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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Dead at 106: An American Classic

This Day in History: April 29, 2004

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nypl/3592492021/in/photostream/
From 1897...
Oldsmobile was first manufactured by the Olds Motor Works in Lansing, Michigan, a company founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In 1901, the company produced 425 cars, making it the first high-volume gasoline-powered automobile manufacturer. In 1908, Oldsmobile was the second brand, after Buick, to become part of the newly established General Motors (GM). 

'Til the last rolled off the assembly line in 2004

The last dark cherry Alero left the line with
 Lansing Car Assembly’s two most senior employees behind the wheel.
Thousands of people signed their names underneath the hood.
On April 29, 2004, the final Oldsmobile drove off the line at General Motors’ Lansing Car Assembly plant. It was an Alero sedan. That Alero represented the send-off to a nameplate founded in the city more than a century ago by the son of a machinist. It was just not unique enough to pique the interest of young people. When the final Oldsmobile rolled off the assembly line more than 35 million Oldsmobiles had been built during the brand's lifetime.
Not a terribly bad car nor an especially good one, the Alero’s white-bread mediocrity is typical of the small to midsize cars that Detroit has churned out for years,” it wrote. “The Alero is, in fact, a virtual twin of the Pontiac Grand Am. Both are transportation devices, cars for people who don’t like cars very much.”
This marked the end of the road for the Oldsmobile...an automobile well remembered from the 70s and 80s. During those decades, the Oldsmobile Cutlass was America's best-selling auto. 

Olds 442 Cutlass



Bad To The Bone!

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