Ransom E. Olds started building his cars before Henry Ford, although Ford beat him to the assembly line. The durability of the first Oldsmobile, the Curved Dash, and their well-known ability to ride through almost any terrain, made them the perfect mail-delivery vehicle. General Motors acquired Oldsmobile in 1908 and pioneered many advances in car engineering: the first automatic transmission, the first overhead-valve V8 design that increased the car’s power significantly, and the introduction of many other smaller-scale amenities that would eventually become standard on all cars. But as all good things, Oldsmobile’s run came to an end by the end of the century.

On this day, April, 29, 2004, the last Oldsmobile rolled off the lot in their factory in Lansing, Michigan. The car company went from over a million units sold in the 1960s to regarded as antiquated by the 1990s.

No better signifier can be found of the beginning of the end for Oldsmobile than its 1988 tagline “This is not your grandfather’s Oldsmobile”. GM was attempting to revive its image as an appealing choice for the young first-time car buyers, but only reinforced its image as an outdated model. At the same time it distanced the legions of grandfathers who actually did drive Oldsmobiles. With both the major markets turned off from the brand, GM’s cars stopped selling, even despite praise from critics for its new designs.