The automobile featured in this article is an original 1907 REO Model G.
Ransom E. Olds is considered by many to be the founder of the American auto industry. Legend has it that Olds built his first steam car as early as 1894. He followed that up two years later with his first gas powered automobile.
Olds is also credited with using the first assembly line. This was a stationary line that enabled him to quadruple his vehicle output. Henry Ford was the first to use a moving assembly line and very successfully.
Ransom E. Olds departed from the Olds Motor Works Company and founded the REO Motor Car Company in 1904 in Lansing, Michigan. His share of REO was over fifty-percent and he served as president and general manager. Their first vehicles began coming out in late 1904. The company that Olds had departed from to form REO, the one with his name, would eventually become the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors Corporation.
The REO Company built cars and trucks from 1905 through 1936. In 1907, REO was one of the four largest auto manufacturers in the U.S.
REO car sales began to decline in 1908 due to heavy competition from both Ford and General Motors. After 1936, REO, due to losses and the general Great Depression era price wars, produced only trucks. To give you an idea of how the Depression hurt REO car sales…sales figures for 1930 were 12,000 units…1931 were 6,000 units and 1932 numbers were just under 4,000 units. Why REO ceased car production in 1936 is easy to understand when you look at production numbers for that year. 1936 saw truck production at 11,600 units and car production at just under 3,000 units.
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