Charles Herman Metz started out building bicycles in 1893, under the name Waltham Manufacturing Company. By 1897 the output for the company was 15,000 units. The following year he produced a motorized tandem bicycle that was acknowledged to be America's first motorcycle. In 1898, his company started building automobiles as well. He eventually brought in two investors to obtain the necessary financing needed to expand. After major disagreements about how the company should proceed, C.H. Metz left the company in 1901. He continued to build motorcycles, first under his own name, and from 1905, he partnered with the Marsh Brothers as the Marsh-Metz motorcycle. He got his old company back in 1908. Walther Manufacturing was now in dire financial hardship with a huge amount of debt and an even larger surplus of inventory parts. Metz started marketing kit car, selling packages of parts for $25.00 each. Fourteen packages of parts could complete one car. The "Metz plan" as it was known, provided a payment plan for the buyer and it allowed him to raise the capital to eventually assemble his own cars to sell. In 1909, he reorganized as the Metz Company and began offering factory assembled automobiles and in 1912 offered a 22-horsepower, 4-cylinder engine for $495 and a stripped-down version for $395. Metz cars from the beginning utilized a chain drive and friction transmission: he preferred the term "pressure drive" for his system. 1915 was the company's most productive year with 7200 automobiles sold. However, the fortunes would soon disappear with the war in 1918, production stopped. Efforts to revitalize failed and in 1922 Metz petitioned for bankruptcy. This 1912 Metz was donated to the Museum by Gordon and Kathy Carlson.