Last week this remarkable La Salle was offered by a the Dutch auction house BVA. On top of the open car you see a full-size plaster horse with steering wheel (!) with which the car could really be conducted. This 1929 La Salle is a ‘recreation’ of one of the original so-called Horsemobiles that were built for the Moxie company. Moxie started in the 1880s producing soda water and from about 1905 they started using cars to advertise their drinks, which became quite popular in the prewar period all over the United States. Today the popularity of Moxie has declined but it is still for sale (check the most refreshing freshdrink website in the world)
It is unclear why Moxie decided to use a horse on a car to promote its products. It seems that the company liked to create an image of courage and adventure around its brand name and maybe the PR people of Moxie thought that riding a horse would show more courage than riding a car. At least these cars must have drawn much more attention than many other publicity vehicles. The first Horsemobile appeared in 1916 and the last ones were used in the 1950s. One original La Salle Horsemobile and an earlier Buick seem to have survived. At least one Springfield Rolls-Royce was converted to a Horsemobile in the 1930s. Check this Moxie line up...