Business: The Backward Look

Among the new autos rolling off the nation’s assembly lines this week are two sporty but little-known models with features that no other U.S. cars can match. The cars: 1901 Oldsmobiles, enjoying a jaunty revival in the era of the tail fin and the power brake. The cars are manufactured a scant five miles apart in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. by American Air Products Corp. (whose slogan is “The Backward Look”) and by Starts Manufacturing Co. They began producing the cars last year as specialty items and display models for auto dealers and stores. But the antique Oldses caught on so well with merchants, college boys and antique-car buffs that American Air has upped production to a planned 2,200 this year, and Starts Manufacturing plans to double present production to 100 cars per month.

American Air’s “Merry Olds” comes in two models (roadster and wagon), is an almost exact duplicate of the 1901 model right down to its bicycle-type wheels, chain drive, steering tiller and three elegant brass lamps. It can reach speeds of 35 m.p.h. with its 4 h.p. air-cooled engine, gets more than 60 miles to the gallon. Cost: $1,495 f.o.b. Ft. Lauderdale.

Starts’s Olds is a fancy product that is two-thirds the size of the old Olds, comes in black, golden yellow, and fiesta red, has an automatic gear shift. Speed and gas mileage are similar to its rival. Cost: $1,195 f.o.b. Ft. Lauderdale.