As flivvers were distributed throughout the land, people tried to drive them everywhere. In his 1937 novel “The Flivver King: A Story of Ford-America,” Upton Sinclair wrote:
The little black beetles were out on all the roads, and were beginning to be known by pet names; they were “flivvers,” they were “jitneys,” they were “tin Lizzies,” or sometimes “Henrys.”
On my own recent visit to Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado, I took a photo of an info display because of the precarious situation of this Model T.
We were climbing to the top of the mesa in air-conditioned, connected comfort.
More than 100 years ago, it seemed a miracle to drive to the top instead of going on horseback. A knack for chasing cows was the biggest thing the horse had going for it.
Otherwise, as long as there was a road, the flivver was the thing!