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There are 10 to 12 of the Convertible Coupes known to still exist. I think there were 50 originally built. Much like Packard, The convertibles were built by taking the 3 window and removing the top. Much unlike Packard, no 3 windows have been turned into convertible coupes - as far as I know.
So how many Reo Royales were built in the three years? Does the convertible victoria exist?
Can someone post engine and chassis photos and comments? What shocks. steering box, brakes, ect did they use on the REO?
Jason - good question. I have no idea and have never seen full production figures. I'll see what I can find.
Ed - I'll dig up some pictures. The engine is a 125hp 358 cu. in. straight eight-cylinder. Most cars were delivered with a 3 speed but a 4 speed was a 50 dollar option. I think the 4 speed was a Warner but not sure. Brakes are juice and many of the components are shared with Model J Duesenberg.
The convertible victoria is not known to have survived. The picture I posted is the only one I have ever seen of it.
The 3 window coupe is very rare with 3 or 4 known to my knowledge. This is the one that Barry Brown found in a garage in Canada where it had sat for 50 years. I would own this now if I didn't get talked out of it. It is now in Ohio hopefully being restored. There is a beautifully restored one with wood wheels down in Texas that is fairly regularly seen on the Concours circuit.
The purple convertible coupe was restored to match the catalog colors by John Barker who was the Royale club expert for many years. It is now in Sweden. The colors are not for everyone and I think definitely hurt the resale price. However, they did build at least one with those colors.
It was my understanding that they did build one but who knows. I do know that the build records exist so the record could be somewhere.
The Victoria was a closed 2 door with seating for 5. The trunk was an option although it seems most cars came with it. There are 5 or 6 known 8-35 Victorias and maybe 2 or 3 of the 8-31.
Not the factory photo with the polished top and no accessory trunk.
There was thought to be 3 8-48 chassis built with custom bodies by Dietrich. This is the long survivor. The 2 others were a convertible victoria and a convertible sedan. I'm wondering if the convertible victoria is confused with the 8-35 car I posted earlier in this thread. The body on this car is identical to the 835 Packard that was in Harrah's collection for many years and then to Nethercutt.
I apologize for that article being upside down, I'll have to fix that.
If you get out your CCCA register (I was looking at the 2012 one) you will see that out of the 10 or 12 Royales in club, 80% are 8-35 Sedans. I assume they high rate of survival correlates to the highest rate of production originally. This particular car has the wood wheels which are known to be on only a 2 or 3 surviving cars.
The 8-52 long wheel base cars were only built in 1932 and seem to be exceedingly rare. There are only a few known (2,3?) to survive. I don't know if anything other than the sedan body was ever mounted on this chassis.
Here are some engine and chassis photos of the silver/blue convertible coupe shown up above. The owner is a friend of mine with one of the most spectacular collections of high-grade #1 quality American Classics. By far my favorite collection to visit.
Several innovative features on the Reos, including hydraulic brakes. This one might be ridiculously over-restored because there's a lot of bling on the engine. It's one heck of a flashy car. Shockingly, the restoration dates to 1984, when it was both an AACA and CCCA National First Prize winner. It's still excellent, although you can see some wear on the moving parts and the result of a little brake fluid leakage on the master cylinder. A very impressive car nonetheless.
I think all the chrome on the engine is correct with the exception of perhaps the heat tube and the head bolts. The finish looks to be a bit shiny of course.
Matt,
That is a really nice looking car. I see the owner had a common issue which is finding 650-18 tires. The 700-18s that are on the car make it impossible to install the sidemount covers. There are a number of choices in the 700-18 size but nothing in the 65-18. Maybe when you get a chance you could ask him where he found it. This is one of the 10 or so known convertible coupes.