especially popular in Australia, evidently, and they still have an enthusiast following there today.  Olds never entered the commercial truck market again, though it did offer SUVs and minivans in its final years before the division was finally shut down in 2004.