Anyone know what this Giant Horse Fly could be?

Question

About a week ago I spotted what appeared to be a giant horse fly on the side of my car. It was a flat black color with very large reddish-brown eyes. The head looked identical to that of a regular fly, and the body looked like a really bulky wasp. The thing was about the size of a large hornet, maybe even bigger. It was at least 2 inches long and probably an inch or more wide. I know that sounds weird, but I couldn't believe it either. It definitely wasn't a hornet.

What the heck was it?! I can't find any information on giant flies anywhere and I've never seen anything like it in my life.

I live in Oklahoma, and have been for 23 years.

Answer 1

17 year cicada

This is one of their brood years

http://www.jamesedmunds.com/poorclio/One...

http://orthoticcontessa.com/wp-content/u...

Answer 2

http://bugguide.net/node/view/24653

http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&k...

http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&k...

I have picked 3 families of large flies for you to compare.  The bot flies are my guess.  But there are many species of each so the pictures may not match yours.

Answer 3

Sounds like one of the larger breeds of wasp, but not a hornet. I have seen a few of them. I understand they are not stingered, but don't pick it up to find out.