R. E. Olds Transportation Museum facts for kids
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| Established | May 1981 |
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| Location | 240 Museum Drive Lansing, Michigan |
| Type | Automotive |
The R.E. Olds Transportation Museum is a cool place in Lansing, Michigan. It's named after Ransom E. Olds, who was a very important person in car history. He started two famous car companies: Oldsmobile and REO. Many people think this museum is one of the best car museums in the whole United States!
Contents
What You Can See: The Collection
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The R.E. Olds Museum has a huge collection of Oldsmobile cars. You can see cars from as far back as 1897 all the way to 2004. One special car is an 1897 Olds, which is on loan from the famous Smithsonian Institution. There's also a copy of a steam-powered car that Ransom E. Olds built in 1893. This was even before he officially started Oldsmobile!
Cool Car Stuff and More
The museum also has lots of other interesting items related to cars. These are called "automobilia." You can see almost every type of Michigan license plate ever made. There are also old traffic signs and even a working traffic light from the 1950s. A collection of bicycles shows how early car makers often started out making bikes. They had the right tools and ideas to build cars too!
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You'll also find vehicles from the REO company. Ransom E. Olds started REO after he left Oldsmobile. One very famous vehicle from REO was the REO Speed Wagon truck. This truck was so well-known that a famous band even named themselves after it! Another big truck from a company that followed REO is the Diamond REO.
The museum also has some personal items that belonged to Ransom E. Olds himself. This helps you learn more about his life.
Electric Cars and the Last Oldsmobile
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The R.E. Olds Museum has some cool electric cars too. This includes an 1899 Olds Motor Works Electric car. There's also a 1996 General Motors EV1. This EV1 is very special because most of these cars were destroyed years ago. The museum's EV1 is one of only about 40 that were saved!
The very last Oldsmobile car ever built was a 2004 Alero GLS. It was displayed at the museum right after it was made in Lansing. This special Alero was part of the "Final 500 Collector's Edition." It stayed at the museum until 2009 before moving to another GM collection.
Museum History
People started planning for a car museum in Lansing way back in 1977. The R.E. Olds Museum finally opened its doors in May 1981. Some of the first cars in the museum included a 1911 Oldsmobile Limited and the very first Oldsmobile Toronado ever made.
The Building's Past
The museum building itself has an interesting history in Lansing's car story. It was once where the Bates car was made. Later, it was used as a warehouse for beer. Then, in 1972, it became the first bus garage for the city's public transportation system, CATA. Turning the building into a museum took a lot of hard work, mostly done by volunteers.
The city used to rent the building to the museum for only $2 a year! But in 2018, the museum actually bought the building for $2. That's a great deal!
In 2011, the Olds Museum was even featured on the TV show American Pickers. The museum bought a very old license plate from 1908 on the show. This plate was used by the Oldsmobile factory on their test cars.
See also
In Spanish: Museo del Transpote R. E. Olds para niños
- List of automobile museums
- List of transport museums
