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Warren car buff revved up for REO Speedwagon show
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
Rock fans know all about the hit-making act REO Speedwagon.
But when car afficionados hear those words, they think of the light trucks and cars manufactured by the company that bears the initials of Ransom E. Olds in the first half of the 20th century.
There will be a nexus of the two at Thursday’s REO Speedwagon concert at Stambaugh Auditorium, when Chester Jones of Warren brings his beautifully restored 1929 model to the hall.
Jones will park his REO vehicle in front of the main entrance, near the parking lots. He’s hoping he’ll get a chance to get a photo taken of himself with the band.
Jones, 60, a muscle-car builder for 45 years, is the owner of Chet’s Auto Wrecking in Warren. He found the REO in swampland in Leavittsburg in 2000 and restored it.
“It has all the gangster effects,” he said. “That’s the kind of car it was.”
The vehicle was a mess when he discovered it, but now Jones said “it looks like something your grandfather kept in a garage.”
In fact, Jones has won awards and a lot of recognition for the car. “It was honored in the December issue of Cruising Time magazine with the centerfold,” said Jones.
“This car is famous. It turns more heads than a naked blonde on a highway. It’s one of the most-famous REOs in the world.”
As he restored it, Jones tried to use all original equipment. He had seats specially made to resemble how the car looked in a showroom.
Jones often takes it to classic-car shows, where he sets it up with gangster trappings, including a machine gun in a violin case and money bags. He also plays the gangster part at the shows.
He almost met the rock band in 2014.
“[REO Speedwagon] contacted me through the REO Club of America [in 2014] because they were looking for people who had REOs and asking them to take them to Florida [for a show],” said Jones. “But that was the same week that the REO Museum in Lansing, Mich., was having a show, and I went there instead.”
Jones might get his chance to show his car to the band this week. He plans on bringing it to Stambaugh Auditorium in the early afternoon and leaving it there all day. He has told the band about his plans.
Kelly Fertig, marketing director of Stambaugh Auditorium, couldn’t say whether Jones will be able to meet the band, but she has encouraged him to try.
Ransom E. Olds (1864-1950) was a native of Geneva, Ohio, and lived there as a small boy before his family moved to Cleveland.
He founded the Olds Motor Vehicle Co. (forebear to the Oldsmobile) in Lansing, Mich., in 1897. He left that company in 1904 and shortly thereafter founded the REO Motor Car Co.
The REO Speed Wagon was a light truck made by the company.