Funny Flivver

The following description was taken from the Greenburg’s Guide to Marx Toys vol.2

“Funny Flivver: 1926. 7”long x 51-2” high. The Funny Flivver is one of the earliest, if not the first, eccentric car. The driver of the black car is dressed in a yellow jacket with orange-red trim, a white shirt, and yellow hat with red trim. The black and white wheels have lithographed spokes; a suitcase sits on the running board and displays the names of various cities. White lettering all over the car includes ”Don’t Bring Lulu”, “My Lizzie Of The Valley”, “So’s Your Old Man”, and “Leap Year Girls Leapin”. The radiator reads “Funny Flivver.” As shown in the 1926 Sears Fall/Winter catalog, “4 wheels, No Breaks” (sic) “Louis Marx & Co., N.Y., U.S.A”, the Marx logo, Pat’s Pend’g”, and the license number “X07-11” are on back of the car. 

            Although the Funny Flivver resembles the later eccentric cars, it differs in several ways. For example, the large rear wheels are smaller than those on the later cars. The steering wheel post is longer, requiring the driver to sit further back. However, the most noticeable thing about the Funny Flivver, as shown in the 1926 Sears Fall/Winter catalog, is that is has no trunk. Priced at .43 cents, the toy is advertised in the catalog under the heading, “Brand New Funny Flivver-New Sensation,” and is described as:

            “It travels in every direction, running right or left and then suddenly backs up, only to shoot forward again in some freakish way. The head of its comical looking driver keeps turning in different directions with a puzzled look on his face. A dog (colored brown, black and white) sits on the running board.”

            The next year, a 1927 Sears catalog shows the same car with a trunk. The price was raised to 48 cents. The toy is believed to be the Funny Flivver because “Private Property” appears on the left side of the seat and a dog is on the running board. Neither of these features were on the toy that followed the Funny Flivver, the joy rider.

            The box illustration for the toy differs somewhat from the actual toy. In the drawing, the driver wears a checked coat and license plate on the radiator reads “1949”. Near the windshield is the word “Honk”. Meanwhile, a young boy and chickens scatter out of the car’s way as other children watch. 

            Although the 1927 Sears catalog pictures the car with a trunk, neither the few examples of the Funny Flivver the have been seen nor the patent from which the toy was taken (#72,694, dated May 24,1927 by Samuel Berger) show a trunk. However, it would have been logical to add one in order to improve the existing toy. Perhaps the Funny Flivver with a trunk was a plan that was canceled before production, although the advertisement had already been placed.