Boss Todd’s Garage, Episode 4: The 1920 Briggs & Stratton Flyer

[A 1985 Camaro IROC-Z squeals its tires, bursting onscreen to the sounds of Judas Priest’s “Breakin’ The Law”.]

BOSS TODD IS FUCKIN’ BACK, BITCHES!

I’ll tell you one thing, brother. I wouldn’t piss on Tom Brady if he was on fuckin’ fire. I wish nothin’ but hate on that dude. Fuckin’ ruined football forever. Makes every goddamn dipshit rate sixth-round QBs way too goddamn highly. “Maybe the next…” FUCK YOU. YOU DON’T KNOW BALL LIKE ME. That’s why you’re working at a Kroger and I’m working at the football equivalent of a Kroger. Go ride your fuckin’ bike to the mall. You’ll never get a BITCHIN’ CAMARO of your own. Hell, you won’t even get one of these dumbass things…

THE BRIGGS & STRATTON FLYER

Model Year: 1920

Total units produced: Unknown, but at least 60,000 at minimum

Vehicle type: Five-wheeled, two-seater, rear-engine roofless coupe

Engine: gasoline, single cylinder 2-stroke, 200 cc, 2 hp

Drivetrain: RWD

Transmission: direct-driven rear fifth wheel

Gross weight: unknown, but probably <250 lbs total

0-60 time: not on your life

Top speed: 25 mph

Vehicle cost: $125 (1920 pricing)

What makes this car interesting? 

You want simple? You want cheap? You want reliable? Lots of cars over the years probably spring to mind. The K-Car. The VW Beetle. The Trabant. All of them wildly popular, despite their numerous flaws, especially due to their simplicity and low cost to maintain and repair. I’m here to tell you today that this vehicle is going to blow every single one out of the water when it comes to the simplicity of its design.

The 1920 Briggs & Stratton Flyer was the Diogenes of automobiles. It had basically none of the features that the modern customer would expect to see. No lights, dashboard, mirrors, or even things like doors, suspension, brakes, or pedals. At $125, the Flyer was essentially a toy that ended up becoming wildly popular in its short run of existence despite the fact that it was as bare-bones a vehicle as one could possibly buy a century ago.

The Flyer began its life produced by the A. O. Smith Company, and their single-horsepower engine was standard equipment on every model they produced between 1915 and 1919. When Briggs & Stratton bought the manufacturing rights in 1920, they switched to their own engine – a two-horsepower model. In both instances, the engine was connected directly to a fifth wheel in the back which provided propulsion; with the wheel spinning directly with the motor, and due to the car’s extremely low weight, there was no need for a transmission to change gears. The fifth wheel was raised and lowered on a lever for starting and stopping purposes. Even with the dubious quality of many roads in America during the early part of the 20th century, the Flyer didn’t bother with suspension, as the wooden planks connecting the front and rear wheels could flex enough to provide travel for both axles.

With that aforementioned price of just $125, this car was cheap even in its day – in 2023 dollars, it’s $1854.98 for one of these things. Briggs & Stratton acquired the manufacturing rights for this vehicle likely in part because they felt it was a chance at democratizing the automotive market in a meaningful way. Until the Roaring Twenties really got going, cars were predominantly just for the wealthy, powerful, and privileged, and the masses typically used trains, buses, horses, and bicycles for the majority of their traveling. With a two-seat vehicle now in the price range of even an average worker’s wages, automotive use would then likely soon explode.

Except that’s not what happened at all. At least, not quite yet – not really until the legendary Ford Model T cornered the market a few years later. As the Flyer was so incredibly rudimentary, it ended up becoming just another toy of the rich & famous to putter about in – even though many had other vehicles with a wide variety of comfort and safety options not found in the Flyer.

Briggs & Stratton ultimately got out of the automotive market, but they’re still around today over a century later- their small engines continue to be found in lawnmowers across the continent, and as the parent company of Evinrude, Johnson Outboards, and many other small-engine ventures, their technology continues to make an impact on the world today.

What makes this car stupid?

Well, if you crash, you’re fucked. There’s zero margin of error in this thing. While this is obviously completely unsatisfactory for modern standards, even in its era, it would’ve been a death trap.

Also, you’ve got a 200 cc engine. Where’s the gas tank for this shit? Forget what your gas mileage is – worry simply about being able to complete your round trip to a few blocks away. Slapping a bigger external tank on this thing would also be a self-defeating purpose.

CAN YOU GET PUSSY IN THIS CAR? 

Two seats side by side… no center console… NOTHIN’ STOPPIN’ A LITTLE SLOPPY TOPPY WHILE CRUISIN’ IN THE JALOPY NOW, DON’TCHA THINK?

How can BOSS TODD fix this thing? 

The classic power to weight problem. Any dipshit weekend mechanic wants to start off by saying that you gotta take GM’s small-block LS and swap it into whatever the fuck you want. A Camaro. A Saturn. A Beetle. A fucking toaster. Who gives a fuck. But that’s why all those guys are fuckin’ amateurs. DON’T LISTEN TO THE HATERS.

I tell you what you’re gonna fuckin’ do. You’re gonna go electric on this bitch.

I’m dead serious. Ferdinand Porsche had his own design for a direct-drive wheel back in the early 1900s. But his was electric, not gas. Rigged up to some shit heavy old-school lead-acid batteries. So take that idea and just rig your shit up to modern lithium instead. You wanna solve the power to weight equation? There you fuckin’ go.

You wanna shit talk electric cars? Fine by me. But you’re still fuckin’ wrong. At the end of the day, it’s all about burnin’ rubber. You want ass-pounding torque spread evenly over the entire power band? Can’t find a better option. If that makes me gay, then call the fuckin’ morality police and cry to them about your problem with it. Still gonna beat your sorry ass on the gridiron and on the drag strip.

BOSS TODD out, bitches. See you in hell.

[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, here and here. Banner image by The Maestro.