Capable of doing zero-to-sixty in less than ten seconds, the Flannigan Repto-Buggy was a big seller right after President Rutherford B. Hayes started building the Great Chicken Highway.
Thousands of tender birds were released on the roads every day, giving the Repto-Buggy the fuel and encouragement it needed to help drive the Gilded Age.
This period came to a tragic end, during the Poultry Depression of the early 1890s, and several ensuing lawsuits after many of the Repto-Buggy owners were consumed by their vehicles.
Pictured: Shelly Van Crampington and Repto-Buggy Engine 2179 (known to its mechanics as “Bud Lizard” shortly before Shelly’s legendary savaging.
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Wow. This cracks me up. Talk about your “alternative modes of transportation.” I can’t help wondering about fuel efficiency, though. How many miles per chicken? Or chickens per mile?