Oldsmobile, Volvo & Rock Band: ’14 REO Speedwagon
We couldn’t resist this when it turned up in the mailbox. It is almost 100 years old yet it looks ready for The Great American Road Race. The photos show so many original details. We don’t know anything else except it runs great. Right. REO has a rather interesting history. It was started back in 1905 by (drumroll) Raymond E. Olds. Hence the name REO. The letters were to be pronounced individually but the company was never quite sure if it was all caps or not. We surmise they hadn’t come up with a style-guide back then to bring order to the marketing material. REO made some pretty good cars too and some famous ones. In a 1912 REO special touring car, mechanic/driver Fonce V. Haney and journalist Tom Wilby made the first trip by automobile across Canada. REO had a pretty long run. In 1957 the remaining truck division became part of White trucks. Around 1975, White’s assets were purchased by Volvo and Volvo still retains the rights to the REO name. Bam! Neal Doughty, one of the founding members of the band REO Speedwagon, suggested the name to his bandmates because he recalled studying the truck company in transportation history. Getting back to this 99-year-old REO. You can buy it for $18,000. Click here for the listing.