THE OLDSMOBILE CURVED DASH WAS THE FIRST CAR TO HAVE A SPEEDOMETER
Most people who own a car today take their speedometer for granted. A standard, unremarkable feature in every vehicle, it quietly does its job of indicating current speed with few frills. You might not have given a great deal of thought to the history that brought the speedometer to your car’s dashboard. However, this device is much older than some might think, almost as old as the car itself.
The very first car in history to be equipped with a speedometer came from the American automaker Oldsmobile. It was one of the first car manufacturers in the United States but has been defunct for over 20 years. The model Curved Dash landed on the market at the very start of the 20th century and played a crucial role in innovation in the car industry. Let’s take a closer look at this model and the history that surrounds it.
The Oldsmobile Curved Dash: A Pioneer Of Automotive Tech
The Oldsmobile Curved Dash was introduced in 1901 as the first production model from the automaker. Ransom E. Olds founded the company four years earlier in 1897. The Curved Dash was notable for introducing one very important technological advancement to the automotive world because it was the first car to be equipped with a speedometer.
The beginning of the Curved Dash’s production run and subsequent commercial success came about partly by accident, due to a fire that engulfed Oldsmobile’s production facilities. Several other prototypes that the company was developing at the time were destroyed in the blaze. Workers only managed to save one car, a prototype of the Curved Dash. It was able to enter production shortly afterwards.
The model offered space for the driver and one passenger, on a padded couch-like seat (below). It was completely open at the top, offering no protection from the elements. The name came from the unique body design, which featured a curved dashboard similar to that of a sleigh. A “Straight Dash” variant of the car, which did not include this curve, was also available.
Over the course of the Curved Dash’s lifespan, several variants were introduced. The first was the Model R, followed by the Model 6C, the Model B, and the Model F. Each featured mechanical upgrades, such as the addition of drum brakes instead of band brakes, improved engine cooling, and an upgraded suspension. Power came from a 1.5-liter, single-cylinder engine, which produced 5 hp and was paired to a two-speed planetary gearbox.
In the Curved Dash’s first year of production, 425 units were built. In the following year, that number rose to 2,500. The car’s production run lasted until 1907, with a total of over 19,000 cars being assembled.
Not Just A Speedometer: The Curved Dash's Other Historical Milestones
The speedometer might be the most immediately recognizable modern automotive feature that made its first appearance on the Curved Dash. However, this model is also responsible for achieving a few other historical milestones. The Curved Dash was instrumental in shaping not just the way we drive today, but also the way cars are manufactured. Here are the Curved Dash’s other accomplishments that stand out in automotive history.
First Car Built On A Modern Assembly Line
Ask most people who invented the automotive assembly line, and Henry Ford’s name is sure to be brought up. However, this answer is only partially correct. Ford was the first to use the modern moving assembly line system, with vehicles moving on a conveyor belt and workers remaining in place at their stations. Oldsmobile, however, was the first to use an earlier static assembly line style. Each unfinished car remained in one spot, while the workers moved around to assemble different components.
First Car Built Using Interchangeable Parts
The Oldsmobile Curved Dash not only pioneered the concept of the assembly line but was also the first car to be built using interchangeable parts. Up until this point, cars had been thought of as customized creations built through a complex process by highly skilled technicians. At the same time, Oldsmobile’s use of standardized parts greatly simplified the process and turned the car into a genuinely mass-produced item.
Beyond The Curved Dash: Oldsmobile's History Of Automotive Innovation
The Curved Dash was just the opening chapter of a long history of innovation for Oldsmobile. Throughout its lifespan of just over a century, the brand was responsible for introducing several automotive features that are a common sight in vehicles today. Let’s take a look at a few other Oldsmobile models that achieved important technological “firsts.”
First Turbocharged Production Car:
In 1962, Oldsmobile was responsible for building the first production car equipped with a turbocharger, the Jetfire. A special version of the Cutlass, the Jetfire was not a commercial success, as consumers were not so sure about the new technology, which required more maintenance than they were used to. As a result, it only survived on the market for one further model year. The Jetfire shares its title of first turbocharged car with another General Motors model unveiled that year, the Chevy Corvair Monza.
First Commercially Available Car With Airbags
Although airbag technology had been in development since the 1950s, it wasn’t until the early 70s that it became viable for use in a production car. The first commercially available model to offer airbags was the 1973 Oldsmobile Toronado.
The feature rapidly gained popularity over the course of the following years; 14 years later the Porsche 944 Turbo would become the first model to feature airbags as standard, rather than as an option.
First Production Heads-Up Display
The first production model to feature the technology we now know as the heads-up display was the 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass. The tech was first developed for aviation. In this car, the speedometer and the turn-signal indicators were projected onto the windshield. The feature was a success and rapidly found its way into other models and makes, eventually becoming commonplace today.
Do You Know How Fast You Were Going? A Brief History Of The Speedometer
The speedometer, the all-important automotive feature pioneered by the Curved Dash, had originally been patented under the name of “velocimeter” by Croatian inventor Josip Belusic in 1888. Belusic then presented his invention to the world the following year, at the 1889 Paris Exposition. His creation functioned thanks to electricity and magnets. A similar device that operated on the same principles was later patented by a German inventor, Otto Schultze, in 1902. Yet another version was built around the same time by British inventor Charles Babbage, but it was primarily used on railway locomotives rather than cars.
The potential automotive applications of the device quickly became apparent. After its debut on the Curved Dash in 1901, the speedometer began to appear on other models. By the early 1910s, several different automobiles were fitted with one as a standard feature, rather than as an optional extra.
Over the course of decades, although the speedometer’s core purpose remained the same, its mechanism of function evolved along with car technology as a whole. The rudimentary devices of the early 20th century gave way to electronic ones, which offer more precision. Today, most new cars include the speedometer as part of a digital display, alongside several other important elements such as the tachometer, odometer, and fuel gauge.
2025-10-10T03:25:01ZSources: Oldsmobile, Smiths Instruments, Car Design News