Boss Todd’s Garage, Episode 1: The 1899 Horsey Horseless

Camaro Burnout pics only!!! - Third Generation F-Body Message Boards
[source]
[A 1985 Camaro IROC-Z squeals its tires, bursting onscreen to the sounds of Judas Priest’s “Breakin’ The Law”.]

What the FUCK is UP, you fucking PUSSIES? I’m BOSS FUCKIN’ TODD HALEY, head coach and GM of the USFL’s MEMPHIS SHOWBOATS WOOOOOOOO!!!

[source]
You dumbshits probably know me from my NFL experiences in KC as head coach and in Pittsburgh and Cleveland as OC. Fucking idiots to let me go. BOSS TODD KNOWS BALL!

Anyways, the USFL is cool and shit, but since the pay kinda fucking sucks for us, I’m just hear to make a little scratch on the side. Since Jay Leno blew his own stupid ass up a couple months ago and put himself on Injured Reserve… I’M FUCKIN’ TAKIN’ OVER HIS TV SHOW!

Every week, we’re going at some fucking dumbass cars out there. Listen, I’ve seen some fucking turds on the field and in the garage in my day. Remember Brodie Croyle? Remember Tyler Palko? FUCK. Same with the Ford Pinto and the AMC Gremlin. But you guys know this. So instead, for the next few months, we’re gonna go way, way fucking deeper. I fix shit. It’s what I do. I MADE MATT FUCKING CASSEL LOOK LIKE A PRO BOWL QB! So remember, even if there’s a car that appears to be worse than a trash bag full of diseased gophers, BOSS TODD can get your shit squared away. Seriously. Now gimme a fucking smoke. Let’s talk shop.

Plans for the Horsey-Horseless
[source]

THE HORSEY HORSELESS

Model Year: 1899

Total units produced: almost definitely zero

Vehicle type: two-“door” coupe, open roof

Engine: unknown

Drivetrain: unknown

Transmission: unknown

Gross weight: unknown

0-60 time: absolutely not

Vehicle cost: unknown

What makes this car interesting? 

Battle Creek, MI has given the world a lot of things, including corn flakes, granola, and some weird religious fundamentalism. With Michigan already becoming the automotive hub of North America even at the turn of the 20th century, it’s only fitting that it would give us an incredibly strange car. Or, at least, the idea of one. The car’s inventor, Uriah Smith, was a Seventh-Day Adventist, making him a contemporary of the world-famous Kellogg brothers.

uriah smith, horsey horseless inventor
Never seen a man so aptly named in my life. [source]
With the world already grappling with the early advancement in automotive technology, one primary complaint among non-adopters was the fact that early motorcars tended to spook horses quite easily, leading to accidents and sometimes potential deaths when carriage drivers would lose control of the animals. This was, to their credit, entirely valid. Safety was basically nobody’s top priority back then, as it was simply easier to complain about things rather than fix them. Leave it to forward thinkers like Uriah Smith to actually go out and do something about it. Hence the concept of a car with a wooden horse’s head attached to the front of it, which he intended to “disguise” the appearance of the vehicle and keep passing horses more calm.

While this car was for years thought to be an outright hoax and simply just a big troll job on Luddites of his era, research has shown that Smith actually went out and filed for a patent for his design – and it was approved on  April 11th, 1899. It’s 100% real.

What makes this car stupid?

Turns out the entire horse head was a gas tank.

How the fuck do you think a horse would react if it saw one of these bad boys accidentally catch on fire? Holy fuck. John Elway would shit his goddamn pants. I don’t think they even have shrinks for horses. That said, it turns out someone else actually still liked the idea and expanded on Uriah Smith’s initial concepts five years later. In Denver, CO in 1904, one Mr. Henry Hayes received a patent for a detachable horse head that could be mounted on the front of most vehicles. Unlike Smith’s design, Hayes’ horse head contained an oil lamp headlight with eyeball portals, and a lever to open and close the horse’s mouth, which doubled as a horn.

Screen Shot 2020-01-22 at 9.05.02 AM.png
Henry Hayes’ horsehead patent, c. 1904. [source]
CAN YOU GET PUSSY IN THIS CAR? 

Take a look at the setup here. Bench seat at the front. That’s easy pants zipper access for DAYS right there, dude. Who gives a fuck that there’s no privacy? What the fuck do you think your great-grandparents were doing late at night after a going to a shitty little “picture show”? Get fucking real. Uriah probably wouldn’t approve, but fuck that guy.

This Horse-Shaped Car Is Not (Quite) as Dumb as It Seems
[source]
How can BOSS TODD fix this thing? 

Fuck horses in general, man. As a former Chiefs coach, pretty sure I’m contractually bound to say that even after getting shitcanned from constantly losing to my AFC West rivals. You can fix this shitty car by not being a fucking wizard-bearded dumbass obsessed with the Second Coming and stupid party tricks. You want a horse themed vehicle that badly? Get a fucking pony car. At least people won’t call you a little bitch for owning one of THOSE. Unless it’s a V6 base model.

OK, that’s it. I’m out. Time to go sign some former Popeyes employees to play D-Line for me with the Showboats. See you next week, fuckers.

[The Camaro burns out again, with “Breakin’ The Law” blaring once more.]

***

Information for this article taken from here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Banner image by The Maestro. 

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The Maestro
The Maestro is a mystical Canadian internet user and New England Patriots fan; when the weather is cooperative and the TV signal at his igloo is strong enough, he enjoys watching the NFL, the Ottawa Senators & REDBLACKS, and yelling into the abyss on Twitter. He is somehow allowed to teach music to high school students when he isn't in a blind rage about sports, and is also a known connoisseur of cheap beers across the Great White North.
https://www.doorfliesopen.com/index.php/author/the-maestro/
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litre_cola

Hell yes Boss Todd is fucking back!!!

BeefReeferLives

STRAP IN, FUCKSTAINS!!!!! BOSS TODD IS BACK AND LIVIN’ LARGE!!!!!!
/snnnnnuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrk
WOOOOO!!

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Last edited 1 year ago by BeefReeferLives
Downfield Matriculator

Spectacular, down the the JP on the stereo. Soon Boss Todd will know the truth of those lyrics: “There I was completely wasted, out of work and down . . .”

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Amazing

2Pack

Well done. This will be good. Who among us could not use a little clown car education now and then.

Senor Weaselo

Oh, fuck yes.

WCS

comment image

FUCK YES COCKWALLETS

Don T

My indifference towards cars is my biggest failure as a man AND Puerto Rican. But Boss Todd’s opinions about anything are required reedin’ 🤣

yeah right

I also share a complete indifference to vehicles, that’s lately been leaning closer to outright disdain.

Truly hope my current vehicle is the last one I ever own as I’m heading towards carbon neutral in retirement.

BugEyedBoo

First: A 1985 Camaro would have just about enough power to get out of its own way, and smoking its tires was pure fantasy.

Second: The Word of the Day is ‘skeuomorph’. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph . Example: that Save icon that looks like a 3.5″ floppy disk.

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

I know that word all too well after having watched Apple cultists debate icon design on Gizmodo.

BugEyedBoo

Yeah, that Wiki article said that Steve Jobs was a big fan. But Jony Ive was not, and Steve Jobs is dead.

I used to work with some Mac developers who had drank the Apple Style Guide koolaid, and deviating from it would trigger them into fits of rage. One guy I knew was so mad about it that he put an Easter Egg into our product (consumer product, not some custom app) and it had Nazis marching with their one-armed salute held high. Its caption was, “<name redacted> Development – We do what we’re told.” That made it to the shelves in the stores. When it was found in the wild he was fired that day. Personally I felt bad for him, but he should have known that pulling shit like that gets you fired.

King Hippo

So good. Begs the question, though – do horses evennrecognize one another by sight? I would have guessed they were more “scent” based like cats and dogs. But I have no veterinary, nor “general horsey” experience.

Also, I thought sounds tended to spook the horses. Maybe Uriah just couldn’t think like a horse.

This is already a great series, can’t wait for future installments.

LemonJello

Fun Fact: “General Horsey” is Eli’s secret code name for John Elway.

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

Horses recognize people by sight; I assume they would be able to recognize each other even more easily.

Gumbygirl

Horses have pretty good eyesight- between 20/30 and 20/60 on average. Like many other animals, their night vision is much better than ours. They absolutely recognize and remember faces, even from photographs. They are pretty intelligent too, and easily learn to outwit latches on their stalls.

Game Time Decision

love how the links to other crazy stories are just links to other DFO posts.

LemonJello

Boss Todd in the mutha-luvvin’ house!

ballsofsteelandfury

Oh this is wonderful!! Yay for Boss Todd!!