8-35 Victoria Coupe

Via the Reo club, I got a lead from somebody wanting to sell a clock that he thought was of a Royale. 

I emailed the man, Jim Grochmal, and he is very friendly and helpful. It turned out not to be correct for the Royale, but Jim sent me a couple of pics of the Royale that his father used to own. The car does not exist any more. I am pasting here the pics of the Royale only. Jim in the first pic and his brother in the second one, and his own words describing the car...

From his first email:
> I'm 78 and cleaning out some of my treasures.

> Dad had two Reo's...one was a 1932 and the other was a 1934 Royal 2 door. I took the clock out of one of them when I was about 13 years old.

> I'm not sure which of the cars in the background PICS it came from, but I wish I had the one with the dog PIC in the condition it was in before the war. Probably was the family's most valuable asset, and we didn't know it then.

>

> When Dad purchased the 1934, it was coco brown and tan with a beautiful wooden trunk that was replaced with the one from the 1932 as seen in the PIC, It was in really good shape, but during the war dad did not have the resources to keep it up. After the war we ended up parking it and shooting at it with 22 rifles, that would not penetrate the sheet metal door. "Memories!!!"


and from his second one:
"The car in the pic with the dog had a split bumper and a pointed grill...painted on top, something like an old Packard. It was not the flat version Reo that looked like a 35 Ford grill. As I recall, it also had a button or lever near the floor boards that was a exhaust cut out that by passed the muffler. This was a fun thing for us kids to ask him to do when he drove past our friends.

Was a by pass standard factory equipment?

I have included a couple of more PICS I found and a photoshop version of the car without my brother and the dog that you can use.

The one with the golf clubs is me at about 11 years old...Dad cleaning the feathers off of a chicken in the background. Life was good!

During the war, when you couldn't get tires, my day had a friend that was a milk man.

He was able to get tires for his truck because of his job, and dad bought tires from him that were too large for the fender wells on the Reo. So, he bent the fenders upward with a pipe wrench to get the needed clearance. The neighborhood kids called it the "Sherman Tank", it stood so tall. I guess you would call it an early "Lift Kit".

Awesome. Wonder if the exhaust cut out was a factory option or a later added accessory. A number of big prewar cars offered factory exhaust cut outs including Cord & Duesenberg.

Of course not.......the Royale has too much class!

A $50 option back then will cost you a small fortune now... but after all you could go back to a 3 speed and still be 'correct'. The 4 speed gearboxes I have seen from the era more than a needed higher gear or overdrive, tend to be a lower first, for real steep hills and mud, which luckily the cars nowadays seldom see.




Back to Victorias, there is an add in Hemmings for a modified one. Perhaps it is the same car on the earlier post on this same thread... or I should say I hope it is, as I hate to think of another modified Royale.

www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/reo/royale/1753047.html

Here is the description: REO: 1931 Royale Victoria coupe, Fatman front, 9-in rear, all wood removed, steel replaced wood, steel floor, have artillery wheels, tilt wheel, no rear fenders, $30,000 invested, first $20,000 takes, no trades. 423-272-9788, TN.
Price: $30,000

Yes, it is the guy from near Knoxville, TN who was selling some Royale parts. He is the guy I got my 4 wooden spoke wheels from. I saw this car. It made me want to cry to see a good Royale street rodded.

John where are you getting the other 2 wheels made ? As I have heard that there is some Amish Craftsmen who can make them from scratch .

We figured out after the fact that the gears were marked and timed. We only gave them the single gear which was broke and not it's mate. They have both now so I'm hopeful this will be resolved.

Also, Dupont's came with a factory exhuast cut-out. Dupont, Duesenberg, Cord ..... not bad company John!