1/43 Thomas Flyer Car 1908. Made by RIO. Features right-hand drive, good detail. This is a used item in good condition but may have small imperfections. The box is in good condition & has some marks & creases. Only 1 available. This vehicle is 109mm long, 40mm wide & 42mm high.
This item is not suitable for children.

The E.R. Thomas Motor Company built automobiles in Buffalo, New York from 1902 to 1919. A 1907 Model 35 with 4 cylinders and 60 horsepower, dubbed Thomas Flyer, won the 1908 New York to Paris Race, the first and only around-the-world automobile race ever held. The race began in Times Square, New York, on February 12 and covered some 22,000 miles (35,000 km), finishing in Paris on July 30, 1908. Six teams started the race (one Italian, one German, three French (De Dion-Bouton, Motobloc, and Sizaire-Naudin), and the American Flyer). Only three of the cars finished, the Thomas Flyer which won, the German Protos, and the Italian Züst. The original intent was to drive the full distance using the frozen Bering Strait to drive across the Pacific Ocean. In the course of the race, the Flyer was the first car to cross the United States taking 41 days 8 hours and 15 minutes, and the first to do so in the winter with George Schuster the first automobile driver to ever make the transcontinental winter crossing of the US. Finishing in 169 days was a remarkable feat, considering the lack of roads and services in 1908. Schuster, the driver, was the only member of the Thomas crew to go the full distance. The car was later used as a glider tow vehicle at a 1908 exhibition at the Morris Park Aerodrome in New York.