Lansing, birthplace of Oldsmobile and REO

Lansing has been a car town for well over a century. It owes that to one man: Ransom E. Olds. In 1897 he founded the company that became Oldsmobile, right here in Lansing. He’s often credited with pioneering the automobile assembly line. His 1901 Curved Dash Oldsmobile was the first car in America to be mass-produced that way. After a falling-out with his business partner, Olds started a second Lansing car company in 1904. That was the REO Motor Car Company, named for his initials, R.E.O. Its “Speed Wagon” truck later lent its name to the rock band. Oldsmobile went on to become part of General Motors. It ran for 107 years before the brand was retired in 2004. GM still builds vehicles in the Lansing area today, assembling Cadillacs at its Lansing Grand River plant. You can dig into all of it at the R.E. Olds Transportation Museum. It displays the very first Oldsmobile, built in 1897, alongside REOs and a century of Lansing-made machines. The museum is at 240 Museum Drive in Lansing (reoldsmuseum.org).