Oldsmobile Curved Dash in the context of "Interchangeable parts"

A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat 1-8 people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around 1.644 billion cars in use worldwide as of January 2025.

The French inventor Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built the first steam-powered road vehicle in 1769, while the Swiss inventor François Isaac de Rivaz designed and constructed the first internal combustion-powered automobile in 1808. The modern car—a practical, marketable automobile for everyday use—was invented in 1886, when the German inventor Carl Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Commercial cars became widely available during the 20th century. The 1901 Oldsmobile Curved Dash and the 1908 Ford Model T, both American cars, are widely considered the first mass-produced and mass-affordable cars, respectively. Cars were rapidly adopted in the US, where they replaced horse-drawn carriages. In Europe and other parts of the world, demand for automobiles did not increase until after World War II. In the 21st century, car usage is still increasing rapidly, especially in China, India, and other newly industrialised countries.

Ransom Eli Olds (June 3, 1864 – August 26, 1950) was an American businessman and executive who was known as a pioneer of the American automotive industry, whom the Oldsmobile and REO brands were named after. He claimed to have built his first steam car as early as 1887 and his first gasoline-powered car in 1896. The modern assembly line and its basic concept is credited to Olds, who used it to build the first mass-produced automobile, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash, beginning in 1901.

The Series 20 was an automobile produced by Oldsmobile division of General Motors in 1909. When the Oldsmobile Company joined General Motors in 1908, the Series 20 was one of the first examples of platform sharing that became GM's most notable business model, as it was derived from the previously established Buick brand from the Buick Model B. The Series 20 effectively replaced the Model F, also known as the Curved-Dash Oldsmobile, when it was discontinued when GM assumed operations, and was replaced by the 1914 Oldsmobile Model 42 "Baby Olds". It was the entry-level vehicle below the Oldsmobile Model A and the luxury sedan Oldsmobile Model Z. It was the first Oldsmobile to use numbers to identify the product, a tradition that would last until the company concluded operations in 2004.