The modern assembly line and its basic concept is credited to Olds, who used it to build the first mass-produced automobile, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash, beginning in 1901.

He eventually settled in Lansing, Michigan, where he attended high-school before dropping out so that he could work full-time at the family company, P.F.

The company was bought by a copper and lumber magnate named Samuel L. Smith[4] in 1899 and renamed Olds Motor Works.

[5] By 1901 Olds had built 11 prototype vehicles, including at least one of each power mode: steam, electricity and gasoline.

Ransom Olds claimed it was the fire that made him select the runabout, from among his many other models, to put into production.

He points to an Olds advertising blitz that had already led to more than 300 Curved Dash orders even before the fire took place.

"[7] Later that year, Olds had his company's test driver, Roy Chapin, drive a Curved Dash runabout to the second annual New York Automobile Show.

Along the way, Chapin opted to drive up onto the Erie Canal tow path to escape the mire of New York state roads.

[14] In 1946, Ransom Olds started building lawnmowers as the Lawn Mower Division of REO motors.

Henry Ford came after him, and improved upon this by developing a continuously moving synchronous assembly line to manufacture his Model T starting in 1913.

[16] In 1916, Olds purchased 37,547 acres (152 km2) of land by the northern part of Tampa Bay in Florida and developed the area into what is now the city of Oldsmar.

In the early 1900s, Olds built an elaborate Queen Anne-style mansion[notes 1] on South Washington Avenue in Lansing.

Among the home's many technological innovations was a turntable in the garage which allowed Olds to pull in at night and leave again the next morning without driving in reverse.