Oldsmobile Curved Dash
Oldsmobile Curved Dash, also called the Model R Curved Dash Runabout, was built by Oldsmobile from 1901 to 1907 in Lansing, Michigan. It’s famous for being the first mass‑produced car, built on an assembly line with interchangeable parts.
In its first year, 425 Curved Dash Runabouts were made; in 1902, 2,500 were built; overall, more than 19,000 were produced.
The car was a small two‑seat runabout with a mid‑mounted, water‑cooled, flat single‑cylinder engine. It produced about 5 horsepower and sat in the middle of the car. A simple two‑speed planetary transmission provided forward and reverse gears. The car weighed about 850 pounds and could reach about 20 mph.
The Curved Dash’s success grew partly by accident: a fire in 1901 destroyed other prototypes, leaving Curved Dash as the only survivor.
In 1904 Oldsmobile replaced the Curved Dash with the Model 6C, which had a larger engine and drum brakes; about 2,234 were made before the 6C was dropped later that year.
In 1905 the Model B arrived with more improvements, including better cooling, a new flywheel, and a handbrake on the differential. The suspension was updated and in 1906 celluloid side curtains were added. A dashboard option called the Straight Dash offered an upright display. About 6,500 Model B cars were built, and the Model F appeared in 1907 with further improvements.
A rare Side Entrance Touring Sedan offered a middle doorway, but it was not popular and was canceled by 1906. Oldsmobile also built a race‑ready version of the Model R called the Pirate, which, driven by Horace Thomas, reached 54.38 mph at Ormond Beach in 1902–1903.
The Curved Dash helped launch modern car production, showing that cars could be mass‑produced with interchangeable parts.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:13 (CET).