cracky wagon n Also crackey wagon, crack(e)y [Etym unknown] scattered, but chiefly nwPA old-fash
A type of light horse-drawn wagon.
1863 Nashville Daily Union (TN) 9 July [2]/4 nwPA, Yesterday afternoon an old farmer drove into town and took me in his “cracky” wagon eight miles into the country. 1865 Daily Age (Philadelphia PA) 2 Aug 2/7 nwPA, Two horses were standing attached to a cracky wagon, facing toward the railroad. Two other horses . . running furiously up the alley came in contact with the horses hitched to the cracky. 1870 Ashtabula Weekly Telegraph (OH) 15 Oct [3]/4, The following is a list of the awards so far as Committees were able to take action. . . Class XXV—Wagons and Carriages. . . W. H. Landon, whole spring cracky wagon, $1. 1876 Shenango Valley Argus (Greenville PA) 19 Aug 8/2, Let each one hitch to his wagon or crackey, . . load up the family with a basket of substantials, and spend a day at the Farmer’s Harvest Home. 1890 DN 1.60 wPA, Cracky-wagon: a one-horse wagon, without springs. 1895 New Castle News (PA) 19 Feb 1/3, They . . took their departure in a four seated crackey wagon which had been left standing on the public rode [sic]. 1896 KS State Hist. Soc. Trans. 5.75 (as of 1855), He was in what was then known as a “cracky wagon.” 1925 Titusville Herald (PA) 1 Apr 6/1, A gang of men drove into this village [=Porkey] on Wednesday last measuring the state highway, driving a team of horses hitched to a cracky wagon. 1940 AmSp 15.83 swPA, WV, Cracky, a small light wagon, sometimes called a ‘spring wagon.’ 1946 Driscoll Country Jake 179 csKS, Frank Yaw, who raised peaches on a sandy tract, . . went about his lawful occasions in what was called a cracky wagon, drawn by two little donkeys. 1967–70 DARE (Qu. N41c, Horse-drawn vehicles to carry light loads) Infs PA187, 234, WV4, Cracky wagon; (Qu. N41b, Horse-drawn vehicles to carry heavy loads) Inf OH92, Cracky wagon (this may be an expression from my husband’s Illinois background); (QR p102) Inf CO7, Cracky wagon: a one-horse Pennsylvania wagon—one seat, no cover. 1980 Vidette–Messenger (Valparaiso IN) 16 July 25/2 (as of 1920s), We would load up his cracky wagon–a light cart pulled by one or two horses—and set off for the neighboring towns with a load of Huffman’s pancake flour. 1995 Pittsburgh Post–Gaz. (PA) 22 Oct sec F 7/6, [Advt:] Crackey Wagon; Pony sulky; Farmall H Tractor/weights.