The Briggs & Stratton Flyer Was Just a Wooden Board With an Engine — But It Changed America

#BriggsAndStrattonFlyer #ForgottenCars #AutomotiveHistory The Engine That Was Also a Wheel sounds impossible, but the Briggs & Stratton Flyer actually used a self-contained Motor Wheel mounted behind a wooden chassis to push the entire car forward. With five wheels, roughly two horsepower, and a price near $125, it became one of the strangest vehicles ever sold in America. The Briggs & Stratton Flyer had no conventional transmission, no clutch, no steel body, and almost no suspension. Its flexible wooden frame and motorized fifth wheel reduced the automobile to its most basic mechanical form. For a brief moment, this bizarre machine offered working-class Americans an affordable path to motorized transportation at a fraction of the cost of many conventional cars. But as Ford drove the price of the Model T lower and used cars flooded the market, the Flyer suddenly looked less like the future and more like a mechanical dead end. The real twist came afterward. Briggs & Stratton abandoned the car, kept developing the small engine technology behind it, and eventually built an enormous business supplying power for pumps, washing machines, lawn equipment, generators, and countless other machines. Subscribe for more stories about forgotten American cars, strange engines, industrial history, mechanical inventions, and the machines that helped shape everyday America. #StrangeCars #BriggsAndStratton #VintageAutomobiles #ForgottenEngines #AmericanEngineering#americanengineering