1909 REO

edited by David Barth, 30 January 2009.
Courtesy The Forney Museum of Transportation at 4303 Brighton Blvd., Denver, Colorado.
Photos were taken in February 2009.

Ransom E. Olds had a difference of opinion with Frederick Smith of Oldsmobile about the size and price of their car. Olds wanted to continue making the inexpensive, dependable automobile, priced at $695, and Smith wanted to make large, higher-priced cars.

Late in 1903, Olds left the Oldsmobile Company that he founded. From the experience gained in building the single-cylinder Oldsmobile, he started production of his new car, the REO, with wheel steering instead of tiller steering.

REO is Ranson E. Olds' initials. He couldn't use Olds because he had sold the rights to Oldsmobile.