R-O

Reo Motor Car Co. (1911)

Lansing, Michigan

This is an R-O radiator emblem (1911)   edc  
Size: 64mm diameter    MM: Robbins

The Owen Motor Car Company had been established in January 1910 by Ralph R Owen and others for the production of the Owen motor car, which was a 50 hp four-cylinder motor car offered in touring, close-coupled, runabout and limousine body styles.

Manufacture of the Owen began in Detroit but, later in 1910, the business was sold to Reo.  Reo built 35 Owen cars in Lansing from parts on hand and sold 31 of them. However, Reo found that this was not a commercially viable business and, in 1911, Reo stopped production of the Owen.

Ralph Owen then decided to personally market some of the very few remaining Owen cars with a new emblem, using the name "R-O" based on his initials.

Emblem

The maroon and blue enamel R-O radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post has clearly been used on one of the very few R-O cars marketed by Ralph Owen and is ultra rare.

The white, black and blue enamel, nickel plated R-O radiator emblem shown below is unused and has no maker's mark. It is smaller and has a somewhat different edge detail compared with the original used emblem shown above. 

This is an R-O radiator emblem (1911)   mjs
Size: 55mm diameter   MM: None

This same R-O radiator emblem has also been found in unused condition without nickel plating, see below:

This is an R-O radiator emblem (1911)   cwc
Size: 55mm diameter   MM: None

These R-O emblems are extremely rare. However, it is most unlikely that Ralph Owen had more than one radiator emblem design for the very few R-O cars available for marketing, perhaps as few as four cars. It is possible that the unused emblems shown above were trial emblems or, possibly, high quality emblems made at a later date based on the original R-O emblem.