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Merry Olds with a backward look (Upd. Pram factory!)

We hesitated whether we would publish this as a PostWar article or a PreWar one. Hesitation because this is not a 1901 Oldsmobile production line we are looking at, but one that was set up in 1959! These fakes were produced by the Starts Manufacturing Co. in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and they had big plans with them. Called the "Rollsmobile", a production of 50 units per month was started. This was to be doubled in the foreseeable future as a hotel in Nassau had already ordered fifty Rollsmobiles to be used by their guests. From these pictures it's difficult to see whether they are perfect copies of the Oldsmobile or if there are well-to-spot differences. Have you ever seen such a Rollsmobile? Can they be mistaken for a real Curved Dash Olds? And can you tell us what became of this company?
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Gepubliceerd:
zondag april 21st, 2013
Onbekend
07 Mei 2017, 20:37
I have an original Rollsmobile we purchased new in the 50's. I will begin restoring it tomorrow but I have examined the real 1901 Olds at the ford museum and the similarity is strong. The drivetrain shows the difference. The original Rollsmobile had electric start, rear breaks, parking break, lights but no top.
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Onbekend
22 April 2013, 14:50
In 1962 when I was employed at Santee Automobiles, Inc. I worked with a man who belped design this replica. He said it was not a 100% replication of the curved dash Olds. I have seen one at a car show in my home town National City, California. It is easy to spot this as a replica by looking at the engine.
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Onbekend
22 April 2013, 06:39
I already started worrying about the large number of curved dashes during the London-Brighton run, but some googling revealed that the 1901 replicas were made in three-quarter size. So if you have an original available, it won't difficult to tell which is which ...
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Onbekend
22 April 2013, 05:44
Looking at this assembly line, I am reminded of pram manufacture.
Wiki has a few lines on Rollsmobile.

Regards, Harit
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Onbekend
22 April 2013, 03:19
For one thing, the Rollsmobile was a 3/4-scale model. The general design was correct, but many individual components were obviously incorrect. See:

http://www.desertclassics.com/Sold3/Olds01curved.html
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