1928 REO truck

[seca40]

Hi all. I looked around for a place to introduce myself before posting something for sale. I didn't see an intro forum so I'll do it here. My name is Pat and I live in Albuquerque New Mexico. I love all wheeled things. I'm really more into two wheelers at the moment. A few years ago my Dad Pete and his pal Al bought this REO truck. Al being the real authority on the subject. They were going to restore it. Maybe fix it up is a better term for what they had in mind. The truck used to be the city water truck in the Colorado town where Pete lives and they wanted to run it in the parade. Unfortunately Al passed away shortly after they bought the truck. Long story short my Dad asked if I would try to find the truck a new home.

Al and Pete actually had the thing running at one point. Except for the interior and the wooden parts of the cab it seems fairly complete. I'm not sure what to ask for something like this. I guess I'll leave it open to offers.

This is the first\best place I found to offer this for sale. If you all have any suggestions about where else I might offer it I would appreciate the help.

Thanks.

Pat.

[keiser31]

Love the steering wheel "fix".

[seca40]

Yeah, thats a good one. A little electrical tape can do wonders. Haha.

[jeff_a]

Pat,

Welcome to the Forum. Great truck! It would make a really good promotional vehicle for a business. Like a trucking company or even a furniture store or gas station. I'm guessing that it has one of those Continental motors. I suppose if it would carry a water tank around it would be nothing for it to haul an antique car. ----Jeff

[seca40]

Thanks for the welcome Jeff. It is a really cool truck. The more I look at the pictures the more I think I'd like to have it for my self. I think it would make an amazing camper. I'm a finish carpenter and I can't look at it without seeing something along the lines of a sailboats galley built onto it. My girlfriend would kill me besides we're going to be moving across state lines in a year or so and it doesn't make sense to move it here right now. What's a Continental Motor?

[jeff_a]

If you don't sell the REO, I suppose it would be possible to make a Roaring Twenties "house car" out of it if you had the time. I saw a '28 Pierce-Arrow motorhome in Deer Lodge, MT ( at the Montana Auto Museum ) that had a front end that looked a little like your REO, plus beds, a kitchen, roof-mounted windows and a back porch.*

I don't know if you have a Continental engine in your truck or not, but they were a company that built a lot of engines in the 20's. They started building auto engines in 1905 and aero engines in 1906...and they still build engines.

Go back to, say, 1917. You had 125 U.S. companies to choose from when you decided to buy a car or truck, according to an article I read in a magazine from that era. Instead of every single one of them designing and building their own motors, a number of them bought them from engine specialists such as Continental, Lycoming, Wisconsin, and Northway. This was kind of the golden age of auto-making. From what I've read -- if you could dream it, you could build it -- and getting motors from some of the above saved you time in getting your car to market.

Here are 10 or 20 vehicles you can find a Continental engine in:

<ul style="list-style-type: disc">[*]DuPont [*]Jordan [*]Durant [*]Star [*]Elcar [*]Velie [*]Graham-Paige [*]Jeep (WWII) [*]Kaiser [*]Peerless [*]M47 Patton tank [*]M48 Patton tank [*]M60 tank [*]Cessna 150 [*]Piper Malibu [*]Checker (<1965) [*]AM General trucks [*]1986 Voyager world-circumnavigating-plane

I think REO and International may have used some Continental motors, too.** After a merger they're called Teledyne CAE (Continental Aircraft Engines) and are based in Mobile, AL. They currently build gas, diesel and jet fuel powered engines.

* There was a great color photo of this on the Pierce-Arrow Forum { 7/30/08 } if you want to look it up. The poster was Mika Jaakkola from Finland.

** I looked up a few things on the web and couldn't find any uses of Continental engines by International. I did find a story about a fire department in Illinois that bought a new fire truck in 1928 which was a REO with a Continental 6. Also saw that desertclassics.com has a 1928 REO Model FA 1 1/2 ton truck for sale.

[Rusty Reo's]

Hello, your truck does NOT have the Continental engine.

They did use a Continental in the DA and DC series in that era, and then in the 30's and 40's they used several different engines.

Yours has what was later called the REO Gold Crown engine.

Please drop me an E-mail and let me know what kind of a price your looking for.

Thanks, Ken

[Guest so1971]

Hey there Pat, Looking for cool old truck like that. just wondering if you still had it and what you would take for it. Thanks, Fellow New Mexican.

[Guest burgz724]

Hey the story from the fire dept. from IL....Thats my fire dept. and we still have that reo. If anyone knows where i can get parts for I would apreciate the advice. We need a rear main seal and and a oil pan gasket.

[TexRiv_63]

Contact Olsen's Gaskets, they can probably supply both.

[Guest burgz724]

thanks i sent them and email with my inquiry... I let you know what happens thanks...also if anyone knows of a parts manual or book on this year of truck let me know.

[Dave Mellor NJ]

same old story,nobody wants to start a price.

[Guest burgz724]

start a price for what?