Research

The museum’s James D. Butt Archive contains thousands of pamphlets, drawings, letters, catalogs, and other ephemera related to Lansing automotive history. For questions or to set up a research appointment, please email historian@reoldsmuseum.org.

Please note, the REOTM archive does not have individual vehicle production information. The following are resources for common questions we receive:

For information on your vehicle’s VIN:
-Hagerty VIN Lookup Tool Pre-1981: https://www.hagerty.com/valuation-tools/classic-car-vin-lookup T
-National Highway Traffic Safety Administration VIN Lookup Tool 1981-Present: https://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/decoder/

Where to obtain a certain part or advice on repairs:
-Oldsmobile parts can be purchased from a number of vendors, but one of the most popular is Fusick www.fusickautomotiveproducts.com.
-You can also find parts for sale in the Oldsmobile Club of America’s magazine, Journey with Olds, and the OCA group Facebook page.
-For REO parts and information, we recommend looking up the REO Club of America’s website and their Facebook groups. https://reoclub.org/
-Information on specific REO vehicles and REO company records are kept at the Michigan State University Archive, however, these papers and files have not been cataloged, so those working at MSU are not able to locate a specific record for you. https://lib.msu.edu/ua
-For any other questions while researching your individual car, there is the General Motors Heritage Center: The GMHC is closed to the public but may still respond to emails: gmhc@gm.com