SEPTEMBER 2007 OLD TIME TRUCKS
THE “ORIGINAL” REO SPEEDWAGON
By John & Shirley Sponholtz

Ransom Eli Olds founded the Olds Motor Vehicle Works in 1899. The company produced the first Oldsmobile in 1900. Because of internal disputes, Olds left the company and formed his own. Because he could not use his name on the vehicles he built, he chose to use his initials and the Reo was born. In 1910 a subsidiary was formed to create trucks. In 1913 Reo introduced the Model J which was a heavy duty two-ton truck. Reo then set it sights on a new problem. There was a need for “Quick Delivery” in the retail and light manufacturing industries where speed was essential. The answer was the Model F which was introduced in 1915 and became known as the Speedwagon. The original Speedwagon had a four-cylinder engine that produced 45 horsepower. It had unusual features for a truck of that era, including pneumatic tires, a windshield, a roof over the driver, and speed – the warranty stated that speeds over 22 MPH would void the warranty but the truck would go much faster. The Speedwagon was immensely popular and continued until 1949. The Reo in this photograph is a 1949 Model D19XA one-ton pickup, which was one of the last Speedwagons built. It has a Reo Gold Crown 245 cubic inch engine that produces 89 horsepower, a Warner T97 four-speed transmission, a Ross TA14 steering gear and a Detroit Timken single reduction rear axle. The truck’s maximum gross weight is 8,000 pounds. The REO Speedwagon has been gone for decades, but the rock band that borrowed the truck’s name is still making music and has been around (since 1967) longer than the truck itself was produced.