Car Collector Chronicles 05-09

A GDYNETS PUBLICATION © 2009, G. DAVID YAROS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Car Collector Chronicles ®

Volume II, Issue 5

Car Collector Chronicles

May 2009

Exploring: • Car collecting today

Keeping the Hobby Alive

• Classic rides

Am I the only one who is concerned over the longevity of the car collecting hobby? Judging from what I read in my collector car mags, I would say no.

• Reports from the field • Oldsmobile

It is indisputable that the vast majority of car show participants have reached their golden years. The same seems to hold true with respect to spectators, albeit not in as great a degree.

As a rule of thumb, you will never be far off in determining the age of the classic car owner if you use this formula: Take the age of the car and add 15 years.

IN THIS ISSUE:

Keeping the Hobby Alive

1

GDYNets On the Web

1

Ransom Eli Olds

2

Therein lies the problem. We are destined to not be around in another 20-30 years, Once I have moved onto that great car barn in the sky, who will share the passion for Oldsmobile, or in your, the reader’s, case, whatever marque you treasure?

We need to come up with a means for infusing young blood

Collector Car Pics 4

4

Dave’s Den http://GDYNets.WEBNG.com Saved 62 http://www.freewebs.com/ jeandaveyaros Car Collector Chronicles -

EMAIL: OldsD88@gmail.com

One suggestion for grooming the next generation of car collectors is that every car show should bestow an award on the youngest owner/entrant. The only requirement is that the winner be able to show they do actually own the car entered.

Other possibilities might include taking a youngster (arbitrarily defined by me as anyone aged 35 or less!) with you to a car show. Give them

an inside glimpse of what the hobby is all about.

In a similar vein, we could individually become involved with a Boy Scout/Explorer group, or other youth oriented organization, that has in interest in automobiles. Perhaps hold a meeting in your garage?

I would really like to hear your views and ideas. I am sure there are ideas out there to infuse the hobby with youthful participants that are far better than mine. I do feel it is important, nay critical, that we take action to assure our passion is passed on. So share your views and give me some input.

—Thanks, Dave

GDYNets on the Web WHERE YOU WILL FIND GDYNets (me) on the WWW:

Coming Next Issue

into the hobby. I can readily accept the fact that I shall not be here in 2030. (In fact, I have a bumper sticker on one of my lift columns which reads, “if I am going to Hell, I am going in an Oldsmobile!” While I can handle that, I have a more than hard time in dealing with the fact that my ‘62 Olds may end up going to the crusher as worthless scrap once I am no longer around to lavish devoted attention upon her.

http://issuu.com/d.yaros

DAVE’S DEN is a website devoted to a myriad of interests. Foremost is extensive information on the “Steel City” of Gary, Indiana. There are also offerings covering the making of steel and U.S. Steel-Gary Works, the U.S. Marine Corps, the M14 assault rifle, of course Oldsmobile, and the tragic story of the murder of Gary, Indiana

Police Lt. George Yaros.

SAVED 62 is a website devoted to my 1962 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 convertible. The site also has a lot of information on Oldsmobiles and its founder, Ransom Eli Olds.

CAR COLLECTOR CHRONICLES; you are reading it. It is a work in progress.

Car Collector Chronicles

Page 2

RANSOM ELI OLDS—The Man In this 21st century, I wonder how many people know, or are even aware, that the Oldsmobile motor car was the brainchild of an individual named Olds?

Who was he? What was he about? One of the most apt descriptions came from his father, Pliny Olds.

Pliny once told him, grudgingly, “Ranny (that was his nickname for his son), you are a pretty decent mechanic.” R. E. Olds was not just a mechanic. He was a mechanical engineer, albeit self-trained. He was also a budding entrepreneur. The key word here, as we shall see later, is budding.

Father to Son: “Ranny, you are a pretty decent mechanic.”

What he was not, was a financier, or even a good businessman. In his lifetime he would undertake many a project. Here a few examples: Olds was designing and testing electric cars in the 1890’s. Olds also brought the automobile assembly line into being. His list of patents include the power lawnmower (1915) and the elevator door gate (1896). But for R. E. Olds, the city of Oldsmar, FL probably would not exist To go back to the beginning, one must travel to Geneva, OH, and transport themselves to the civil war era. For it was in 1864, that Ransom Eli Olds was born to Pliny and Sarah Olds. Pliny plies his trade as a blacksmith, and dabbles in steam engine manufacture. This is where Olds cuts his teeth as a mechanic/engineer. Whatever may be said about Pliny Fisk Olds, it would never be that he was a man of means.

Applying similar logic to the son, whatever may be said about R. E. Olds, he was, if anything, a practical being. This practicality was carried to the point that, on the morning of his wedding, he first finished roofing his house, because he feared rain was on the way! The best example of his practicality is the 1,000 sq. ft. “automobile room,” garage to you and me, of his marital home in Lansing, MI. It incorporated a turntable in the floor. The device eliminated the daily chore of having to back out of the garage and down the driveway.

It should also be noted that Ransom Eli Olds, among all the things he may have been, was a “car guy.” I say this because the library on the second floor of his home had windows which looked directly into the automobile room, attached to the house. His rides were always in view!

Car Collector Chronicles

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RANSOM ELI OLDS—The Man-Cont’d. from P. 2 Sadly, the Olds family homestead, with its 1,000 sq. ft. automobile room containing a vehicle turntable, no longer exits. Ironically, it was torn down to permit construction in Lansing, MI of the Olds Freeway.

What about that reference to being a budding entrepreneur? This is based on the apparent fact that he lacked the requisite patience to tolerate, let alone endure, the corporate politics and infighting inherent in all large business organizations. More often than not, his solution was to sell out and move on to another project.

Olds Motor Works is a case in point. While Olds indeed started it in 1897, by 1904 he was gone from the corporation. His departure was directly attributable to divergent managerial views.

In 1905 he formed a competitor corporation to Olds Motor Works, REO Motorcar Co. After only a couple of years Olds started to relinquish managerial control of this company. By 1910, his role was in name only. Olds left REO Motorcar in 1934. REO Motorcar Co. ceased producing automobiles in 1936. Diamond REO Trucks, a division of REO Motorcar, continued in operation until 1975.

“[Olds] lacked

Olds had grandiose plans for the Florida city of Oldsmar, not far from present day Tampa. From 1917 through 1926, he invested a small fortune in the locale in an effort to develop it. Eventually he sold his interests, at a considerable loss of $3 Million or more.

the corporate

As mentioned earlier, Ransom Eli Olds was born in 1864. As a youth, he developed an aversion to hard, physical labor. Repeatedly, he indicated the motivation for devoting his efforts on the development of the automobile was his disgust of the smell of horses. Olds attended school only through the 10th grade. He married in 1889. The marriage produced 4 children. The two youngest, a boy and girl, died in infancy. The surviving elder two children were both daughters. R. E. Olds died on August 26, 1950. His wife, Metta, followed him in death 1 week later, on September 2, 1950. They are buried in Lansing, MI.

inherent in all

For more information on R. E. Olds— Visit the Saved 62 web site.

Recommended Reading— R. E. Olds: Auto Industry Pioneer by George S. May, Eerdmans Publishing Co. (1977).

Auto Pioneering: Remarkable Story of R. E. Olds by D. Yarnell, DeKleine Co. (1949).

the requisite patience to tolerate, let alone endure, politics and infighting large business organizations.”

Car Collector Chronicles

Page 4;;

Collector Car Pics

R. E. Olds (1864) Age 4

(1900) Age 36

(1950) Age 86

Automotive Firsts by Olds & Oldsmobile 1897 – Olds becomes the first American automobile manufacturer to export a car. It is sent to India.

In 1901 two Oldsmobile innovations occurred: Oldsmobile put the first speedometer in a car. Additionally, Olds became the first fleet supplier of automobiles; they went to the United States Post Office.

In 1901 Oldsmobile also became one of the first car companies to outsource parts production. It was forced to do this when a fire destroyed the Oldsmobile plant in Detroit, and crippled the company's ability to build cars using its own parts. In this year, the Dodge Brothers and Cadillac founder Henry M. Leland's engineering company (Leland & Faulconer) were contracted to build engines to Olds' specifications 1926 - Oldsmobile begins chrome plating the radiator surrounds and other parts on its cars. This was the first automotive use of chrome plating.

1929 - Oldsmobile introduces the first monoblock V8 on its Viking model.

1932 - Oldsmobile becomes the first to offer an automatic choke on an automobile.

1940 - Oldsmobile introduces "Hydra-matic Drive," the first fully automatic transmission to be offered on a widely available automobile. This was the forerunner of the modern automatic transmission.

1949 - Rocket engine debuts; the first mass produced, high-compression OHV V8.

1962 - Oldsmobile Jetfire: Oldsmobile markets the first turbocharged passenger car engine in its F85 model. The aluminum block 215 inÂł V8 engine with turbocharger produces one horsepower per cubic inch.

1966 - While not the first American built passenger car to use front-wheel drive, the Toronado was the first of its type to prove successful in the American marketplace. It won the Motor Trend Car of Year award in 1966 for its unique and innovative styling.

1974 - Oldsmobile becomes the first American car company to offer a driver's side airbag. It is made available on the Toronado.

1978 - Oldsmobile's 5.7-liter diesel V8, eventually available in all General Motors large and intermediate cars, debuts. A 4.3-liter diesel V6 from Oldsmobile follows. These engines was popular at first, giving superior fuel economy. Sales of GM cars with diesel engines plummeted when diesel fuel became more expensive than gasoline, and the engines proved to be mechanically unreliable.

Oldsmobile abandoned its diesel program in 1985, due to these factors. At the time GM exited the passenger diesel market, Oldsmobile had been working on an experimental diesel engine called "Tuned Induction Diesel" system. The system was innovative in its use of tuned port air induction to increase performance capabilities. It was never produced.

1988 - Oldsmobile breaks a world closed-course speed record with the Oldsmobile Aerotech, driven by legendary race car driver A. J. Foyt.

1988 - Oldsmobile debuts the "Quad 4," an Oldsmobile designed American-built four-cylinder, fourvalves-per-cylinder engine.

1989 - Oldsmobile introduces a heads up display on the Cutlass Supreme International. It allows drivers to view the speedometer reading on the windshield. This option later became available on the Corvette and Grand Prix.

1996 - Oldsmobile is the first carmaker in the world to offer a GPS system on a production automobile. GuideStar, was a $1,995 option on the 1996 Eighty-Eight LSS. This in turn led to the introduction of GM's current 'OnStar' system.

― Ok, I have had my say this month. Now it is your turn! I invite and encourage submission of your comments, opinions and contributions. Everything sent shall indeed be reviewed by me. Submissions should be sent to: OldsD88@gmail.com _______________________________________

― RESTORE 'EM, AND DRIVE 'EM!