#202--Driving the REO

I found this picture among my mother’s things.  What a wonderful scene of a family going for a Sunday afternoon ride.  I could identify my grandfather, Walter Eitelbach,  driving, my grandmother, Regina, in the back seat and my mother, Marie,  peaking out the side.  I do not know who the other couple is, but I think they may be one of my grandfather's brothers and his wife.  

I was curious about the car.  There was no identifying information on it, except for the license plate with a date of 1914. I am fortunate to volunteer at Greenfield Village and we have an old car festival.  So I took my picture to the section where the 1910 to 1920 cars were displayed and asked if anyone could identify the car.  Several

gentlemen were very interested and had a pretty intense discussion about what it was and why.  The consensus was that the car was a REO. 

I had no idea what a REO was but with a little research, this is what I learned.  In 1904 Ransom Olds started the REO MotorCompany,  which by 1907 was one of the top four car companies in the United States. The company manufactured cars in Flint, Michigan until 1936 when the depression affect the company so much that it ceased to operate. 

I would love to talk to my grandfather about the

car.  Why he  purchased it?  What it was like to drive?  Where they went?