In August 1904 Ransom E. Olds was forced out of the company he had founded, the Olds Motor Works. The firm built the curved dash Oldsmobile and was one of the largest producers of automobiles at that time. Olds immediately started a new company, using his initials to name it the REO Motor Car Company. REO would become a large and well-known manufacturer of automobiles and would prosper into the 1920s. However, it the aftermath of The Great Depression, production of REO automobiles would cease in 1936.

REO had dropped the Royale lines in 1935 and completely capitulated to austerity. They were medium-sized vehicles that were given very little chrome trim, and the automatic 1933 self-shifter was nowhere to be seen.

It was a modern and basic means of transportation. Sadly, it was too little too late.

by Dan Vaughan