Constructed way back in 1905, the Baby Reo has been described as the American auto industry’s first scale-model promotional vehicle.

If you’re ever in the Lansing, Michigan area, around 90 miles west of Detroit, a visit to the R.E. Olds Transportation Museum is well worth your time. The museum chronicles the life of Ransom E. Olds and the two great car companies he founded, Oldsmobile and Reo, along with all the city’s valuable contributions to automotive history. There are lots of cool and unusual exhibits there, but probably one of the more intriguing ones is the Baby Reo—a perfect and fully functional half-scale duplicate of a Reo touring car that was constructed back in 1905.

We don’t know who decides such things, but the Baby Reo has been declared the American auto industry’s first miniature promotional vehicle. (And who are we to argue?) Constructed at a cost of $3,000—a fortune in 1905 dollars—the half-scale replica weighs 238 lbs and is powered by a dinky version (1.0-in bore x 1.5-in stroke) of the two-cylinder opposed engine used in the production Reo. Fully functional and accurate in all respects, the Baby Reo was first displayed at the 1905 New York Auto Show and then made the rounds of the industry shows for several years, receiving regular updates to 1907 and 1908 product specs. And for a time it was also leased to the Barnum & Bailey Circus (above) and featured with its famed Lilliputian performers.

At some point the Baby Reo made its way to the museum of famed Long Island collector Henry Austin Clark, and in the 1980s it was acquired by American Motors design chief and dedicated car enthusiast Richard A. Teague. He restored Baby to its original 1905 configuration and paired it with an identical but full-sized vehicle called the Mama Reo, painted in the same shade of Royal Blue with yellow wheels and black leather upholstery.

Teague passed away in 1991, and in August of 2008, the Baby and Mama Reos were offered for sale at the Gooding & Company Pebble Beach auction, where they were purchased by Peter and Debbie Stephens for $275,000. Debbie is the great-granddaughter of Reo founder R.E. Olds, and she has graciously placed the pair of vehicles on permanent loan to the museum. If you’re ever near Lansing, be sure to pay them a visit.  -Photo below courtesy of the R.E. Olds Transportation Museum.