Metz automobile was for sale in Finland in 1914

[Juha Paavo Kaita]

I enclose a newspaper ad which was published on Finnish "Uusi Aura" newspaper n:o 5 the 8th of January 1914 page 7. Among other things there was for sale a very little used Metz automobile. The ad says that the car is equipped with 2-cylinder 12 hp engine and the body is for two passengers.  Isn´t it so that all Metz automobiles were equipped with 4-cylinder engine? Could it be so that the car for sale is actually a Orient Buckboard with 2-cylinder engine? Any information is greatly appreciated.

 

Best wishes to you´ll for year 2019!

 

 

Juha Kaitanen

Sipoo, Finland

[J&J]

Thanks for posting it.   The 1909-1911 Metz Plan Car had a two cylinder motor.

[MochetVelo]

It might have looked like this one. Metz used the old Waltham factory parts to make the Plan Car, which was sold in kit form. In 1912, he introduced his own 4-cylinder engine. Interestingly, the fully-assembled Metz car sold for about the same money as the kit.

 

Phil

 

[Juha Paavo Kaita]

Hi, Thank you very much to both of you for the good information you so quicly provided me. It is interested that so far we knew that "Sergei Nikolajeff J:or in Helsinki imported Metz automobiles to Finland in mid 1910´s. It sure would be interested to knew how this Plan Car ended to Finland. Did it come as a whole or in boxes? Maybe it was originally ordered by some Finnish immigrant in the US and brought it to Finland in running condition. 

[MochetVelo]

Charles Metz was an interesting businessman, designer and salesman. The 1909 "Plan Car" was his idea to salvage the remains of the defunct Waltham Manufacturing Company. The "kit" arrived in 14 shipments. The first shipment contained the frame pieces (which you assembled yourself), the fasteners and a tool kit, the second group was springs and axles, and so forth until the final (14th) shipment. Each shipment was sold separately for cash. I believe the kit also included a can of gray paint and a brush. Metz actually hadn't enough parts to complete the orders. The engine (10HP, 2-cylinder air-cooled) had not even been designed when the first shipments were sent out.  Total price for your car was $300 (later $350). By contrast, his fully-assembled car, introduced in 1911, sold for $600, then $495 that same year, and finally to $395 in 1912 for the "Metz Special," a stripped-down roadster.

 

Phil

 

 

Edited January 26, 2019 by MochetVelo (see edit history)