Ransom Eli Olds, founder of Olds Motor Vehicle Works (later known as Oldsmobile), was born in 1864.

Ransom Olds began his career in his father’s machine shop, Pliny Olds & Son. He bought his brother’s share in the family business and quickly became general manager. Olds led the company to manufacture steam engines, which he correctly guessed would become widely used. He made a number of attempts at using the steam engine to power horseless carriages, but failed to make a marketable model. Inspired by gasoline engines demonstrated at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, Olds began experimenting with their use in horseless carriages. By 1896 he had created a prototype of a gas-burning vehicle. A year later he formed Olds Motor Vehicle Works, the company that would eventually become Oldsmobile. In 1901, the company, which had by then merged with the original Pliny Olds & Son and changed its name to Olds Motor Works, created the first assembly line of its kind to manufacture their new product. The company later became a part of General Motors, and in December of 2000, GM announced that their

Oldsmobile division, the oldest automotive brand in America, would be phased out over the next few years.

Illuminations
Students plot data related to automobile mileage and age several different ways, and then apply the resulting slopes to a real consumer decision in Automobile Mileage: Year vs. Mileage (9–12), Automobile Mileage: Age vs. Mileage (9–12), Automobile Mileage: Years Since 1990 vs. Mileage (9-12) and Automobile Mileage: Comparing and Contrasting (9–12).

Science NetLinks
Technology and Inequality (3–5) helps students to become more familiar with different types of technology, and to understand that not all people have the same access to technology.

The Science Update Cold Car Start (6–12) discusses how wind affects car engines.

In It’s a Crash Test, Dummy (6–8), students explore automobile safety through several hands-on activities.

EconEdLink
In Car Loan Project (9–12), students choose a car they want to buy based on their needs, find an advertisement for the car, fill out a loan application and then calculate their monthly payments.

Xpeditions
The automobile has changed the places and ways in which people live. Life on the Edge: Cities on the Fringe (9–12) focuses on centers of transportation and trade known as “edge cities.” With the advent of the freeway, the automobile has pushed the extreme of metropolitan development to fringe locations many miles from older downtown areas. The suburban city has become increasingly independent of the downtown city.

ReadWriteThink
In Avalanche, Aztek, or Bravada? A Connotation Mini-Lesson (6–8), students examine familiar car names (such as Avalanche, Aztek, Bravada, Suburban or Vue) for underlying connotations. Students then proceed through a series of steps, increasing their control over language, until they select words with powerful connotations in their own writing.