Ransom Eli Olds began working in his father’s machine shop around 1880, where he helped build steam engines for yachts. After Karl Benz built the world’s first car, the Motorwagen, Olds was inspired by his use of the internal combustion engine and secured a U.S. patent for a three-wheeled, gas-powered vehicle in 1896. The next year, the family business was renamed the Olds Motor Vehicle Company, and by the turn of the century, the public had begun calling their
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