If there’s one thing almost certain to draw a crowd in Logan County, it’s a wellput together parade of automobiles.
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A 1970 Diamond REO rig, owned by Bob Raveling of Skatell, Minnesota, makes its way around the turn from Court Avenue onto Main Street for a photo during the Saturday morning parade. (EXAMINER PHOTOS | REUBEN MEES) |
“People really turn out for car shows. And with the transportation museum here and the Holland, it draws groups like this. Everybody I’ve talked to has said how impressed with the town they are, and members of the Ferrari group said they would like to come back next year. Bellefontaine really needs to keep track of what they have here.”
The parade featured 50-plus vehicles made by the REO company from its earliest days in the 1900s to the retirement of the nameplate with commercial rigs that were still being produced in the 1970s.
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Local residents look at some of the earliest REO automobiles as they are parked in front of the Holland Theatre after the parade. |
But REO wasn’t just automobiles and trucks either, an area man said.
Although he didn’t participate in the four days of club activities leading up to Saturday’s parade, Denny Schimmoeller of Delphos showed up Saturday morning with a trailer filled with 16 classic REO lawn mowers he has been collecting for 10 to 15 years now.
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A procession of 1930s era REO automobiles makes its way by the Bellefontaine Municipal Building. |
“I wanted to start collecting something and thought I would start with small gasoline engines,” he said. His first $2 investments was a 1951 REO Royale De Luxe mower in need of restoration along with the original instruction manual.
“I learned to mow grass when I was a boy on a mower just like that,” Mr. Schimmoeller said.
Read complete story in Monday’s Examiner.
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