My Best Guess At What That $21,500 REO Pickup Truck Will Look Like

Would you ever buy a car or truck or even put down a deposit without even knowing what it looks like? I know I wouldn’t, yet that appears to be what the new venture called REO hopes you’ll do for the bare-bones pickup that its backer hopes to be launching in the near future.

REO has been very verbal in explaining what this thing will be, but they’ve done little in terms of actually illustrating it. That’s almost certainly because they still don’t know themselves. I’m not a car designer or even claim to be, but I can’t help but read such descriptions and form images in my head. As a person who draws stuff, I had to scribble something down to get it out of my pea-sized brain. Is what’s appearing in my dome similar to what you have in mind?

Take It On The Run

Why would anyone start their own car company? If you hear what Malcolm Bricklin said when asked what convinced him to build an automobile with his name on it, his answer was, “because I didn’t know any better.” That’s probably the case with most of these startups. It’s extremely unfair that many of these entrepreneurs are labeled as shysters; if your goal is to rip off the public, there are much, much easier ways to do it than trying to produce an automobile.

Sure, there are the Liz Carmichaels of Dale fame out there, but the vast majority of these people have a vision in mind for a new kind of product that they’re convinced the public wants and needs. In Bricklin’s case, it was to make a very safe car (a sports car no less) that wasn’t ugly or unattainable and met the new regulations and realities of the early seventies head-on without whining about it like the Big 3. If you have twenty minutes for the video below, I recommend it: Malcolm has some stories.

The end result does look pretty nice and was flat-out shocking for 1974, but as with virtually all independently-created vehicles, Bricklin had to solve huge issues with money and labor to his car produced. That, combined with initial price projections that excite the public but end up doubling by the time required to get the thing launched, ended up killing Bricklin’s car and essentially all the other moonshot startups since.

Is the REO going to be any different? We certainly hope so, since it’s based on a concept that hits most Autopians as being right for the times.

Keep The Fire Burning

Our own Jason Torchinsky has recently interviewed Zach De Bernardi, the person behind the launch of this new vehicle named after a defunct car and truck company. The original REO was started by Ransom Eli Olds; a company that most know or remember only because of a country music band (Diamond Rio) or cassette-era arena rockers that took on the name when their History of Transportation instructor at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign wrote REO SPEEDWAGON on the blackboard in 1967.

There are plenty of people convinced that De Bernardi is hawking vaporware, but he certainly seems sincere in his desire to launch the type of vehicle the internet is clamoring for: an inexpensive and humble gasoline-powered truck. The claim is that it will be an old-school, body-on-frame design with a live rear axle, mechanical 4WD, and a proven (but yet to be revealed) major manufacturer four-cylinder motor and manual transmission as standard equipment.

The REO is conceived to be like the new Slate but without the limited-range electric drive of that truck and possibly even more stripped down in base form to get to a lower price.

Whether the excitement in online chats can translate to actual sales is unknown, but the REO is yet another supposed answer to the-price-is-too-damn-high stickers of most new cars. This is all happening with essentially no images of the proposed product beyond the slightest hints at a boxy truck shape. According to the website, that’s because REO wants to be “different.” REO has given us some highly stylized and possibly AI-generated images that get the “idea” across, but that’s it. The front shows a lighting signature but little else of consequence:

The standard two-seater looks very similar to the Slate. This rendering seems a bit at odds with the lengthy written material on the REO, since it’s supposed to be a drop-side pickup, but those taillights say that ain’t so.

There’s a four-door pickup as well, and the art gives this thing rather odd proportions, like it’s gonna be a rare six-door cab.

Finally, there will supposedly be a four-door SUV that, in this image, looks similar if not identical to the Bronco:

Exactly what the REO will look like appears to be undecided as of yet. According to De Bernardi, he’s hiring people to help with that.

And the design is being done by some fantastic pedigree. I can’t tell you who or where, but I’m on a plane to Europe tomorrow. If that gives you any idea, it’s not just Joe Schmo working on it, it’s not AI doing it, it’s not just some graphic designer that we hired. If you saw any marketplace post for that on like Behance or Art Station, that was kind of early stuff, just to kind of help us get some ideation going. But the real designers of these vehicles are household names.

I’m not sure that’s the best answer for a fledgling firm. Zach is going to spend likely hundreds of thousands of dollars (probably more) he can ill afford educating a bunch of Italian guys on what an American pickup truck is. He will possibly get back solutions that the likes of Jason and I think are cool but are tone-deaf to what an American buyer wants (like the Ital-designed sales flops Eagle Premier and Subaru SVX) just to name-drop some company that a cheap truck buyer won’t give a crap about. There are plenty of North American people to do the job very well for less money.

Bricklin had it right in that regard, hiring Art Center graduate and experienced American ex-Ford designer Herb Grasse to do his design work, and Herb sure as hell had the look of the car established first since he knew there was no other way for Malcolm to raise cash.

If you read Herb Grasse’s account of developing the Bricklin design in weeks and even grabbing taillights off of his own personal Pantera and putting them on the clay model literally hours before investors showed up, you’ll realize the kind of in-house scrappiness you need at this stage. I promise you, dudes thousands of miles and seven time zones away can’t do that. Based on other “startups of the week” that have crashed and burned in the last few years, Malcolm is right that unnecessarily spending big bucks up front on staff and other resources means certain death. By not showing a visual representation up front, you’re probably hurting your credibility with the public in the same way Infiniti did with commercials that didn’t show the car. Worse than that, in the absence of official images, we know that “Joe Schmos” will fill that gap with their own bad AI interpretations (that some viewers will think are real).

I don’t want to “design” this thing as much as just catalog what it could possibly be beyond those vague profile views on the REO site. Enough talk; I refuse to use Midjourney or other AI crap (I actually don’t know how), but this Joe Schmo here has a Pilot Razorpoint and Photoshop. Let’s go!

I Can’t Fight This Feeling

Based on the descriptions and minimalistic profiles, we know that the REO will be simple, square-rigged, and clean with minimal trim. I’ll start with a four-door version since that will almost certainly be the most popular version regardless of what internet fans go nuts for. The two-door REO is supposedly going to be around 180 inches long, which means the four-door version will be similar in size to the Maverick.

As I said earlier, I don’t use AI, and there are many ways to draw and render cars, but the way I do it is absolutely, positively not the way anyone should. Ever. I’ll start with a Maverick image:

I’ll then add the detailing that will make up the basic truck. REO doesn’t mention the drop side on the four-door truck, but that’s what I’ll show anyway. Basically, it’s three boxes with two simple character lines running down the side. You can see that the lower character line defines the split for the fold-down part of the tailgate sides.

Then it’s hours of adding color from the base image to the line drawing. It’s tedious and stupid, but almost like doing a coloring book and quite relaxing after nine hours in the office getting angry at staff and customers.

Eventually, it’s all done, and I can tweak the crap out of it. I know that AI can do the same thing if I spend three days typing paragraphs of prompts into it, but I’ll still get something I don’t want, and that sounds like a bad time.

Anyway, that basic shape above: you can’t get simpler than that. The down-the-road lighting signature I’ve tried to capture with an “H” shaped light bar that REO appears to be showing on their website front view. It splits a grille for the radiator and a trim panel above. Note that the side marker lights are actually part of the front-facing light structure that shine through “windows” in the fenders to reduce parts. Door handles are levers hidden in vertical depressions that run behind the trailing edge of the doors.

This example is a rather well-equipped model with gloss-painted and chrome-trimmed steel wheels, but we could also offer a true bare-bones version with unpainted grey bumpers and upper grille trim panel. In typical car parlance, this would be the “custom” model:

I’d push it even further by removing all of the sheet metal below the flatbed in back for the “Standard” model. I’d also make the standard models rear-wheel drive to save money, with 4WD available as an option.

The two-door would, of course, be the starting point of the whole lineup. Honestly, I don’t think getting to $21,500 is possible, but to do so you will literally have to strip out large chunks of the vehicle itself. That means an exposed rear frame and no bodywork whatsoever below the bed. Note the “box” taillights in back that Jason is so fond of. If you’ve ever driven a Home Depot rental pickup and said, “this is all I need and want,” then here you go.

REO is also promising an SUV version of this platform, the signature feature being side-facing jump seats in back. I wasn’t aware that you could legally put these in an American truck and pass safety laws, and those things sound cool but are not a particularly comfortable way to travel. Regardless, Zack has advertised it so we’ll add it, but in order for those kinds of seats to work we’ll want some extra roof in back so an available “dome top” like a 21-window bus or an old Land Rover would need to be stamped out. I’m not complaining about having to put a raised roof on, since I’ll put a Vista Cruiser top on anything I get my hands on.

The rear “bumper” would accommodate any trailer hitch you want to add with an offset license plate and single backup light. Like the front, the side markers are part of the rear-facing taillight unit with windows to shine out the side. Also, a “window” in the left taillight cluster would illuminate the license plate for free. From the back, the REO I rendered ended up looking extremely boxy and industrial, almost like some thirty-year-old truck that got imported from an emerging nation or an upsized Kei truck. Maybe that’s the look we want? It’s begging for some strips and graphics.

The available rubber side trim on the tops of the fenders would protect them when they’re folded down (standard would just be rubber bumpers below). You’ll also note that the low-mounted taillights would continue down far enough that they’d be visible with the rear tailgate folded down (and the license plate as well).

Having a rather tall bed floor means that you’d have room below for an available rear cargo trunk as on a Honda Ridgeline. I do wonder if maybe it should be accessible by a rear door so you don’t have to unload the cargo bed to get to it. Smaller side cargo pockets ahead of the rear wheels might be optional too.

I haven’t added any “styling” so to speak in these renderings, but maybe a product essentially devoid of any trendy lumps and bumps is a good thing? In some ways it resembles the 1986 Nissan “Hardbody” pickup, arguably the best-looking compact pickup ever designed.

Riding The Storm Out (Inside The Cab)

Inside, De Bernardi mentioned that the standard interior could be truly basic, as in “if it doesn’t really need it, we won’t add it.” The base model would have identical vinyl bench seats up front and back in the four-door that don’t recline and the ability to hold three across in a very tight pinch (note the raising head restraints). The “door panels” are really just small, partial covers for the hole in the steel with armrest, airbag, and window crank; most of the sheet metal is exposed.

If you aren’t a total cheapskate, you’ll want to get bucket seats and a console, plus actual full door panels with door pockets that could include speakers and buttons for power windows if you’re Mr. Moneybags.

Like the Slate, I see the dash being very simple. It’s C-shaped in profile to allow for a full-width tray, painfully basic with a speedometer/gas gauge combination not unlike 1970s Beetles:

From there, of course, you could do it up any way your tastes or wallet allows. There’s an optional non-skid rubber mat to put your cell phones and such on (a wireless charger underneath is also optional). Pull-out cup holders can be installed on each end of the dash (yes, you guessed it, they’re optional). Two removable plugs on the outer edges of the dash top could be removed to install speakers (which, again, could be complemented by speakers in the optional door panels if you order those).

A double DIN frame panel lets you install an entertainment control screen. An optional tach, water temp, alternator and oil pressure gauges snap into apertures needs to the speedometer (De Bernardi wants analog gauges, but I think LCD screens might be cheaper in the end). Air conditioning would be standard, but the “ball cooler” vents? Optional for you to install. Every dollar counts.

Buying an REO but can’t afford some of this stuff now? No problem; you could buy it later to install yourself. You’d probably pay less than from the factory, and you wouldn’t be financing it and end up paying like $100 for a cup holder over four years.

Time For Me To Fly

So which version of this proposed REO would you get, and what options would you pop for? Whether you like what I’ve illustrated or not, it doesn’t matter; as a client once told me. “I need to see what I hate so that I can tell you what I like.” If De Bernardi is really serious about letting potential customers’ feedback be part of the design process, I think that REO should show us something sooner rather than later.

Then again, the fact that no images exist has made me inexplicably obsessed over this new truck. Maybe De Bernardi’s move is marketing genius after all?

Top graphic bade image: Ford