TWO INTO ONE
I ronic, isn’t it, given the British and US military kit being supplied to Ukraine. In the Second World War, the United States supplied the equivalent in today’s money of $180 billion of military aid to the Russian-controlled communist USSR. Britain pitched in too, with trucks, tanks, munitions and other war materiel – including around 4,000 Hurricane and Spitfire fighters.
US support for the Soviet’s fight against Nazi Germany included 400,000 wheeled vehicles. Getting on for half of these were Studebaker US6-type 6x6 2.5-tonners – over 20,000 of which were produced under sub-contract by REO in its manufacturing complex in Lansing, Michigan.
The Soviets loved these 6x6s. So much, after the war, they were cloned as the GAZ-51. The design of the US6 also heavily influenced the engineering of the ZIL-151, produced in updated form until the mid-1990s.
REO trucks had a proud pedigree, as did another US legend with which it was eventually merged – Diamond T.
While REO has never had a presence in Britain, one Diamond T model is familiar to enthusiasts on the strength of model 980 tank transporter tractors – operated by the British Army in WW2 and, subsequently, by heavylift specialists Pickfords, Wynns and others.
But even the most illustrious businesses can run out of road. REO was merged into the White Motor Company in 1957. A year later, White took over Daimond
