A Different Kind of Model T

            Back in the mid-1960s, Dave Mason started looking for a pre-1920s car. He didn’t really have something specific in mind but he knew what he didn’t want. “I wanted something other than a Ford Model T,” he said.

            But the car that he eventually found and bought actually was a Model T; it was a 1918 REO Model T.

            “I wasn’t looking for this car specifically but my grandfather actually had one back in the 20s,” Dave said.

            The REO brand was the brainchild of Ransom Olds and was his second foray into automobile manufacturing. Back in 1897 he started the Olds Motor Car Company which he sold in 1901. That company ultimately went on to change its name to Oldsmobile and was one of the founding forces behind General Motors.

            After selling the Olds Motor Car Company, Olds wanted to start up a new line which he planned on calling the R. E. Olds Motor Car Company but the company now owning his old firm objected. And so he shortened it, using only his initials: REO.

            While REO had early success, ranking as high as fourth in gross sales by 1908, inroads by other companies such as Ford and the creation of General Motors took a large chunk out of the market share of Old’s new brand.

            Like many manufacturers of the time, particularly rival Ford, REO gave their car models rather simple names such as the 1905 Model B and, of course, like Dave’s 1918 Model T.

            Dave is proud of his car and the very nice restoration job that had to be done in order to make it not only road worthy but also as beautiful as it is. “It took 40 years to restore,” he said. “I had no clue how to restore a car. But I did everything except the top and the interior.”

            In fact he had to wait two years to get his REO in to a friend’s shop in order to get that work done. “While it was in there Clark Gable’s Duisenberg was there getting some work done,” Dave said. In fact, Dave himself actually did some of the mechanical work to that Duisenberg’s restoration.

            “The best way to learn about cars and learn how to restore them is to just do it,” Dave said. According to various REO experts, Dave’s car is the only complete car of its kind in existence.

            Dave’s car is named “Old Betsy.” He learned this when he found a warranty card in the door during the restoration process. It led him to the original owner who lived in a small town in Georgia. On a whim, Dave contacted the postmaster in that small community asking if anyone related to that original owner was still around.

            “He wrote back and told me that the original owner was still alive and that he would be sending me a letter,” Dave said. “He told me everything about the car. He was the one who named her Old Betsy.”

            “I don’t really drive it that much,” he said, adding that he does take it to shows. “It’s not really a fast car. It’s the last of its breed. It has a four cylinder engine and is happy running at 25 miles per hour.”

            With wooden wheels and a leaf spring suspension with no shocks, it isn’t the most comfortable car in which to ride. But that doesn’t matter to Dave. This is a car that he wanted and has re-built with his own hands. It really is a different kind of Model T.