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Metz Company
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[Home] [Auto Donations] [More on Waltham Autos] Charles Metz and
Motorcycles Recently the Waltham Museum received a
call from James Dennie of Palmyra, New York. Dennie is one of the largest
collectors of antique motorcycles in the country with over thirty of them. He
was in the process of buying an Orient motorcycle for over $10,000 dollars
and wanted to make sure that this was an authentic Orient. We thought that what we told him would
also interest the readers of this newsletter. In 1898 Charles
Metz developed the idea of placing a motor on the rear portion of a
tandem bicycle. The man in the rear would operate the motor and the lead man
would steer. The creation of this machine has long led to the statement that
Charles Metz produced the first motorcycle in America. These machines were
placed into production by the Waltham Manufacturing Company that same year. This motorized tandem pacer was further
expanded to a 3-seater with two separate engines. Albert Champion was in
charge of adjusting and testing these two types of motorized pacers. Such
testing was done at the Waltham bicycle track. Metz then began an advertising campaign in
1899 and in his catalog listed these pacers as Orient Motor-cycles. This is
the first published catalog using the term motor-cycle, other literature
referred to them as motor-bicycles. Thus the word motorcycle was coined. The 1902 Orient motorcycle sported a 2¬
H.P. engine and sold for $250.00. The gasoline tank held 5-quarts which was
ample for 100 miles. Metz left the Waltham Manufacturing
Company in 1902 and started his own company on Whitney Avenue that was behind
Woolworths’ on Moody Street. Here he produced the Metz motorcycle that was so
good that it established the American record for a one-mile run at 1 minute
and 10 seconds. In 1906 Metz put a two-cylinder 4 H.P.
engine on his motorcycles. That same year Metz merged with the Marsh Co. of
Brockton and together they put out the Marsh-Metz motorcycle that was one of
the best machines on the market. A twin-cylinder M-M motorcycle was
introduced in 1908. Note: The motorcycle Dennie is trying to acquire has two cylinders in an Orient frame but is either an experimental or mongrel machine. |
News
on The Metz Automobile
We
received a letter from Bobby Peterson of Mobil, Alabama. He is still restoring
his 1912 Metz. He sent along a newspaper article from the Mobil Register
of July 29, 2001. It tells about another 1912 Metz owned by Ernie Youens who
is also restoring his car. One interesting paragraph in the article was about
ruts in the road. In the North, ruts were 56 inches apart and in the South
they were 60 inches apart. Metz solved this problem by designing his wheel
with a 2-inch extension of the hub on one side. Thus when the wheels are
reversed you change the track by four inches. Gene Owens wrote the article. We also received a latter from the National Parts Locator Service in Utah. This company devotes itself to finding any part for any automobile, truck or motorcycle from 1895 to the present. This should be good news to Orient and Metz vehicle restorers. For more information log in on www.nationalpartslocatorservice.com, or write to Walter Abbott, National Parts Locator Service, 636 East Sixth Street #81, Ogden, Utah 84404. 877-672-8440. |
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Gore Estate Charles Metz purchased the Gore Place Mansion in 1911 and used it for his corporate office and his home. Portions of the 120 acres of land that were part of the purchase were later subdivided and sold off as home lots. In 1921 the Metz Company was having problems and the property was sold to the Waltham Country Club and a nine-hole golf course was built. The Gore Society acquired the mansion in 1935 along with the land and made it into an historical site. |
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A Major Acquisition by the Museum The Waltham Museum is pleased to announce
that it has doubled its collection on Metz by acquiring 46 different
publications of original Metz catalogs, letters, brochures, pictures and
related material. In addition it has acquired a large 1906 advertisement for
an Orient Buckboard. It is framed and will be placed in the Metz room. The Metz Company used number plates numbered 0476A to 0476Z on all their company cars. The Waltham Museum acquired in this lot, No. 0476V which will be mounted on its 1915 Metz. |
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Letters to the Editor My great-grandmother had been married to Charles Metz I was very happy to hear about the Waltham
Museum and the Metz car of Waltham. My great-grandmother, Elizabeth Brown
Metz, was born in Sunderland, England in 1877 of Scottish parents. Her father
was a seafarer who was seldom at home. She emigrated to America in her
twentieth year. Her first marriage ended in divorce. In
the 1920's she worked for Mr. Metz as a secretary. When he moved to Southern
California she went also. Mr. Metz's first wife died in the late 1920's and
Mr. Metz and Elizabeth were married in 1930. Elizabeth called him C.H. During the last years of his life Mr. Metz
owned a cabinetry factory in Glendale, California. His three sons by his
first marriage also lived in Southern California. Their names were Charles,
Edwin and Hummel. Mr. Metz died of cancer in 1937. This was
shortly after the disappearance of Amelia Earhart in the Pacific, and during
his final illness he asked if she had been found. My great-grandmother, out
of kindness, told him that she had been found. He is buried in Forest Lawn
Cemetery in Glendale. Elizabeth survived him by twenty years, dying August 17, 1957. Most of this information came from my mother and my aunt. Best Wishes, Bruce Will of Maryland. |
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