1929 Reo Speed Wagon
“At a time when most trucks were making 40 hp, the Reo had 67 hp, which got you to 55 mph.
Back in the Roaring Twenties, nearly all household goods were delivered to your home. Fruits and vegetables, eggs and butter, milk, and coal all arrived at your door via delivery truck. Anyone who made deliveries was keen to do so more quickly. That’s how Speed Wagons from the Reo Motor Car Company (founded by Ransom E. Olds after he lost Oldsmobile) distinguished themselves. “The Reo was comparatively small, fast, and light,” recalls Matt Lee. “At a time when most trucks were making 40 hp, the Reo had 67 hp, which got you to 55 mph. If you were a melon farmer in, say, Howell, Michigan, you couldn’t make it to Eastern Market in Detroit in a day, so you had to consign your goods at the train station. But with a Reo, you could get there and back and cut out the middleman.”
Photo Gallery: 1929 Reo Speed Wagon – Milestones in Speed – Automobile Magazine
Excerpt from:
1929 Reo Speed Wagon
