Buying an Orient: Three Invoices from the Waltham Manufacturing Co.
Three 1905 invoices from the Waltham Manufacturing Co. recording E. T. Brown of Vermont buying an Orient Model A automobile, then a horn, a spark plug, and a spare tire to keep it running.
TranscriptionThe car: Orient Model A, April 20, 1905
Waltham, Mass., April 20, 1905 No. Mr. E. T. Brown, E. Berkshire, Vt. To WALTHAM MANUFACTURING CO., Dr. MAKERS OF ORIENT AUTOMOBILES. TERMS: C. O. D. All Claims to be made within 10 days after receipt of Goods. Order No. Machine No. 0282 1 Model "A" ................ 375 00 20% discount ............... 75 00 300 00 1 Switch plug ..................... 20 1 Gal. cylinder oil ........ 1 50 1 70 [handwritten: Cash] 20% discount ...................... 34 1 36 Credit: 301 36 By deposit .......................... 25 00 276 36
TranscriptionA horn and a spark plug, May 4, 1905
Waltham, Mass., May 4, 1905 No. Mr. E. T. Brown, Montgomery Center, Vermont. To WALTHAM MANUFACTURING CO., Dr. MAKERS OF ORIENT AUTOMOBILES. TERMS: C. O. D. and Chgs. All Claims to be made within 10 days after receipt of Goods. Order No. Machine No. 1 Horn ........................ 2 50 1 Spark plug and washer ... 1 50 3785 4 00 55 [handwritten] 4 55 [handwritten] [faint diagonal stamp: BROWN MFG[?]]
TranscriptionA buckboard tire, June 14, 1905
Waltham, Mass., June 14 1905 No. Edmund L. Brown East Berkshire, Vermont To WALTHAM MANUFACTURING CO., Dr. MAKERS OF ORIENT AUTOMOBILES. TERMS: All Claims to be made within 10 days after receipt of Goods. Order No. Machine No. 4895 1 B-B. Tire 10 00 70 ------ 10 70 [Faint stamp across center: ORIENT BUCKBOARD]
The story on the paper
In 1905 the automobile was three years into American mass production, and one of the industry's early stars was built in Waltham. The Orient Buckboard, made by the Waltham Manufacturing Co. under engineer Charles H. Metz, was a light, cheap, no-frills runabout advertised as the car America could afford. At $375 for a Model A, or about $300 after the 20 percent discount on the first invoice below, it cost roughly what a good horse and buggy did.
The three invoices follow E. T. Brown of East Berkshire, Vermont through his first months of motoring. April 20: the car itself, a switch plug, and a gallon of cylinder oil, with a $25 deposit against $301.36 due on delivery. May 4: a horn and a spark plug and washer, $4.55. June 14: one buckboard tire for $10.70. Owning one of the first automobiles in rural Vermont evidently meant a standing relationship with the factory for parts.
The billheads carry a small illustration of the Orient runabout itself, making them early automobile advertising as well as receipts. Brown's later pencil calculations, money crossed out and re-added in the margins of the first invoice, may be the oldest surviving record of a Vermonter shopping for a better deal.
The people named in it
Charles H. Metz (1863-1950)
Bicycle and automobile engineer who ran the Waltham Manufacturing Co. and designed the Orient Buckboard, one of the earliest and best-selling American automobiles.
- Type
- Invoices (three)
- Date
- April-June 1905
- Place
- Waltham, Massachusetts