Fawick Flyer Automobiles

Fawick Flyer automobiles, the first American four-door touring cars, were produced between 1910 and 1912 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota by young Thomas L. Fawick. Fawick ( April 14, 1889 - January 8, 1978 ) was only 20 years old and only produced seven Fawick Flyers before his fledgling company, The Fawick Motor Car Company, ran out of money.

The Fawick Flyer Automobile had 2 cylinders, 4 doors, seated 5, and sported a 40 horsepower engine. The original manufacturing operation was located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, at 815 West 13th Street.

Son of Thomas and Lena Fawick, young Fawick grew up in Sioux Falls and showed an inventive nature very early in life. The younger Thomas left school at the age of 15 to pursue the development of automobiles and subsequently hundreds of other inventions. By the time of his death at age 89, he had been granted over 249 patents on his many inventions, which included such diverse things as rubberized golf club handles, the Twin Disc Clutch, and the Fawick violin, not to mention the Silent Sioux and Fawick Flyer Automobiles.

Two years earlier, in 1908, The Silent Sioux Automobile Manufacturing Company was the first business endeavor of Thomas Fawick, along with partners R. J. Wells, George W. Burnside, and B. S. Wells. Thomas soon split away, and the original company moved to Waukesha, Wisconsin.

The Fawick Flyer automobile, despite its short production lifetime, was said to be of high quality and innovation. President Theodore Roosevelt is pictured in 1912 riding in one during a visit to Sioux Falls.

During Fawick's long and successful life, he lived all over the Midwest, including South Dakota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and eventually died in Ohio. He himself played the violin and owned two Stradivarius viloins. In World War II, he was also a defense contractor. Fawick was married to wife, Marie, and had a daughter, Florence. He is buried in Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery.

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