The REO Motor Car Company was a company based in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, making ...

, which produced

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

s and

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

s from 1905 to 1975. At one point, the company also manufactured

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es on its truck platforms.

Ransom E. Olds Ransom Eli Olds (June 3, 1864 – August 26, 1950) was a pioneer of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automotive industry, after whom the Oldsmobile and REO Motor Car Company, REO brands were named. He claimed to have built h ...

was an entrepreneur who founded multiple companies in the automobile industry. In 1897 Olds founded

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it produ ...

. In 1905 Olds left Oldsmobile and established a new company, REO Motor Car Company, in Lansing, Michigan. Olds had 52% of the stock and the titles of president and general manager. To ensure a reliable supply of parts, he organized a number of subsidiary firms, like the National Coil Company, the Michigan Screw Company, and the Atlas Drop Forge Company. Originally the company was to be called "R. E. Olds Motor Car Company", but the owner of Olds' previous company, then called

Olds Motor Works Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it produ ...

, objected and threatened legal action on the grounds of likely confusion of names by consumers. Olds then changed the name to his initials. Olds Motor Works soon adopted the popular name of its vehicles,

(which, along with

Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...

and

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

, became a founding division of

General Motors Corporation The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

). The company's name was spelled alternately in all capitals REO or with only an initial capital as Reo, and the company's own literature was inconsistent in this regard, with early advertising using all capitals, and later

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

using the "Reo" capitalization. The pronunciation, however, was as a single word. Lansing is home to the R. E. Olds Transportation Museum.

Early REO production

By 1907, REO had gross sales of $4.5 million, and the company was one of the four wealthiest automobile manufacturers in the U.S. After 1908, however, despite the introduction of improved cars designed by Olds, REO's share of the automobile market decreased due in part to competition from emerging companies like

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

and

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

. REO added a truck-manufacturing division and a Canadian plant in

St Catharines, Ontario St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontario ...

, in 1910. Two years later, Olds claimed that he had built the best car he could, a

tourer Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. Th ...

able to seat two, four, or five, with a engine,

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

, and wheels, for $1,055 (not including top,

windshield The windshield (North American English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike, truck, train, boat or streetcar is the front window, which provides visibility while protecting occupants from the elements. Mo ...

, or gas tank, which were US$100 extra); self-starter was $25 on top of that. 1906reorunabout

In 1915, Olds relinquished the title of general manager to his protégé Richard H. Scott, and eight years later he ended his tenure as the company's presidency as well, retaining the position of chairman of the board. Perhaps the most famous REO episode was the 1912 Trans-Canada journey. Traveling from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, British Columbia, in a 1912 REO special touring car, mechanic/driver

Fonce V. (Jack) Haney Fonce V. "Jack" Haney (March 10, 1889 – March 26, 1935) was a Canadian auto mechanic and driver. Haney was a native of Huntington, Indiana, USA. In 1912, he was the driver and mechanic of the Reo Motor Company sedan that travelled 4,176 miles f ...

and journalist Thomas W. Wilby made the first trip by automobile across

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

(including one short jaunt into northeastern Washington State when the Canadian roads were virtually impassable). From 1915 to 1925, under Scott's direction, REO remained profitable. In 1923, the company sold an early

recreational vehicle A recreational vehicle, often abbreviated as RV, is a motor vehicle or trailer that includes living quarters designed for accommodation. Types of RVs include motorhomes, campervans, coaches, caravans (also known as travel trailers and camper ...

, called the "Motor Pullman Car". Designed by

Battle Creek Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which encom ...

, Michigan, newspaper editor J. H. Brown, the automobile included a drop-down sleeping extension, a built-in gas cooking range, and a refrigerator. During 1925, however, Scott, like many of his contemporaries/competitors, began an ambitious expansion program designed to make the company more competitive with other automobile manufacturers by offering cars in different price ranges. The failure of this program and the effects of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

caused such losses that Olds ended his retirement during 1933 and assumed control of REO again, but resigned in 1934. During 1936, REO abandoned the manufacture of automobiles to concentrate on trucks.

Reo Flying Cloud and Reo Royale

REO's two most memorable cars were its Reo Flying Cloud introduced in 1927 and the Reo Royale 8 of 1931. The Flying Cloud was the first car to use Lockheed's new hydraulic internal expanding brake system and featured styling by Fabio Segardi. While Ned Jordan is credited with changing the way advertising was written with his "Somewhere West of Laramie" ads for his

Jordan Playboy Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, Reo's Flying Cloud—a name that provoked evocative images of speed and lightness—changed the way automobiles would be named in the future. It had a wheelbase. The final REO model of 1936 was a Flying Cloud. In April 1927, Reo introduced the

Wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for "gluttony, glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is ...

brand of cars as a companion model to the Flying Cloud. With a

Continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continent, the major landmasses of Earth * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (al ...

engine,

artillery wheel The artillery wheel was a nineteenth-century and early-twentieth-century style of wagon, gun carriage, and automobile wheel. Rather than having its spokes mortised into a wooden nave (hub), it has them fitted together in a keystone fashion with m ...

s, and a different pattern of horizontal radiator louvers from the Flying Cloud, the Wolverine was made until 1928. The 1931 Reo Royale was a trendsetting design, introducing design elements that were a precedent for true automotive streamlining in the American market. The 8-cylinder model was sold through 1933 with minor updates. The name was used on a lower-priced 6-cylinder model through 1935. Beverly Rae Kimes, editor of the ''Standard Catalog of American Cars,'' terms the Royale "the most fabulous Reo of all". In addition to its

coachwork A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily ...

by Murray designed by their

Amos Northup Amos Northup (October 23, 1889 – February 8, 1937) was an American automotive designer. Regarded as a leader in the field in the United States by the late 1920s, Northup worked for the Wills Sainte Claire, Murray Corporation of America, Hu ...

, the Royale also provided buyers with a

straight-eight The straight-eight engine (also referred to as an inline-eight engine; abbreviated I8 or L8) is a piston engine with eight cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. The number of cylinders and perfect primary and secondary engi ...

with a nine-bearing crankshaft, one-shot lubrication, and thermostatically-controlled radiator shutters. The Royale rode upon factory wheelbases of (Model 8-31) and (Model 8-35); a 1932 custom version rode upon a wheelbase (Model 8-52). As many as 3 Dietrich

coachbuilt A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily ...

bodies were built on wheelbases in 1931. Beginning in 1933, the Royale also featured as an option REO's

semi-automatic transmission A semi-automatic transmission is a "theoretical" multiple-speed transmission where part of its operation is automated (typically the actuation of the clutch), but the driver's input would be required to launch the vehicle from a standstill and to ...

, the Self-Shifter. The Model 8-31 was priced at $2,145. The model 8-35 was priced from $2,745 for the sedan to $3,000 for the

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...

coupe A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

. The coachbuilt cars were priced close to $6,000. A convertible Victoria was listed at $3,195 but only one is known to have been built. The 8-35 & 8-52 are considered full CCCA classics. File:Reo Runabout 1906.jpg, REO runabout 1906 File:1917 REO Model M 7-passenger Touring.JPG, 1917 Model M Touring File:Reo Touring 1919.jpg, 1919 REO Touring File:Reo Fire Truck.jpg, REO Fire Truck File:Reo Bus 1934.jpg, 1934 REO Bus File:Reo Speed Wagon Truck 1939.jpg, 1939

REO Speed Wagon The REO Speed Wagon (alternatively Reo Speedwagon) was a light motor truck model manufactured by REO Motor Car Company. It is an ancestor of the pickup truck. First introduced in 1915, production continued through at least 1953, and mad ...

Truck File:REO-bus-AngvikAuto-2-hh.JPG, REO bus in Norway File:Cottage Grove Dump Truck (Lane County, Oregon scenic images) (lanDB2094).jpg, Cottage Grove Dump Truck, Lane County, Oregon File:REO Speedwagon Badge.jpg, Badge from a REO Speed Wagon Fire Truck File:ReoSpeedWagon1917-cropped-thumb.jpg, An REO Speed Wagon, from a 1917 advertisement File:REO Speedwagon Fire Truck.jpg, REO Speed Wagon Fire Truck at

Jack Daniel's Jack Daniel's is a brand of Tennessee whiskey. It is produced in Lynchburg, Tennessee, by the Jack Daniel Distillery, which has been owned by the Brown–Forman Corporation since 1956. Packaged in square bottles, Jack Daniel's "Black Label" T ...

Distillery, Lynchburg, Tennessee File:1935 Reo Flying Cloud 4.7 litre IMG 2610 - Flickr - nemor2.jpg, Reo Flying Cloud 4.7-litre File:1931ReoRoyaleVictoriaEight-interior.jpg, 1931 Reo Royale Victoria Eight File:Reo-emblem.jpg, Car emblem for a Reo Flying Cloud (1930 model) File:A "RIO" TRUCK FILLED WITH CITRUS FRUIT DURING THE HARVEST SEASON IN A KFAR SABA GROVE. משאית "ריו" עמוסה בפרי הדר לאחר הקטיף, באחד מפרדסי המושבה כפר סD574-092.jpg, REO truck filled with citrus fruit, Kfar Saba, Israel, 1932

After passenger cars

Although truck orders during World War II enabled it to revive somewhat, the company remained unstable in the postwar era, resulting in a bankruptcy reorganization. In 1954, the company was still underperforming, and sold its vehicle manufacturing operations (the primary asset of the company) to the

Bohn Aluminum and Brass Corporation Bohn Aluminum and Brass Corporation was a manufacturing company based in Detroit, Michigan and formed in 1924 from the merger of the General Aluminium and Brass Company and the C.B. Bohn Foundry Company. It produced a series of notable advertisemen ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. Three years later, in 1957, Reo's vehicle manufacturing operation became a subsidiary of the

White Motor Company The White Motor Company was an American automobile, truck, bus and agricultural tractor manufacturer from 1900 until 1980. The company also produced bicycles, roller skates, automatic lathes, and sewing machines. Before World War II, the compa ...

. White then merged REO with Diamond T Trucks in 1967 to form

Diamond Reo Trucks Diamond Reo Trucks was an American truck manufacturer. In 1967, Diamond T and Reo Trucks were combined to form the Diamond Reo Trucks Division of the White Motor Corporation. Reo dated back to 1904 when Ransom E. Olds, founder of Oldsmobil ...

. In 1975, this company filed for bankruptcy and most of its assets were liquidated.

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

later took over White and thus currently owns the rights to the REO brand name. Meanwhile, after selling Reo's vehicle manufacturing operation to Bohn in 1954, management began liquidating the remainder of the company. For tax reasons a group of shareholders successfully challenged the liquidation in a

proxy fight A proxy fight, proxy contest or proxy battle (sometimes even called a proxy war) is an unfriendly contest for the control over an organization. The event usually occurs when a corporation's stockholders develop opposition to some aspect of the corp ...

in September 1955, and forced REO to take over a tiny nuclear services company called Nuclear Consultants, Inc. in a

reverse takeover A reverse takeover (RTO), reverse merger, or reverse IPO is the acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public. Sometimes, conversely, the public compan ...

. The resulting Nuclear Corporation of America, Inc., diversified and purchased other companies to become a conglomerate, spreading into an array of fields including prefabricated housing and steel joist manufacturing in addition to nuclear services. Most of these businesses failed and the company was bankrupt again by 1966. After reorganizing, only the successful steel-joist business remained; the company started producing recycled steel and eventually renamed itself

Nucor Nucor Corporation is an American producer of steel and related products based in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is the largest steel producer in the United States, the largest "mini-mill" steelmaker (i.e. it uses electric arc furnaces to melt scr ...

Studebaker Agreement

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the company produced a number of

Studebaker US6 Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Ma ...

trucks under license from

Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers M ...

. Most of these trucks were built by Studebaker. However, the REO versions of the truck had some changes, such as different door handles and a more powerful engine. It is estimated that REO produced around 20,000 of these trucks and, unlike the original Studebaker trucks which were also used by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, the REO versions were exported only to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Products

Cars

*19 AS *96-T *Comet *DC *Flying Cloud *Flying Cloud Mate *GB *Gold Comet *M-109 *M-34 *M-35 *M-35 A1 *M-48 *M-49 *M-50 *M-52 *M-Series *M-246 *R-5 "Reo the Fifth" *Royale *Royale Elite *Runabout *T-6

Trucks

*19 AS *AC *Apollo *Comet *DC *GB *Giant *Gold Comet *

M35 M35, M.35 or M-35 may refer to: Military * M35 series 2½-ton 6×6 cargo truck, a US Army truck * , a Royal Navy mine countermeasures vessel launched in 1982 * ADGZ or ''M35 Mittlere Panzerwagen'', a 1930s Austrian Army heavy armored car * Cannone ...

*Raider *Royale *

Speed Wagon In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quantity. ...

*Speed Delivery *Speed Tanker

Buses

* 96HTD * W series * Gold Comet

Clients

Toronto Transportation Commission Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) was the public transit operator in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, beginning in 1921. It operated buses, streetcars and the island ferries. The system was renamed the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) in 1954. H ...

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

REOs in popular culture

REO Speedwagon at Red Rocks July 2010 (cropped)

* The band ''

REO Speedwagon REO Speedwagon (originally stylized as R.E.O. Speedwagon) is an American rock band from Champaign, Illinois. Formed in 1967, the band cultivated a following during the 1970s and achieved significant commercial success throughout the 1980s. The ...

'' took their name from the

light delivery truck, an ancestor of

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering) ...

s. * The band ''

Diamond Rio Diamond Rio is an American country music band. The band was founded in 1982 as an attraction for the Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, Tennessee, and was originally known as the Grizzly River Boys, then the Tennessee River Boys. It was foun ...

'' took their name from REO's successor company

. The band misspelled "Reo" as "Rio", but lead singer

Marty Roe Diamond Rio is an American country music band. The band was founded in 1982 as an attraction for the Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, Tennessee, and was originally known as the Grizzly River Boys, then the Tennessee River Boys. It was foun ...

decided to make a virtue out of his mistake. "I like it like that. It has a country-Southwestern flavor", he told the

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

’s Jack Hurst. * A REO is mentioned in a humorous 1933 short story ''The Car We Had to Push'' by

James Thurber James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist and playwright. He was best known for his cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' and collected in ...

. It tells the story of Thurber’s family car, which would only start if pushed a long way. After several odd adventures, the car is destroyed by a trolley car. * In the

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...

movie ''

Big Jake ''Big Jake'' is a 1971 American Technicolor Western film starring John Wayne, Richard Boone and Maureen O'Hara. The picture was the final film for George Sherman in a directing career of more than 30 years. It grossed $7.5 million in the ...

'', set in 1909, the Texas Rangers were traveling in REOs, which were later destroyed by the bandits. (The cars destroyed were replicas, rather than the actual vehicles.) * The song ''The Incomparable Mr. Flannery'' by band ''

Clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts). ...

'' from their 2005 album ''

Robot Hive/Exodus ''Robot Hive / Exodus'' is the seventh full-length studio album by American rock band Clutch, released in 2005 on the DRT Entertainment label. Album information The original release of the album contained 14 tracks, though it had 15 on some edit ...

'' mentions the

. * The song ''Night Guard'' by Canadian folk musician

Stan Rogers Stanley Allison Rogers (November 29, 1949 – June 2, 1983) was a Canadian folk musician and songwriter. Rogers was noted for his rich, baritone voice and his traditional-sounding songs which were frequently inspired by Canadian history and th ...

mentions "a blacked-out Reo coming for another load". In the song, the Reo is the vehicle that thieves have been using to transport cattle they have stolen from an ex-rodeo rider who left the circuit to take up ranching. The song ends with the rancher firing his

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

chambered in

.303 British The .303 British (designated as the 303 British by the C.I.P. and SAAMI) or 7.7×56mmR, is a calibre rimmed rifle cartridge. The .303 inch bore diameter is measured between rifling lands as is the common practice in Europe which follows th ...

at the thieves and then calling the police (the police had offered no help prior claiming a lack of evidence). * In

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...

's ''

Time Enough for Love ''Time Enough for Love'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first published in 1973. The work was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1973 and both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1974. Plot The book cov ...

'', Maureen Smith explains to Lazarus Long that her husband got rid of his car when he went back into the service, not because he wanted to leave her without a car, but because he wouldn't be using it for the duration of the war and because he figured she wouldn't want to learn how to drive it. Quoting him, she says: "'I didn't sell the Reo to tie you down. If you want to drive, buy a Ford; it's easier to learn on.' I told him I didn't want to drive; I would wait until he came home." * In the novel ''Mrs. Bridges'' by Evan S. Connell, Mrs. Bridges drives a Reo. * On the ''Andy Griffith Show'' episode ''Citizen’s Arrest'', Andy and Barney are discussing a case that involved a man driving a Reo Flying Cloud. * In the book ''The Power of the Dod'' by Thomas Savage, the Burbank's brothers drives a Reo. * The famous Barnum & Bailey Circus exhibited sideshow performers, Tiny Tim and Tom Thumb, driving a scaled-down version of the 1906 Reo Model-A Light Touring Car known as the "Baby Reo". * In the Television series "Murdoch Mysteries"

File:REO Motor Ad 1906.jpg, 1906 REO advertisement File:Reo-owen 1912.jpg, 1912 REO advertisement. R. M. Owens & Co. File:Reo-motor-car 1919-0608.jpg, A 1919 REO Motor Car Company Advertisement. The Syracuse Herald, June 8, 1919 File:REO Motors ad Popular Mechanics Oct 1953.jpg, REO advertisement in 1953 (back cover of the October 1953 issue of ''

Popular Mechanics ''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...

'') File:Reo yanase ad 1929 in japan.jpg, 1929 REO advertisement sold at Yanase dealerships in Japan

Notes

External links

A Tribute To The REO Motor Car Company
many photos; angelfire.com site may be slow loading and have javascript pop-up ads
R.E. Olds Museum

REO automobiles at ConceptCarz

REO Gallery at White Glove Collection

REO Club of America

A REO Speed Delivery (State Library, Victoria, Australia images)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reo Motor Car Company Defunct manufacturing companies based in Lansing, Michigan Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan Defunct bus manufacturers of the United States American companies established in 1905 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1905 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1975 1905 establishments in Michigan 1975 disestablishments in Michigan Defunct manufacturing companies based in Michigan Transportation in Lansing, Michigan Defunct truck manufacturers of the United States Brass Era vehicles Vintage vehicles Pre-war vehicles 1900s cars 1910s cars 1920s cars 1930s cars Cars introduced in 1905