Oldsmobile Reliability Run passes through Kilcullen

This report about an Oldsmobile Reliability Run passing through Kilcullen in 1904 is a reflection of an initiative which had begun only a few years previously in America, writes Brian Byrne.

The new automobile industry was trying hard to show that their products could withstand long journeys over roads which were still relics from the horse and wagon age.

Participation in races was one way, but under greater pressure than normal use, only small proportions of cars that started actually reached the finishing lines. And because of often-fatal accidents, racing on open roads was very quickly becoming unpopular, and was banned in England, for instance ... the reason that in 1903, the Gordon Bennett Cup Race which was supposed to be run in England had been transferred to Ireland.

In 1901, American carmaker Ransom E Olds had one of his testers drive his latest Curved Dash Oldsmobile from Detroit to the New York Motor Show. The 820 miles were covered, in very poor road conditions, in nine days. The publicity value almost doubled the number of Oldsmobile cars sold the following year.

1904 Oldsmobile Curved Dash.

Similar Reliability Runs became very popular. The one through Kilcullen reported on above was a 3,000-mile journey by two Oldsmobiles starting in London, driving from Dublin to Waterford and then to Cork, and returning to England to complete their trip back to London through the West and Midlands of England.

As reported, the local part of the drive took in part of the Gordon Bennett course which had hosted top racing drivers of Europe the year before.

Photographs use Policy — Privacy Policy