1907 Orient Buckboard Runabout
edited by David Barth, 10 January 2009.
Courtesy The Forney Museum of Transportation at 4303 Brighton Blvd., Denver,
Colorado. Photos were taken in January 2009.
The Orient Runabout of 1907 was a product of the Waltham Manufacturing Company, organized by Charles Herman Metz in
1893 for production of his Orient bicycles. In 1898 his Waltham Manufacturing Company began building
automobiles.
In late 1901 Metz brought in investors Charles A. Coffin and M. P. Clough. The first Orient car was electric instead
of gasoline to satisfy the request of Coffin, president of General Electric. The car was not put into
production.
However, due to Coffin and Clough's constant interference in how the company should run, Metz left his own company.
Clough and Coffin hired Leonard B. Gaylor who designed the Orient Buckboard.
Metz began building motorcycles under his name. During the summer of 1908, he got his old company back because it had
severe financial problems, with large debts and a huge inventory of parts. By late summer of 1909, C. H. Metz had paid
off all of Waltham's debts and reorganized the company as the Metz Company.
The Orient had a modern-design engine, a two-cylinder, V-type, air-cooled, rear-mounted engine that could get the car
to 40 mph. Selling for $375, the car was billed as the "cheapest auto in the world."
The 2-cylinder, 16 hp engine is mounted on the centerline of the frame. Instead of a steering wheel, it was steered
by a level or tiller. It was built with the finest leather for the seats, and they are surprisingly comfortable.
The company went out of business in 1927.
