Unusual marques are often seen at the major Concours d’Elegance, but what is the chance of seeing a little-known marque at a car show established by a local museum in a relatively small town in Georgia? That’s exactly what happened at “The Gathering,” a car show arranged by the Savoy Museum (savoymuseum.org) in Cartersville, Georgia – a Moon was there. The best way to find out a little about Moon cars is to research it in “The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile,” a two volume compendium of 1792 pages that covers every marque from A.A.A. to Zwickau. There, you can learn the basics about the company and the cars, but it takes quite a bit more research to find out the complete story. Hopefully, I’ve condensed in it an understandable way here.
Moon Rise
Automobiles were becoming a thing of interest at the end of the Nineteenth and beginning of the Twentieth Centuries. They caught the attention of a number of manufacturers of other forms of transportation, like bicycles and wagons. One such manufacturer was Joseph W. Moon. He and his brother, John Croyden Moon, established the Moon Brothers Carriage Company in mid-18th century. They chose St. Louis, Missouri, as a logical place for their company, since it was one of the staging areas for settlers moving west. After their relationship soured, Joseph sold his half-interest in the Moon Brothers Carriage Company to his brother and established his own company, the Joseph W. Moon Buggy Company, in 1893. The brothers remained isolated from each other for the rest of their lives.
Joseph Moon bought his first automobile, a St. Louis, in 1903, and he saw the future potential for the automobile, especially for those he called “the average man.” Moon’s goal was to build quality cars at a price that those “average men” could afford. He set up an automobile department in his Buggy Company in 1905. According to Carl W. Burst III and Andrew D. Young in their article titled “The Moon in All It’s Phases” (Automobile Quarterly, Volume 25 No. 4, Fourth Quarter 1987), Moon was ambitious and wanted to eventually produce 1000 runabouts called the Hercules from a new plant that employed 120 workers. To help him achieve his ambition, he hired E.O. Pollard from Cadillac. The project struggled and nearly collapsed in November, but Pollard saved the project. In December 1905, he took a Moon Model A prototype to the American Motor Car Manufacturer Association show in New York. The car, a 30-35 bhp tourer, was shown representing the Moon Motor Car Company, which did not yet exist. All parts of the Model A were built at the Buggy Company except for the engine – quite a feat. The price tag on the car was $3000. It was well received. Attending the show is likely to have saved the yet to be established Moon Motor Car Company.
Moon seemed to have an eye for good people. He hired Louis P. Mooers, who had just left Peerless, and allowed him to design a new car without any interference. The only restriction was that it had to be ready for the next New York show – in five months. Every part, except for the tires and engine, was to be built in the Buggy Company. Mooers made the show, albeit two days late, but the car was a hit. “Motor Age” reported “It is difficult to find another car combining so many of the late products of engineering skill and yet passing as a machine bereft of radicalism….” The Moon Model C had an aluminum touring body, drop frame chassis, 110” wheelbase, and a 286 cid single overhead cam four-cylinder engine. Priced at $3500, it was quite popular. Moon renamed leftover Model A cars as Model Bs and sold them at a discount.
In October 1907, the Moon Motor Car Company became official with its incorporation. Automobile production was now separate from buggy production. Joseph Moon became the President, and he named his young (28) son-in-law, Stewart McDonald as Vice President. McDonald was an engineer and seemed to have a good business sense. Burst and Young, though, reported that there was a critical difference between the two men: “He differed from Joseph Moon on one key point, however: he liked money more than he liked automobiles.” Mooers became the Chief Engineer and General Manager
The success of the Moon Motor Car Company allowed the expansion of the line with a roadster in 1908 and the Model D, which was available with coachbuilt bodies. After an agreement with a former Fiat dealer in New York, a number of Model Cs and Ds were badged as HOL-TAN automobiles. Success created problems for the company. The cars were selling faster than they could be built. In attempt to assist Mooers, Moon brought in engineer George Heising from the Buggy Company, but frictions between the two caused Mooers to quit. By the winter of 1908, the HOL-TAN project had collapsed because order could not be met.
Despite losing Mooers, the addition of Heising was a good move. He expanded the factory, developed existing models, and added a small car to the line-up. The company provided a Model C to test run the route for the 1909 Glidden Tour between Kansas City and Denver. Usually, that would not be too great a challenge, but the test run was completed in January 1909 over a route considered impassable by an automobile in the winter. Good publicity and an excellent product caused demand to soar. The addition of a small car, the Model 30, named for its claimed horsepower, didn’t hurt.
Moon hired more workers and bought more equipment, but the factory was overcrowded. To solve the problem, Moon initiated double shifts and overtime, as well as the establishment of a production line. Cars were moved on dollies from one station to another. Production rose to five to six cars per day. In 1910, the factory had a projected output of 2000 cars per year. Now with dealers in twenty states, the company had more than 2000 orders for 1910 models before the end of 1909. An additional problem of shortages of critical parts meant that the company was further restricted to the number of cars it could produce. The estimate was 1500 cars per year. Moon had no problem with low production, since he wanted to manage all aspects of production. McDonald, on the other hand, was annoyed by the restrictions.
The next few years saw improvements to existing models and the introduction of new models. All Moon models got self-starters in 1912. Initially they were powered by carbide generators, which were replaced by electric starters the next year. The cars also received electric lights that year. There was still a problem with the inability to meet demand. One issue was that the factory could produce bodies faster than engines could be built. The solution was to switch to Continental engines. The result was positive; business increased. Heising designed the first Moon six-cylinder model, Model 65, in 1913. It became the Model 6-50 in 1914, using a Continental L-Head six-cylinder. The 6-50, and other models of that year, were more streamlined than previous models.
Moon Set
Burst and Young opened their article on Moon cars with the following statement:
“The Moon rose quickly over St. Louis, Missouri, and shone brightly for too few short years as a manufacturer of one of America’s finest medium-priced cars. Sadly, its decline lasted longer than its heyday; it would wane for a decade and a half only to shine brightly once again just before it was extinguished forever.”
The decline of the Moon Motor Car Company began as Joseph Moon’s aged. With his advancing years, he found it necessary to give more control of the company to McDonald. McDonald was keen to get control, because he wanted to expand Moon by a factor of ten in order to make the money he wanted. To expand, McDonald needed more suppliers, and to make Moon cars more assembled than constructed. By the close of 1914, the only component of the cars built by Moon was the rear axle. The next year, all Moon models – 4-38, 6-40, and 6-50 – were assembled cars. Even Moon advertisements noted that “A Moon motor car is put together like a prescription. Every part we buy [is] made by the most famous makers of the best parts.” McDonald expanded the plant to allow more production, but that was interrupted by World War I. With materials and machine tools scarce, Moon began producing naval shells for the war effort. It kept Moon busy during the war years, but the way in which the contract was billed added to the demise of the company some years later.
Production of automobiles was low during the war, and there were only minor changes to existing models. McDonald incorporated the company in Delaware in 1917 with the new firm owning the Moon Motor Car Company and the Joseph W. Moon Buggy Works, which was now building trucks as well as buggies. His one automotive surprise was the Model 6-36, which was called a “light six.” The desire for new cars was strong during the war, and the company received over 10,000 inquiries about 1918 delivery of the Model 6-36, even though the war was still raging. Some cars were produced, including tourers and roadsters, but because of materials shortages, production was limited to about twelve cars a day. Joseph Moon had two sons, but both had joined the military, so McDonald’s control was complete.
In early 1919, Joseph Moon died. Production resumed in April 1919 with the announcement of the Model 6-46 Victory. The radiator, designed by Earl Moon, was a Rolls Royce knock-off, and may be part of the reason “The Autocar” said that the Model 6-46 was “designed in a more European and artistic manner.” The model sold well in the US, UK and Australia with some of the cars produced with right-hand drive. McDonald stressed export markets and suggested that the cars should be marketed in Central and South America. Production from April through November 1919 was more than 2000 units – more than had ever been produced in a full year.
McDonald had some unusual views about how to operate a manufacturing business and how his dealers should market the cars, none of which were helpful. In business, McDonald shunned borrowing. He was very frugal – he neither issued bonds nor borrowed money for the business. The result was that there was little money for growth. He also had a disdain for customers who might be technically informed. He believed that as long as a chassis was normally competent, buyers were only interested in colors, styles, and comfort. He told his dealers to dissuade customers who were too interested in the mechanical bits of the cars. Those customers would realize that the mechanical components were simply what was available at the right price. McDonald wanted to focus on wealthy buyers who were looking for a second car that was comfortable and who cared little about the engine and driveline. For them, he had La Petite Sport Sedan created in 1922. It was a closed two-door sedan with a luxurious interior.
Another 1922 model was the 6-40, which “The Autocar” liked. In their review of the car, they used descriptors like silent and flexible and said the rough road ride was exceptional. The 6-40 and 6-58 were the only two models to make it into the 1923 line. McDonald was quite aggressive in his marketing plan for 2023, pressing dealers to order 15,625 cars for that year. Twelve body styles were available on the two chassis. While only 5943 cars were sold in 2023, earnings were up from 1921. Moon tourers were very popular and won awards at the Wiesbaden and Frankfurt shows in 1924, and McDonald was very optimistic about sales. He promised that 25,000 cars would be produced in 1924, but production was at about the same level as in 1923. Profits were down in 1924, partially the result of half of the Moon production was the Series A, their small car that sold for $995.
The problems of 1924 continued into 1925 and were exacerbated by McDonald’s personal problems an
d his reaction to them. The number of models were reduced to consolidate production, then McDonald cut prices to increase sales, which reduced income by a third. His insistence that the company be debt free made it impossible to invest in new production methods. All this at the same time that other companies were building cheaper cars with the same quality as the Moon cars – they were no longer distinctive.
McDonald was vain and hot tempered. Joseph Moon’s sons, Earl and Stanley, tolerated him. He was also trying to divorce his wife, Joseph Moon’s daughter Grace. He offered to resign if Earl and Stanley would get their sister to grant him the divorce. She would not. Recognizing that that company was in trouble, McDonald used accounting tricks to make the company look good and worked to drive Moon stuck artificially high so that his shares were worth more.
At an auto show in January 1925, McDonald announced to his dealers that Moon would produce an inline eight-cylinder model that would sell for less than $2000. The next month, he placed an order for 5000 bodies, and in May he announced a launch date of June. The car would be called Diana, in honor of the huntress of the moon, and would be sold by the Diana Motor Corporation, a subsidiary of Moon. McDonald’s goal was 7000 units. The release caused considerable interest in the Diana and in the other Moon models and the company claimed that 15,000 cars had been sold in 1925. Only 10,594 had been sold. The numbers were inflated to make the company look good to its investors. But there were problems with the Diana and a new Light Six, the Model 6-60, that resulted in warranty claims amounting to $65,000 in 1925 and nearly the same amount in 1927. Earnings were down significantly from 1925, then the US government filed a claim of nearly $500,000 for overcharges in making naval shells during WWI. It was obvious that the company was in trouble. Sales were slow in 1927, the company was losing money, and suppliers had limited the amount of credit they would give Moon.
McDonald moved to replace the Diana and the 6-60 with two new models, the 6-72 and 8-80 that used different Continental engines. The bodies for the cars were designed by Dutch Darrin, who was paid $3000 for his three days of work. McDonald cut the number of employees to save money, leaving the remaining workers overworked. The body shape was labelled “Aerotype,” and the cars were very popular. There was a lot of interest in the cars, so the company was hopeful that sales would be good.
McDonald moved to Chairman of the Board in 1928, naming Burst as the new President. Quite a climb for Burst, who started at Moon as a tool maker. There was a decision in 1929 that all Moon cars would be called “White Prince.” At the auto show in New York City, both the 8-82 and 8-92 were called Windsor White Prince, although the 6-72 was still called Moon. All three had Darrin styling and were well built, capable automobiles. Burst wanted to replace the 6-72 with a light eight-cylinder car, but McDonald had signed a contract to build cotton-picking machines, so there was no capacity for a new model. The 6-72 was then badged as a Windsor.
Burst had gotten the company’s losses under control when the company’s focus took an unusual turn, one that would prove to be unhelpful. Sales were initially up during the early months of 1929, but they took a significant turn down in the fall, before the economic crash. Burst had been friendly with Errett Lobban Cord and was very interested in the Cord’s front wheel drive. At some point, he learned about Ruxton. McDonald met with Archie Andrews of New Era Motors and interested him in building Ruxton’s in the Moon factory. In late 1929, McDonald traded Moon stock for Ruxton patents and tooling. January 1930 saw Burst get permission to merge the Moon Motor Car Company with New Era Motors. With bankruptcy looming, McDonald traded 150,000 shares of the company for assets they had yet to receive from New Era. He then sold 100,000 shares of stock to Andrews Investment Company to raise $500,000. The agreement was that Andrews would sell the shares. He did not.
Andrews was in full takeover mode. He called a shareholders meeting in April and appointed eight of his cronies to the Board of Directors. A few days later, they voted off the seven Moon members. Burst, McDonald, and the Moon brothers were out. April 14th saw the new managers attempt to enter the plant, which was locked and being patrolled by armed men. A court order was obtained, but they still had to force their way into the plant. There was no violence, but there was also no longer a Moon Motor Car Company. It was now a New Era Motors plant.
Burst and Young summarized the shame that was the demise of the Moon Motor Car Company: “A few collectors are still devoted to the cars that were built there, but for the average individual with an interest in automobiles, the Moon rose and set without leaving a lasting mark. And that is a pity, for the Moon motor car – once innovative, always handsome – deserved a kinder fate than that.”
Moon’s Moon
I met Gary Moon first at the Atlanta Concours d’Elegance, but it wasn’t until the show at the Savoy Museum in 2023 that we were able to establish a time to photograph the car and do an interview. Turns out that Moon knows quite a bit about the company, but that was not always the case. After some searching and thanks to a cousin who had developed a family tree, Gary learned that he was the third cousin three times removed from Joseph Moon. His brother knew of the existence of cars bearing their family name and had been collecting ads for the cars for quite some time. It was fascinating to know that there was an automobile with his name on it. He told his brother that if he found a duplicate ad, he’d like to have it. He got one for Christmas. Then his wife found a radiator badge at an antique flea market. She had the badge and ad mounted and framed for Gary. That really got him started. He and his wife would go to antique stores and markets looking for ads. He was bidding for them on eBay, as was his wife. She even got into bidding wars with Carl W. Burst III, the co-author of the Automobile Quarterly article previously mentioned and descendant of an important person in the history of the Moon Motor Car Company. In 2008, Gary found a Moon automobile being auctioned on eBay. His wife said, “if you think you ever want one, you better get that one, since you never see them, especially at the big auctions.” He bid on it, offering $15,000, but the reserve was not met. A couple weeks later, it was on auction again with a lowered reserve. Gary watched it, and the bidding only reached $12,000 this time. Another few weeks later, he received a notice that since he had been the high bidder at $15,000, the owner was offering the car to him for $16,000. Gary Moon had his Moon, a 1922 Six-40 Tourer. Thankfully, the person who helped the owner post the ad had taken about 100 photos fully detailing the positive and negative aspects of the car. The photos included every scratch, nick, dent, split in leather, with and without curtains, top up and down. Gary looked carefully at the photos and was pretty sure he knew what he was getting.
The car had been the first car is what became a large collection. It was the owner’s favorite car, and he drove it a lot, although only in nice weather. When the owner died, his daughter and son-in-law sold all the cars in the collection except the Moon. Gary Moon bought the car from the son-in-law. But the car sat for twelve years with old gasoline in the tank until the owner realized that it needed to find a new custodian. The good news was that he had purposely left the hand crank in the engine so he could turn the engine over by hand every month.
Gary knew what to expect – sludge in the tank, carburetor gummed up, etc. He got the tank cleaned and a liner put in, then he and neighbor cleaned the carburetor. They got it to crank! But the carburetor still was not right. Gary found a vintage carburetor specialist who found that there were two ports still plugged. Gary was advised to take the car to Ricky Harrison, who loved working on old cars. He found that the float in vacuum fuel pump had pinholes. Gas was running straight into the manifold. In 2009, Harrison put a six-volt electric fuel pump on and hid it. He took guts out of the vacuum pump and ran line through it. It looks original. The engine has now been running for several years.
There was still plenty of work to be done. The car was repainted in 2010 to a nice finish, but not to a concours standard. Gary said, “I’m going to drive it, and I don’t want to have a fit if someone touches my car.” The finish has been ceramic coated and looks very nice. The top and tire cover were remade, and the carpet in the back was replaced in 2011. He had the leather redone in 2022 – it cost as much as buying the car, but it really looks spectacular.
The biggest challenge was second gear in the transmission. It is probably the most used gear, and it was worn out. Gary located and bought a transmission in Arkansas owned by Will Moon. A young man who had been working with Will Moon was moving to Georgia and offered to transport the transmission. Brandon Wight, as it turned out, was moving to the same town as Gary. Wight, a graduate of McPherson College, worked with Gary to replace the guts of Gary’s transmission with those from the “new” unit and installed new bearings. The car has run well with the new transmission.
Even though there were 60-70 thousand Moon cars produced, there aren’t many around. There may be fewer than 300 left worldwide, with a number of them in Australia, New Zealand, India, and across Europe. The Moon Car Club (mooncarclub.com) has been key to finding cars and parts, and was how Gary found the replacement transmission. Thankfully, Moon used Continental engines, and there are sources for engine parts. Other bits are harder to find, so Moon owners have maintained their network through the club.
Driving Impressions
Thanks to Gary Moon, I can say that I am a part of an elite group of automobile enthusiasts who have had the opportunity to drive a Moon car. I’ve driven a number of cars from the 1920s and 1930s, and while the Moon is no Auburn (my favorite) or Packard, it is a much more comfortable car to drive than a Voisin or Tracta E. Now that I think about it, the Moon is the second oldest car I have driven. The oldest is the 1919 Layat Helico propeller car at the Lane Motor Museum, and there is no comparison with that one.
The Moon was a pleasure to drive. It was more of what I was used to than the two French cars. It is not a modern car, but it was certainly a more sophisticated car than many of those produced in the US in 1922. Steering was direct, suspension was stiff but acceptable, shifting was a bit of a chore with having a long throw and needing to double clutch, but it was better than other cars of the era I have driven. Getting in and out was a bit of a pain, but that is probably more the result of the inflexibility of my 80-year-old body. When I rode as passenger, I actually sat in the back, since I was unable to access the passenger seat – space is tight. Overall, I have to say that this 1922 Moon was quite a bit more sophisticated than I had thought, and certainly more sophisticated than its competition.
Specifications
- Chassis: Steel frame
- Engine: Continental 6Y L-Head 6-cylinder
- Displacement: 195.5 cid
- Bore/Stroke: 3 1/8 x 4 ¼ inches
- Power: 24.4 hp
- Carburetor: Stromberg
- Clutch: Single plate
- Transmission: 3-speed manual
- Differential Ratio: 4.80:1
- Front Suspension: Solid axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs
- Rear Suspension: Live axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs
- Steering: Worm and wheel
- Brakes: External contracting on rear wheels
- Wheelbase: 117 inches
- Tires: 31×4
