1903 Orient Buckboard: The $400 Car That Shook America

1903 Orient Buckboard — the $440 “car” that could climb a stone staircase with just 4 horsepower. Built in Massachusetts by Waltham Manufacturing, this plank-on-wheels promised “everybody should have one” and somehow delivered 30 miles per gallon back in 1903. Farmers, rural mail carriers, and brave souls with steady nerves rode this wooden wonder at up to 35 mph. 🚗🪜

In this episode we uncover how bicycle engineer Leonard B. Gaylor stripped motoring to the bone: no doors, no roof, no fenders—just ash planks, a friction drive, and a whole lot of stubborn charm. You’ll learn why fewer than 60 survive today, why it could beat a Model T up a hill, and how it sold for just $375–$440 new (around $12,000–$16,000 today).

Want to see the wildest “cheap car” ever built? Stick around to the end for auction results and fun stories that prove this wooden contraption was more than just a joke. 👍 Like, share, and subscribe 🔔 to keep these forgotten machines alive!

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LINKS
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• 1903 Orient Buckboard – RM Sotheby’s: https://rmsothebys.com/search/#/?Sear...

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Image Sources
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This video contains historical and archival photographs from:
– Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain, CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA)
– Flickr (licensed for commercial use / no known copyright restrictions)
– Unsplash / museums / archives (CC0 or equivalent licenses)

All images are used under their respective free licenses. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b...

👉 Full credits with authors & links are available here:

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#ClassicCars,#CarHistory,#AntiqueCars,#AutomotiveHistory,#VintageCars,#OrientBuckboard,#1903Car,#WalthamManufacturing,#WoodenCar,#EarlyAutomobiles