* Atlas Drop Forge Company, a parts subsidiary of the former REO Motor Car Company

* 1864 – Ransom E. Olds, American businessman, founded Oldsmobile and REO Motor Car Company ( d. 1950 )

The company went through many changes, including a buyout, between its founding to 1905 when founder Ransom E. Olds started his new company REO Motor Car Company, which would last in Lansing for another 70 years.

Later that year he founded the Olds Motor Vehicle Company, which became the Oldsmobile division of General Motors in 1908, and he was also the founder of the REO Motor Car Company in 1904, both headquartered in Lansing.

Ransom Olds left the company in financial difficulties and formed the REO Motor Car Company.

Diamond T and REO Motor Car Company became the Diamond REO division, which was discontinued in the 1970s.

The REO Speed Wagon ( alternatively Reo Speedwagon ) was a light motor truck manufactured by REO Motor Car Company.

Its name was quickly changed to REO Motor Car Company to avoid a lawsuit from the Olds Motor Works.

Olds Freeway for Ransom E. Olds, the founder of Oldsmobile and the REO Motor Car Company.

Having left his company years before it was acquired by GM, in 1905 Olds established a new company, REO Motor Car Company, the predecessor to Nucor, in Lansing, Michigan.

Following the purchase, REO Motor Company emerged as " Nuclear Corporation of America Inc .", and relocated to offices in the Empire State Building in New York City.

* The corporate shell of REO Motor Car company, in what amounted to a reverse " hostile " takeover, was forced by dissident shareholders to acquire a small publicly traded company, Nuclear Consultants.

* REO Motor Car Company

* An REO is mentioned in a humorous 1933 short story by James Thurber entitled, The Car We Had to Push.

Through the years, the Kihncert has featured live concert appearances by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jefferson Starship, Eddie Money, Boston, Paul Rodgers of Bad Company, The Who, Steve Miller Band, George Thorogood, John Waite, Pat Travers, Night Ranger, Mickey Thomas ’ Starship, Styx, REO Speedwagon,. 38 Special, Blue Oyster Cult, Yes, and Kansas.

* 1954 REO heavy duty tow truck, BC Electric / BC Hydro / Metro Transit Operating Company finishing

REO was initiated by Ransom E. Olds during August 1904.

The company's name was spelled alternately in all capitals REO or with only an initial capital as Reo, and the company's own literature was inconsistent in this regard, with early advertising using all capitals and later advertising using the " Reo " capitalization.

By 1907, REO had gross sales of $ 4. 5 million and the company was one of the four wealthiest automobile manufacturers in the U. S. After 1908 however, despite the introduction of improved cars designed by Olds, REO's share of the automobile market decreased due in part to competition from emerging companies like Ford and General Motors.

Perhaps the most famous REO episode was the 1912 Trans-Canada journey.

The final REO model of 1936 was a Flying Cloud.

The Midwestern United States was the original REO Speedwagon fan stronghold and is pivotal in this period of the band's history.

The band's debut album, REO Speedwagon, was released on Epic Records in 1971.

In 1977, REO convinced Epic Records that their strength was in their live performances.

Lear was invited to join REO to replace Gratzer and Joseph was brought in as a temporary guitarist.

In 2000, REO teamed up with Styx for an appearance at Riverport Amphitheater in St. Louis, which was released as a live concert video Arch Allies: Live at Riverport.

The REO portion of the show was released again under three separate titles: Live-Plus ( 2001 ), Live Plus 3 ( 2001 ) and Extended Versions ( 2001 )( which was certified Gold by the RIAA on 4 / 26 / 2006 ).

The event was started and stopped several times over the years, but the Newport Lions Club now runs the Newport Antique Auto Hill Climb ; it has been held continuously since the 1960s and involves several hundred cars each year. An REO leaves the hill climb starting line

While most of the venues were small listening clubs, the real highlight of ’ 95 was being the opening act on the Can ’ t Stop Rockin tour with Fleetwood Mac, REO Speedwagon and Pat Benatar.

While REO produced some wagons based on its automobile chassis ( the Model H ) starting in 1908 and had organized a division to produce trucks in 1910 with success, the Speed Wagon's introduction in 1915 was a significant step and a sales success.

Ron Quintana's article on " Metallica Early History " argues that when Metallica was trying to find a place in the L. A. metal scene in the early 1980s, " American hard-rock scene was dominated by highly coiffed, smoothly-polished bands such as Styx, Journey, and REO Speedwagon.

In the winter of 1835 and early 1836, two brothers from New York plotted the area now known as REO Town just south of downtown Lansing and named it " Biddle City.

Rather than pronouncing REO as a single word as the motor company did, they chose to spell out the name with the individual letters each pronounced.

It also houses a collection of REO vehicles from the company that Ransom E. Olds created after he was forced from Oldsmobile by that company's management.

A well-known vehicle from that company is the REO Speed Wagon, from which a major musical band got its name.

Another well-known truck that was made by a successor of that company is the Diamond REO.

The reorganized company continued to underperform, and finally in December 1954, REO sold off its entire manufacturing operations to Bohn Aluminum and Brass Corporation ( suffering a $ 3 million loss on the sale ).

In what amounted to a " reverse hostile takeover ", activist shareholders forced REO to take over a tiny nuclear services company called Nuclear Consultants, Inc.

Nuclear's attempt to recast itself as a nuclear industry services company was ultimately no more successful than REO had been.

But Nuclear the conglomerate fared no better than Nuclear the nuclear services company or REO the car / truck / lawn mower manufacturer, and in March 1965 filed for bankruptcy for the second time in 27 years.

The company was first founded in 1924 by Eugène Prévost ( 1899 – 1965 ), a cabinet maker specializing in church pews and school furniture, who in 1924 was asked to build a custom bus body for a new REO truck chassis.