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19 hours ago, Hobert62 said:

They where made local here in Harrisburg, Pa.  idk if they where made other places or not.   My scrapper buddies have one with a v8 air cooled deutz.  

So that was a transplant, or did they ever offer a Deutz in an American truck?

22 minutes ago, h67st said:

So that was a transplant, or did they ever offer a Deutz in an American truck?

A local fellow bought a Diamond Reo with an oem installed air cooled Deutz and ran it in his tipper fleet.

Don't have a picture of the exact truck but it looked like this one.  

1987 Diamond Reo.jpg

  • Like 2

Jim

It doesn't cost anything to pay attention.

If I remember the story right a local garage here “A&L diesel” was a reo dealer and somehow got hooked up with the Harrisburg plant building gliders.   Supposedly they where the ones that started putting the air cooled motors in for them.  I heard this through story from old timers so it my not be 100% correct.   I think from my understanding the diamond reo’s where mostly made as per ordered.  

On 4/20/2019 at 12:52 PM, autocardc said:

They were also manufactured in Michigan, they were popular up there in the 70s through the 90s.

That would explain it. I grew up on the Canadian side of the Michigan border and I remember there being many Diamond Reo's and Autocars working there.

Even now I still see old steel nose Autocar's still working over there as dump trucks, log trucks and pulling live bottom's.

 

Where in Michigan? Wasn't it Lansing?

Edited by Bullheaded
  • Like 1

Thanks autocardc. I'll try. But I'm not over there often any more. I used to haul wood chips and bark to and from Michigan but I'm not doing that any more.

Where I see them is the upper peninsula. The Sault, Newberry, Macelona, Munising, Escanaba, Gwinn, etc. 

  • Like 1

White Motor combined Diamond T and REO creating the name Diamond REO on May 1, 1967 and ended production at the REO plant in Lansing MI in mid 1975.

I am not sure of the exact years but  the Osterman Company of Carlisle PA built the Diamond REO Giant from about 1979 to the mid 90's. The word Giant was added after a court discussion with Volvo.

The Deutz air cooled was factory installed engine until the late 80,s when it would no longer meet US emissions limits. When Osteman went out of business some of the Osterman people continued in Harrisburg as the T-Line trucks of today.

Edited by Brocky
  • Like 1

Brocky

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