Franklin Olympic History

Desperate for a cheaper car to sell into the Depression, Franklin struck a hasty deal with Reo — another maker near collapse — for 1933. The Olympic was essentially Reo's 118-inch-wheelbase Flying Cloud body fitted with a Franklin air-cooled six at the Syracuse plant; Reo shipped bodies from Lansing, Michigan, and Franklin completed a like number of Olympics the following day.

By most accounts the Olympic was a genuinely good car, but it came far too late to save the company. Only 1,218 Franklins (Olympics among them) were built for 1933 and a mere 109 for the swan-song 1934 model year before Franklin declared bankruptcy in April 1934.