Timed Reading 3

The automobile has an interesting history. In 1896, a pair of brothers and former bicycle makers named Duryea manufactured the first dozen or so vehicles in the United States. By 1900, as many as 100 different brands and eight thousand cars were on America’s roads. In 1901, An 18-year-old blacksmith’s son named Ransom E. Olds produced the “Runabout” – a vehicle with an internal combustion engine. Olds also pioneered assembly line production, contracting outside companies to make parts which would be put together at his factory. The results of Old’s partnerships were astonishing. The Dodge brothers were one of Old’s transmission suppliers, and the founders of Cadillac, Lincoln, and General Motors supplied Olds with engines. It wasn’t until 1914 that Henry Ford revolutionized mass-production and rapid assembly line production. Ford’s New Model T could come off an assembly line every 24 seconds with a price of just $290 – quite affordable for most people. Because of pioneers like Ransom E. Olds and Henry Ford, by 1915 the number of vehicles in the United States had increased to nearly two million.