Historical Facts
The REO Speed Wagon was a motor truck manufactured by REO Motor Car Company. It was an ancestor of the pickup truck. REO are the initials of the company's founder, Ransom Eli Olds, also the founder of the Oldsmobile (company later sold to General Motors and the brand retired in 2004).
James & Son(s), transport company (or haulier), used REO Speed Wagon lorries (trucks) to collect grain from brewers in London to deliver to farms outside London. The grain was used as cattle-feed. James & Son(s) is still in operation.James and son are grain merchants and now operate in New Zealand and Australia as well as the U.K ,The Trucks they used had wooden cabs and came in 2 sizes
In the late 1940's, to mid-1950's Neaves Baby Foods of Fordingbridge in Hampshire ran two large Reo Speedwagons for delivery and collection purposes. Travelling on a regular basis to Avonmouth Docks and Silvertown in London. Besided this they provided daily transport in and around the New Forest. The rock and roll band REO Speedwagon took its name from this vehicle. The vehicles were easy to spot as they were both painted bright blue and crimson. Neaves eventually closed and the whereabouts of the vehicles, if they still exist, are unknown.
The Postville Fire Department in Postville Iowa has a fully functioning 1926 REO Speed Wagon on their fleet.
During the 1930's, 1940's and into the 1950's, REO Speed Wagon had UK spare part and service facility on the Great West Road (A4) , 50 metres east of the Ealing Road intersection. Upon REO's re-location to premises in Staines, Middlesex, the factory unit was occupied by the Beecham group and the building was distinguished by a neon Lucozade sign.