LOUDONVILLE — Until the late 1920s, automobiles were far too expensive for the average person or business. Most homes still relied on horses, and in the 1910s motorcycles and sidecars started becoming more and more popular for transportation.
Motorcycles, however, clearly were limited in their ability to transport passengers or haul goods.
To remedy this, the Flxible Side Car Company in Loudonville introduced the Flxi-Van. The Flxi-Van was essentially a large box placed on the famed Flxible chassis and then attached to a motorcycle, allowing cargo — everything from mail to baked goods — to be delivered quickly and affordably.
The photograph at the top of this story features G.P. Weber loading a basket of goods into a Flxi-Van in the late 1910s. Weber’s bakery was located on the corner of Main and Central Park, where the Mohican Appliance building now stands. The original St. Peter Catholic Church is visible in the background.
It is unknown how many of the Flxi-Vans were ever produced. Only two are known to still exist, both are part of the Cleo Redd Fisher Museum’s permanent collection.
More information on the Cleo Redd Fisher Museum can be found at this link.
