Michael Satterfield
In 1902 Ransom E. Olds, the founder of Oldsmobile, wanted to generate some excitement for his still very new car company, as always motorsports would be the way to prove the Oldsmobile name. The car was called the Pirate and was based on the Olds Curved Dash Runabout, which at the time was America’s best-selling car.
With the body stripped away to save weight the chassis was fitted with two torpedo-like tanks, one for water and the other for gasoline. In April of 1902, the car would make history as the first car to be officially timed on Florida’s Ormond Beach, which would become known as the “birthplace of speed.” The Pirate would return in the following year with driver Horace Thomas who would set a speed record of 54.38 mph in the gasoline-powered 1,000-pound class.
Today the Pirate part of the General Motors Heritage Center Collection.
Historic image via The New York Public Library. Science, Industry, and Business Library.
Modern image via GM
