REYA

Reya Motor Co. (1917-1918)

Napoleon, Ohio

This is a Reya radiator emblem (1917-1918)   sam
Size: 75mm wide 39mm high    MM: Unknown

The Napoleon Motor Car Company (see Napoleon Truck) had been established in Napoleon, Ohio in early 1916 but moved their passenger car business to Traverse City, Michigan in 1917.  The Reya Motor Company was set up in 1917 to take over the truck building arm of the Napoleon Motor Car Company and was named after the General Manager, Malcolm Hall Ayer ("Ayer" in reverse is "Reya").

The Reya Motor Company business was primarily truck manufacturing but a few Reya passenger cars were also built in 1917. Reya motor trucks were apparently produced into 1918. However, there are no recorded details of Reya trucks or passenger cars and production numbers were likely to have been very small.

Emblem

The following original period photo of a Reya truck shows a rectangular radiator emblem:

Reya Model A truck showing radiator emblem (1917) wheelswaterengines

This is the pale blue, black and white enamel Reya radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post. This Reya emblem is believed to have been displayed also on Reya passenger cars and is extremely rare.