Henry Ford’s Model T was the logical next step. Selling for $650, the one cylinder Olds was the first car that really caught the public’s interest on a large scale, and it’s ruggedness earned it a stellar reputation. Olds, whose first company carried his last name, and built the first mass-production car ever, the 1901 curved-dash Olds. The story of REO, and the pickup model is quite a yarn, so let’s pull in a bit closer to the fire… Records are a bit sketchy, but it seems like about 200 of these 1949 D19XA pickups were made, and only a handful survive. The TR definitely has a certain truckiness to it, and not in a bad way.īut the Reo well that’s the trophy.
That raised a few eyebrows in our circle, especially Bob Macherione’s, the pro in the group. He proudly showed us pictures of his latest find: a Triumph TR-3 with overdrive he spotted mostly hidden under a tarp in a shed, but in remarkably good condition. Kind of sums me up too some of us just have to learn to live with our compromises. My F-100 is the compromise right between them: too big for parts chasing too little for really heavy loads and trailers: jack of all trades master of none. The baby one to run to the hardware store for that kanuter valve bushing, and that one-tonner to haul really big loads of gravel and whatever. These two trucks perfectly bracket the two extremes of pickupdom, as well as my own specific range of needs and desires in them. We do share taste in big-wheeled out-of-the ordinary pickups, big or small. This little pygmy truck, a 1979 Suzuki Jimny pickup ( CC here).
I didn’t get the full rundown, but he owns what are undoubtedly the two coolest and my favorite pickups in town. The Reo is hardly the only one in his corral. It’s owner Ike had just pulled into the parking lot, his passenger eager to check out a lovely white Porsche 356 coupe out front the perfect decoy for car lovers.Īnd Ike is quite the hunter himself, although he hunts to keep I’m a catch and release (the shutter) type. This Reo really does live in the wilds hereabout, and it was out for a romp. No, it’s not there for sale that would be cheating. Kill!Īnd to what do I attribute my rare catch? Let’s just say my odds of catching it were improved by sneaking up on Eugene’s exotic cars’ favorite watering hole, The Sports Car Shop. There’s about forty of those rhinos still alive Reo Speedwagon pickups of this vintage? Maybe half a dozen or so. Catching one of these in the wild is the automotive equivalent of catching a near-extinct Javan rhinoceros, if not more so.
There’s no other truck with that distinctive prow, and is it ever rare. Good thing too: rounding a corner I see it two blocks away: I follow my nose: “no, let’s go a different way today”. I’m on high alert, scanning up and down every street we cross for distant tell-tale clues. Armed with a brand new weapon with which to capture the elusive prey, my companion and I set out on our walk-and-stalk. Its the essence of CC we hunt, then gather around the (electronic) campfire to share our quarry. ( first published ) It’s not that the larder was getting low, but after a few days of hut-building, the primeval urge to find fresh prey can no longer be denied.