The Oldsmobile Limited was an top-level passenger car produced by GM's

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it pro ...

Division in 1910, offered as an upgraded replacement to the

Oldsmobile Model Z The Oldsmobile Model Z was the company's first top-level passenger car produced under the Oldsmobile brand before they became a division of General Motors in 1908. The Model Z was created and engineered after Mr. Olds left the company but before ...

when it was discontinued in 1909. The Oldsmobile Limited was very large and expensive in comparison to vehicles offered by competitors, and was manufactured in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, makin ...

. It was the senior model to the mid-level Oldsmobile Autocrat of which it shared much of its technology while the Autocrat was smaller, and was replaced by the

Oldsmobile Light Eight The Oldsmobile Light Eight was an automobile produced by the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors in roadster, two-door coupe, four-door sedan from between 1916 and 1923. It was powered by a sidevalve V8 engine, the maker's first, and shar ...

. It was also much larger than GM's lop level brand, the Cadillac Model Thirty which only had a four cylinder engine, and the

Buick Model 10 The Buick 4 was a series of passenger cars produced by the Buick Division of GM from 1909 through 1918, and was available as a touring car, phaeton or roadster. It was available with the Buick Model B as a larger alternative offering a larger eng ...

which made the Limited the most expensive vehicle GM offered at the time.Clymer, Floyd. ''Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877-1925'' (New York: Bonanza Books, 1950)

History

The Series 23 was equipped with an enormous

six-cylinder The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balan ...

T-head engine A T-head engine is an early type of internal combustion engine that became obsolete after World War I. It is a sidevalve engine that is distinguished from the much more common L-head by its placement of the valves. The intake valves are on on ...

that displaced developing 60 bhp. The engine was installed in the front, driving the rear wheels through a transmission shaft. The

gearbox Propulsion transmission is the mode of transmitting and controlling propulsion power of a machine. The term ''transmission'' properly refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, gearbox, prop shaft (for rear-wheel drive vehicles), diff ...

had four forward gears, with the gearshift lever and handbrake positioned externally and to the right of the driver, who sat on the right hand side of the vehicle. Retail prices ranged from US$4,600 ($ in dollars ) to US$5,800 ($ in dollars ) for the closed body sedan which made it a competitor with the Pierce-Arrow Town Car. As with other Oldsmobiles of the time, the brake pedal came into contact with the

Drum brake A drum brake is a brake that uses friction caused by a set of shoes or pads that press outward against a rotating cylinder-shaped part called a brake drum. The term ''drum brake'' usually means a brake in which shoes press on the inner surfa ...

on the rear wheels. The Series 23 or Series 24 had a wheelbase of and came as a touring car, 4-door sedan or 2-door roadster for 1910. It was used in a race against the

20th Century Limited The ''20th Century Limited'' was an express passenger train on the New York Central Railroad (NYC) from 1902 to 1967. The train traveled between Grand Central Terminal in New York City and LaSalle Street Station in Chicago, Illinois, along ...

train from Albany to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and a painting was created depicting the race, with the car winning the race. For 1911, the improved Series 27 engine displacement increased to with the same wheelbases offered and bodystyles. 1912 was the last year of production where it was called the Series 33, and the shorter wheelbase was no longer offered. More than 800 vehicles were produced between 1910 and 1912. The car was positioned as a competitor to many large European luxury marques such as

Lorraine-Dietrich Lorraine-Dietrich was a French automobile and aircraft engine manufacturer from 1896 until 1935, created when railway locomotive manufacturer ''Société Lorraine des Anciens Etablissements de Dietrich et Cie de Lunéville'' (known as ''De Dietr ...

Brasier Brasier was a French automobile manufacturer, based in the Paris conurbation, and active between 1905 and 1930. The firm began as Richard-Brasier in 1902, and became known as Chaigneau-Brasier in 1926. __TOC__ Origins Charles-Henri Brasier wo ...

, Delaunay-Belleville,

Panhard & Levassor Panhard was a French motor vehicle manufacturer that began as one of the first makers of automobiles. It was a manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its final incarnation, now owned by Renault Trucks Defense, was formed ...

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquarte ...

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...

, and D. Napier & Son. Sales were affected by the fact that Oldsmobile also built the relatively tiny

Oldsmobile Curved Dash __NOTOC__ The gasoline-powered Oldsmobile Model R, also known as the Curved Dash Oldsmobile, is credited as being the first mass-produced automobile, meaning that it was built on an assembly line using interchangeable parts. It was introduced by ...

References

Limited 1910s cars {{Brass-auto-stub Brass Era vehicles