The First Car With A Speedometer Was This Iconic Oldsmobile Model

When we think of cars that introduced important firsts, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class comes to mind as a modern example. This luxury sedan brought us the first driver's airbag as standard equipment and pioneering stability and brake control systems. However, another important innovation in the auto industry came from an American car company that was founded in the waning years of the 19th century. Ransom Olds built his first car in 1896 and founded Oldsmobile the next year; the company was in business for over a century before declining sales prompted GM to drop Oldsmobile in 2004.

In the industry's early days, automakers had wildly varying manufacturing capabilities. De Dion-Bouton was Europe's biggest automaker but produced only about 1,200 cars per year, while Henry Ford's refinement of the assembly line process allowed his company to crank out more than 2 million Model Ts in 1923. Oldsmobile had more than a quarter-century of innovation under its belt by then, including with the  ModelR Curved Dash runabout that debuted in 1901.

This model has the honor of being the first car to feature a speedometer. The next year, German innovator Otto Schultz patented a system that transferred the rotation of the transmission to the dash-mounted gauge via a metal cable; this design stayed roughly the same until digital gauges took over in the 20th century. A 1901 Connecticut state law mandated that cars could only travel at speeds up to 12 mph within cities and 15 mph outside of them, but drivers could be cited for reckless driving at speeds lower than that. The speedo was developed by the Warner Electric Company as an adaptation of the cut-meter; a device used to measure the rotational speed of industrial tools.

Up until certain models became popular and commonplace, the success of the automobile was still very much up in the air. Horses were still seen by many as more reliable, and of course they were cheaper and easier to care for, too. Oldsmobile changed this perception with the launch of its Curved Dash runabout and in doing so claimed the title of the world's first mass-produced car.

During the model R's first full year in production, Oldsmobile cranked out 2,500 units. In 1903, this figure soared to 4,000 before peaking at 5,000 units in 1904. In total, around 11,000 examples were produced by 1907. These figures showed that companies could meet market demand for an affordable and reliable automobile, and innovations like the first speedometer helped Oldsmobile deliver on this need.

At the time, lead-footed motorists were often penalized for reckless driving. Walter Arnold of Kent, England, received a fine of one shilling in 1896 for speeding, while a New York cabbie by the name of Jacob German was arrested and jailed in 1899 for hurtling around the city at 12 mph. Without a speedometer to guide them, the risk of arrest would have made many drivers understandably nervous. Oldsmobile went on to establish some other key firsts like the windshield and top, and the Curved Dash runabout became the world's first gas-powered postal vehicle. These important milestones could be considered some of the most important moments in Oldsmobile's long history.