1931 REO Royale Victoria 8-35

TG's Recipe For Disaster:

Take a deserving old car, in this case, a full-blown True Classic.

Add a vague, but highly-decorative description.

Throw in a good measure of the goods and bads.

Whet your guest's appetites, but don't forget to exclude photos.

Toss out the title and registration, a faux pas at any car connoisseur's table.

Mix it all together in large boxes and bins, carefully fold in a generous dash of attitude...

Et voila!

We're all ready to run screaming from the table.

TG

aka Lookey Lewey

The "trunk" mods sounded like a huge problem, but there are at least two cars on google images that have fairly good pics of that area. The trunk seems very simple in design, and likely easy to fabricate.

I would have put the best pic up here of a red car in storage, but the photo is copyrighted.

Interesting that some pics have a rack and one does not.

Well, the market is pretty gloomy for projects and may never recover, but I hope someone gets it back together again.

Dismantled projects are always tough sells. On the plus side, I think we could all agree that a REO Royale Victoria is a desirable & cool car. The only way to sell something like this is lots and lots of detailed clear pictures and a very detailed inventory of what parts are in the disassembled lot. I agree that the car is worth more then the 4 or 5k blue book. However, keep in mind that the prospective new owner will never get their money back on a restoration, even if you give them the car.

I've posted in some other threads a Victoria with a completely polished aluminum top. I don't think it would be the greatest sin to simply finish it off (assuming it's not a hack job) the way it is and paint it. Frank makes a good point on the trunk too. The wheels are probably ruined or at least would be cost prohibitive to fix so some other wheels will need to be sourced. Was there a set posted recently - I thought I remember a set for a Royale.

The last thing is the title would be a huge problem in my state. It may make the most sense if you can prove you imported the car from Argentina in 1982 that you title it before selling it.

I wanted to add that you definitely need to advertise in the REO club newsletter as well as the CCCA newsletter. Those two publications will hit your target audience perfectly. Here is the picture of the victoria with the polished roof.

Hello, Take a look at my ebay item number 220670096317 and tell me if this is the missing exterior handle for your reo royale victoria Thanks RB been told stutz lincoln chrysler but looks like pictures of your car,just a thought if it was yours there is the missing handle for your car

Nice looking door handle, but it is not for a Royale. Royales have a 180 degree swept back curve. Thanks for thinking of me.....

no problem

Well I hope it gets back to original. Yes, a lot of money will be needed to restore it, but the current pricing is not too bad in my opinion, as far as what it could be. In other words, I don't feel the seller is trying to get greedy.

I agree. A fairly priced CCCA Full Classic but a major financial undertaking to restore.

Yes, I agree, a fair down payment on a wonderful CCCA car......hope someone swoops in and gets started on it!

Now and then we toy with the idea of establishing a lower hourly labor rate for pre-war cars in an effort to get more of them into the shop. We cut our teeth on them and surely enjoy working on older vehicles but inevitably more and more of the work that comes in is '50s and now some '60s.

That's happening in a local shop also, used to be the late owner would only take in pre-1948 or so cars, now to keep busy it's 50's and 60's. There's one early sedan in the shop now, late 20's, but that's rare now at that particular shop.....

It is a shame things are so expensive to restore now, chrome, paint, mechanical, and labor throw the costs through the roof.... this Royale would bring good money restored, but still not the sum that a professional shop would cost....

The nice older restoration in blue earlier in this thread sold for around 60k. There was an older restoration in the club newsletter last year for 45k.

John Maddock is selling his Reo Royale 8-35 Victoria through an add in HMN but always without pictures:

REO: 1931 Royale Victoria coupe, restoration project, last driven 1982, restoration started and has been stored in Seattle; extremely rare, Full Classic as recognized by the CCCA, some extra parts, missing door handle, fender light, clock, great potential, $15,000 obo. 206-218-5240, WA; Price: $15,000

If I search on Google, there is also an other telephone number ........... near Forth Worth, TX, let 817-301-9195, as apparently the car is in Rockwall, TX. The car! it is a great word because we never have seen a picture of it. In which state it was on September 20, 2010, when he posted the history and in which state it can be now four years later??? WE CAN NOT PURCHASE A CAT IN A BAG !!!!

It is very interesting that Mr. Maddock could import a car from Argentina without a Title and registration. I would think those documents would be necessary to both let the car leave Argentina and also be allowed to enter the U.S.

The Hemmings ad did have pictures at one point. The car is diassembled.

The Victoria is still owned by John Maddock. I talked to him and he was kind enough to refer me to his son Jack and let me see the car and take many pics which will help in my restoration. John lives in Texas, but his son lives in Seattle at the property where the car is kept. The car is almost completely appart, with good wood, a good body... but it will need a complete restoration. It would be a nice project for somebody having the time and cash to do it.