Here’s the strangest cartoon with an automotive theme you’ll ever see. From the delightfully demented mind of comedian Charley Bowers comes the 1930 stop-action classic, It’s a Bird. Ever see a bird devour an entire Model T Ford? Watch this. 

Charles Bowers is virtually forgotten today except among silent film buffs, but in the 1920s he was a well-known cartoonist, comedian, movie maker, and actor. Though only some of his films are known to survive, they all demonstrate a flair for slapstick and the surreal, produced using a novel stop-action technique he called the Bowers Process. He eventually made a couple of talking pictures, including this 1930 comedy short, It’s a Bird.

And a very strange bird it is. In this story, Bowers travels to deepest Africa on the trail of a rare metal-eating bird. As Bowers watches, the bird gobbles up a trombone, and then even more incredibly, a Model T Ford one piece at a time. When the meal is completed, the bird then lays an egg, which hatches into a brand new Model T roadster. “We’ll start a flivver factory,” Bowers exclaims, “and hatch five million cars a year!” But alas, the bird lays but one egg every hundred years. It seems Bowers was fascinated with the Model T’s high-volume production. The subject is also given his wildly imaginative treatment in another Bowers film, Egged On. 

At least one sharp cultural observer has theorized that there might be a morsel of reality in Bowers’ mysterious metal-eating bird—or to be more accurate about it, some genuine American folklore. A mythical bird that makes metal objects disappear, it is suggested, might be just the kind of tall tale that could arise in America’s early machine shops and factories. So how about it, automotive and industrial historians: Have you ever heard of old-timers joking about a metal-eating bird? It’s a wonderful notion, and we’d love to learn if there’s any more to it. Meanwhile, enjoy this bizarre and hilarious film.