REO Grande was No Lady

The Grande REO automobile

 

The third heroic character in The Legend of REO Grande is this horseless carriage named after the “REO” logo on the front of the hood between the two large brass side lamps. The car maker was Ransom E. Olds, whose name and reputation went on to grace the “Oldsmobile.” In 1908, the vintage of this auto, it ran first on one cylinder, and later on two cylinders located beneath the driver seat where it meshed with the planetary  transmission with two forward gears and one reverse that was engaged with a pedal. The battery sat in a box on the dashboard and both fuel and water tanks were located under the hood lid in front. Elliptical leaf springs gave it a bouncy “buggy” ride and stopping power came from two mechanical drum brakes. The 32-inch gum rubber tires were levered onto artillery-spoked wheels

In the two cylinder, two seater model, a top speed of 35 miles an hour could be reached with a following wind. The first Oldsmobile – called the “curved dash” after its sleigh-like curved front end – steered with a tiller bar, but the later REO employed a wheel on the right side of the bench seat. Protection from the elements came from an optional folding top.

Flat out, it sounded like a water pump: "chi-pump, chi-pump, chi-pump." The brass horn clamped to the metal dash plate had a single “Bwomp! with each squeeze of the rubber bulb. It was about as low down as you could get and still own an automobile. But like Dixie and Sonny Jim, it was simple, reliable and low maintenance.

Virtually all the autos in this period were hand-made: engine onto chassis to coachwork. The larger six and eight cylinder touring sedans had hundreds of parts and needed constant fiddling to stay on the road. The REO only had 35 horsepower, but more powerful, expensive vehicles had problems and their marks eventually disappeared.

There were virtually no “service stations” at this time, especially out West where the horse was still the cheapest and most economical transportation. In the 1900s, Blacksmiths began carrying auto parts for the more popular vehicles. Gaskets, tires, hoses, gears, anything that might break, wear out, or fall off. The Spindletop oil strike in Texas in 1901 suddenly made gas and oil combustion engines more popular than steam or electric modes. General merchandise stores sold oil in long neck bottles, or poured into tin long-spout oil cans from a refillable raised tank. “Stove gasoline” came from barrels which were emptied into underground or above ground tanks for hose pouring into auto gas tanks. Often, the gas was pumped through a chamois skin to separate flies and other matter from the liquid. “Sparking plugs” had to be hand cleaned while most transmission gears turned in axle grease.

One of the joys of writing about events in this period is the chance to explore these old timey automobiles and their ideosyncrasies.