"A hole big enough to drive a truck through" (1922)

[Orin Hargraves]

The OED pretty well documents various forms of the idiom and the development
of it, though it doesn't have a specific quote for "coach and horses," which I
believe is the preferred current form of the expression -- in speech anyway. I
think the challenge for those adroit at playing the antedating game is
establishing a link between the Brit form and the US form. Are there early US
cites for the Brit version (we used horses too, didn't we?)? If so, truck
would be a pretty natural follow-on once we entered the motor age.

Orin Hargraves