Olds Pirate

This Olds Pirate was the product of the  Olds Motor Vehicle Company, founded by Ransom E. Olds. The company was eventually called Oldsmobile. Olds founded his original company in 1897, but sold controlling interest to outside investors in 1899. The split was acrimonious, and after clashes with his investors he left the company, which had been renamed Olds Motor Works and formedthe REO Motor Car Company. He originally considered incorporating his name, Olds, into the company name, but Olds Motor Works threatened legal action. Subsequently, he used his initials, REO, in the company name. Check out an image elsewhere on First Super Speedway to see one of the Olds REO race cars.
 
 
Thanks again to David Story for contributing more of his original art. David also provided the following words supporting this art.
 
What was the Olds Pirate?

Before the turn of the turn of the century some visitors at Ormond hotel on Daytona Beach discussed the idea of an auto race on the beach. Alexander Winton, race car builder and racer, had already built and driven a race car called the Bullet. Ransom E. Olds was manufacturing small, two seaters. Winton agreed to bring his car down and Olds said that he would build a suitable challenger. Olds named his car the Olds Pirate. The two cars met and had identical speeds of 57 mph. It was in the very early days of car racing and both had a great time but neither claimed victory.

Olds went on to start the Olds Motor Company in Detroit. He is credited as the first person to use a stationary assembly line in the automotive industry.  Henry Ford came after him, and was the first to use a moving assembly line to manufacture cars.  This new approach to putting together automobiles enabled Olds to more than quintuple his factory's output, from 425 cars in 1901 to 2,500 in 1902. By 1903 he was the largest automobile manufacturer in the U.S.