No “curved dash” but still a merry car indeed, the Oldsmobile Model X3 of 1909 was a descendant from the Model X of the prior year and was equipped with the same 302-cubic-inch T-head four-cylinder engine, rated at 32 horsepower and mounted on a 106-inch-wheelbase chassis. How many were produced is not definitively known, but it was not a significant number. Reportedly the example offered here is the only one known to have survived.

According to a prior owner, this Model X3 was purchased new by a Mr. Smotherman of Wartrace, Tennessee, as the first automobile to ever enter the town. Mr. Smotherman kept and drove it for the better part of the teens before passing it to Grady Smotherman (no relation), who, after a few more years of use, sold it back to the original owner. The Oldsmobile was moved into the family barn around 1933. In 1946, it was entered into a local parade, but after it would not start, was returned to the barn, and there it remained until being sold at a 1989 estate auction—billed with admirable honesty as “The Largest Collection of Antique Furniture, Collector’s Items, and Junk You’ll Find Anywhere.”

The X3, however, proved no junk. Its new owner, Mike Tschida of Franklin, Tennessee had the car’s authenticity verified by the late Oldsmobile historian Helen Earley, then began the process of a comprehensive, nut-and-bolt restoration by Ross’ Restoration, completed in 1997. Shortly prior to the completion of the work, the car was featured as the keynote vehicle for the year 1909 at the Oldsmobile Centennial in Lansing—where it was still displayed in two pieces, a rolling chassis and the wooden body. The fully completed X3 achieved a Senior Grand National First Prize, as well as, the Antique Automobile Club of America Cup for the Southeastern Division in 2000.

In 2004 the car was purchased for a prominent collection in Texas, where it remained until 2011. It was then acquired by an enthusiast in Ontario, who, with mechanical preparation by RM Auto Restoration, undertook several tours with it over the years and eventually fitted an electric starter for ease of operation. More recently it has been part of a well-known Southwestern collection, from which it is offered today.

Believed to be the sole surviving example of the X3, this car is sure to tempt the enthusiast of Brass Era Oldsmobiles or unusual American automobiles.