Don't Scare The Horses.

This is the Horsey Horseless. Powered by the then-new internal combustion engine, it's a striking design from the early days of motoring. You're probably wondering why it's called the Horsey Horseless, after all, it appears to have a horse attached to the front of it.

You may be surprised to learn that it is not a horse. It's a wooden representation of a horse and was placed there to render the vehicle less terrifying to real horses. The inventor (Uriah Smith of Battle Creek, Michigan) seems to have worked out something really fundamental here. Obviously a horse would be calmed by seeing the front half of one of its own species affixed to the front of a motor vehicle; Which of us - encountering the severed top half of a human on the bonnet of a Volkswagen Passat - wouldn't be soothed?

The horses head does not merely calm horses. It is hollow, and serves a dual purpose as the vehicle's petrol tank. An excellent use of available space and a great safety feature, drastically reducing the risk of explosions when reversing.

I can't imagine why it never caught on.