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Do you know why Oldsmar is called that?

By TAMARA EL-KHOURY
Published January 15, 2007

In 2004, Oldsmobile, the country's oldest car company, ended production with 500 metallic cherry red Aleros.

Since the "off" switch has been flipped, the Oldsmobile faces inevitable extinction.

But surely, its memory is alive and well in Oldsmar, the city of 13,900 that bears its name.

Surely.

But at Oldsmar Elementary - home of the Owls, not the Oldsmobiles - the question of how the city got its name was met with vacant stares and shrugs.

"I don't know," said Marc Allison, a 10-year-old fifth-grader. "It's Old?"

Back in the day, young Oldsmar Owls used to learn about one Ransom Eli Olds and his cars, and about his 1913 purchase of 37,541 acres on the northern tip of Tampa Bay.

Of course, someone visiting R.E. Olds Park would know the connection between the car, the man and the city. The park is dedicated to him.

Douglas McGuire, a 10-year-old fifth-grader at Mary Bryant Elementary in Tampa, guessed that Oldsmar got its name from an explorer.

What about the Olds Club of Florida? A club whose mission is to "further interest in Oldsmobiles" would undoubtedly include members from Oldsmar.

But of the club's estimated 125 members, only one is from Oldsmar.

The lone Oldsmarian? The city itself, which owns two Oldsmobiles and joined the club under the city manager's name.

Which takes us to City Hall, home of a working replica of a 1901 Curved Dash Oldsmobile.

Velvet ropes separate the people from the brainchild of R.E. Olds. Bicycle-thin wheels rim dozens of shiny spokes. The black vehicle is trimmed in red, has a single-cylinder gas-powered engine, tiller steering and chain drive.

The city also owns a more modern version. At the fire station, beneath a cover, is a cherry red 2004 Alero, with a new car smell and a "Final 500" stitching on the leather seats.

Perhaps the best-known Oldsmobile in town has a Reform Party sticker on it and a U.S. Navy license plate frame.

Vice Mayor Janice Miller's blue 1994 Cutlass Supreme convertible is her third Oldsmobile. Miller had a hardtop '77 Cutlass Supreme once. Miller says she holds good memories from that car.

She named her latest Oldsmobile Lucille.

"I keep telling people I'm going to drive it until the wheels fall off," she said.

Lucille makes her feel more connected, more loyal to the city, she said.

"Come away with me, Lucille," she sings. "In my merry Oldsmobile. Dah, dah, dah da da ..."

Tamara El-Khoury can be reached at 727 445-4181 or tel-khoury@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 14, 2007, 21:39:18]