The Flivver
In the 1920s, teens in particular began referring to their automobiles, most often the Ford Model T but including any car, as a flivver. The origins of the term are open to speculation. What is known is that the word, which was mostly used to describe a used vehicle with modifications of paint and structure, first appeared in print only two years after the first Model T rolled off the Ford assembly line. Interestingly, at the same time flivver was used as a verb meaning to fail, as in, If I blow this exam I’ll flivver math this year. The term thus may have been descriptive of the reliability of a used car.
Flivver was not the only slang idiom used to describe the automobile, especially the Model T. Bone crusher and Bouncing Betty were terms which addressed the Ford’s less than elegant ride. More derogative terms included Henry’s Go-cart, the Spirit of Detroit (after 1927 and Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis), and Puddle jumper, which referred as much to the conditions found on streets and roads as it did the vehicle itself. The most famous reference to the Model T is the Tin Lizzie, derived from a Model T which raced up Pike’s Peak in 1922, under the name Old Liz.