The Michigan State University Museum is lending its 1903 Curved Dash Oldsmobile to the R.E. Olds Transportation Museum in Lansing Aug. 14.
The move will start at 9:30 a.m. outside the northeast corner of Spartan Stadium.
Ransom E. Olds, founder of Oldsmobile in Lansing, donated his own personal 1903 Curved Dash Oldsmobile to Michigan State College in 1948. Although space was initially identified in the Engineering Building, Olds was adamant that the automobile be placed with the museum where more visitors would get a chance to see this emblem of automotive innovation and heritage.
When the Curved Dash came to the MSU Museum, the vehicle was operational and was even driven once in a college engineering exposition in the 1950s. The engine serial number, similar to today's "VIN," dates the car as a 1903, although some believe the car contains trim and accessories from other years in the 1900-1904 model years. The Curved Dash was primarily displayed when the MSU Museum moved to its current location, the former Main Library at 409 W. Circle Drive, in the mid-1950s. The Curved Dash remained on public exhibit through the late 1990s, when museum exhibition halls were reconfigured.
"The MSU Museum is very pleased to partner with the R E Olds Transportation Museum, to have an important part of Michigan's - and America's - history back on public display," said Gary Morgan, director of the MSU Museum. "This car has a particular association with R. E. Olds himself, and it is fitting that the people of Michigan will be able to see it in a museum dedicated to his life and legacy."
The museum loan to the R.E. Olds Museum will be renewable on an annual basis.
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