A Reo built Studebaker US6 at the Lansing plant. Photo added 6-28-2018.
A photo of Reo 23-XHS Navy dump truck on a 145-inch wheelbase, which could haul 3.5 cubic yards of material. Photo added 6-28-2018.
Seen here is one of 700 Reo 28-XS 20-ton tractors powered by a Cummins HB600 diesel engine. Photo added 6-28-2018.
This World War Two period photo shows one of 190 Reo built 28-XS that were sent to the Soviet Union. Photo added 6-28-2018.
This Reo built Mark 229 Hydrostatic Tail Fuze was used by the US Navy during WWII in its 650 and 1000 depth charges. Reo built 100,933 of these through July 1944. The fuze is 16.33 inches long with a diameter of 3.25 inches, while the sixteen blade arming vane is 5.25 inches in diameter. Depth settings were made by a hand dial on the device and could be set for 25, 50, 75,100 and 125 feet. The small hole on the left end of the body was used to inserting a pin into the device to disarm it. Reo did not arm the fuzes it built. They were inert when they left the factory. The units were armed at another location. Author's photo from the RE Olds Museum in Lansing, MI. Added 4-30-2015.
Also, another Reo-built depth charge fuze is on display at the R.E. Olds Museum. Note the pin that keeps the vanes from spinning and maintains it in a safe mode. Author's photo added 4-30-2015.
This Reo built T13E1 was one of two prototypes built by the company under contract from the Trackless Tank Corporation. The first was completed in May of 1942 and it along with the second prototype was shipped to Fort Knox, KY for evaluation. Testing resulted in the cancellation of the project.
This diorama at the National Museum of the USMC depicts an LVT-1 going over a log barricade at Tarawa. Reo built 41,920 bogie wheel assemblies for vehicles like this. Author's photo added 6-28-2018.
This is a 1945 LVT-4 "Water Buffalo" that was built by St. Louis Car. FMC also built the LVT-4 which would have Reo-produced bogie wheel assemblies. Author's photo from the 2014 Portland, IN Military Vehicle Show added 4-3-2020.
This Martin B-26 at the Museum on display in the United States. The Hudson Motor Car Company built rear fuselage sections for this type aircraft and shipped them to Martin's plant in Omaha, NE. Reo produced tail assembly spars for Hudson. Author's photo added 4-3-2020.
The rear fuselage of the B-26 at the Air Force Museum. This was the section Hudson made for the Martin Omaha plant. Author's photo added 4-3-2020.
Murray Corporation built B-17F outer wing assemblies under contract from Douglas Aircraft. Murray contracted some of the work for the outer wing assemblies to Reo. Author's photo added 4-3-2020.
Mia Tioli made this excellent looking model of what the Reo Plant looked like in 1906. In the end, most of the green space was covered with factory expansions. The road along the bottom is Washington Ave. During the mid-sixties, I used to walk this section of Washington from my house to the downtown area which would be to the left or north. I remember trucks, and especially Army 2-1/2-ton 6x6 and five-ton 6x6 trucks, coming off the assembly line, no doubt on their way to Vietnam. In the lower right hand corner, which would be the intersection of Baker Street and Washington, the City of Lansing had a firehouse with a Seagrave engine. On the site where the west side of the test track is located, the Reo Clubhouse was later built.
Looking south with the Lansing railroad station for the Grand Trunk Railroad. Now you know where Grand Funk Railroad got its name. Author's photo.
The Reo Complex looking southeast at a later date than the model above. The Reo Clubhouse has been built and is on the northwest corner of the property along Washington Avenue.
This is a post-1979 photo, looking northwest at the Oldsmobile Complex in Lansing, MI. when at its apex. Much of it has now been torn down. In the background, one can see the Fisher Body / Olds Forge / Olds Jet Plants that have also been razed. Also visible is the former Lansing Sexton High School I attended. However, of interest from a Reo prospective is the empty field in the front center of the photo, as this is where The Reo stood. Since this photo was taken, the area has been made into an industrial park. The red building to the right (north) of the former Reo complex is the train depot that can be seen in the model above.
The train station still stands, even though the Lansing Board of Water and Light has built a new building just to the north of it. Someone had the presence of mind to make sure there was room for the structure. It will outlast all of us! Author's photo taken on 4-8-2015 and added 4-30-2015.
This is the last and only Reo building still in existence, as seen in April 2015. Author's photo added 4-30-2015.
The former Reo Showroom on South Washington Ave., as seen in November 2015. Artist Tony Hendrick painted this mural attached to the building in 2015. Author's photo added 11-25-2015.
The building in the mural shows several former Reo employees with the now razed Reo Clubhouse in the background. In its prime the Clubhouse was a gathering place for Lansing residents to come and listen to concerts and participate in parties and dances held there. Author's photo added 11-25-2015.
The former Reo storage lot. This is where the last two photos were taken in November 2015. Author's photo added 4-30-2015.
Today this new building occupies the location of the former Reo Clubhouse in the Reo Industrial Park. Author's photo added 4-30-2015.
This militarized version of the Holt Tractor was built by Reo in 1917 as a 5-ton prime mover for artillery in WWI and was photographed at the former Ropkey Armor Museum in Indiana. The museum is now closed; and the location of the tractor is unknown. The Tractor has a 45 hp engine. Holt later evolved into Caterpillar. Author's photo.
During WWII Reo, built Studebaker designed US6 2 1/2-ton trucks for the war effort. In 1949, Reo designed and built 5,000 2-1/2- ton 6x6 six-wheel trucks designated as the M34 and known for a while as the "Eager Beaver," due to its ability to ford rivers and streams. The M34 was quickly replaced by the 2-1/2- ton 6x6 10-wheel M35 that was produced by Reo, Studebaker, Kaiser-Jeep, and AM General from 1950 to 1999. It was known to the troops that used it as the "Deuce and a Half." This design replaced the WWII GMC CCKW in service. The original M34/35 series was powered by a Reo built 331 cu. in. 6-cylinder Gold Comet Engine.
Below is a photo of seven of the 5,000 M34 6x6 2-1/2 ton trucks built by Reo. This photo was taken in front of the Reo office buildings looking north-northeast along Washington Avenue in Lansing. These can be identified as the M34, as the trucks only have single tires on each end of the rear axles and the clearance cut-out over the tires in the bed.
Photo added 4-14-2015.
A Lansing, MI built Reo/White M35 2 1/2-ton 6x6 truck is seen here at the James Dean Festival in Fairmount, IN. Since the beginning of this website over a year ago, I have been searching the military events to find a Lansing built M35. Of all places, I find it at a vintage car show 25 miles from my house. Author's photo added 10-5-2014.
The reason for the Lansing Reo M35 search is that growing up in Lansing in the 1950s and 1960s, I used to see these trucks come off the end of the assembly line. Often I would see them being test driven on Washington Ave. As I walked by the plant during the 1960s, I knew that the trucks were destined for Vietnam. Author's photo added 10-5-2014.
White Motor Company bought Reo in May of 1957 and Reo became the Lansing Division of White Motors. So while the name tag says White Motor Co., the plant was still known to us locals as "The Reo". In any event, this truck was designed by Reo in 1949 and assembled in the same plant 15 years later. They were still Reo trucks. This M35A1 was built in February of 1964. Maybe I saw it come off the end of the assembly line on Washington Ave. as did many of this type. Author's photo added 10-5-2014.
A year after White purchased Reo, it then purchased the Diamond T Truck Company. One of the immediate benefits to