The Moon Motor Company

The Moon Motor Company

At MyclassicNEWS.com we enjoy remembering the roots of auto manufacturers that evolved and that were absorbed by the big 3, but many automobile manufacturers are gone forever. Moon is one of them.

In 1905 Joseph Moon established The Moon Motor Car Company in St. Louis, Missouri. Moon had been in the buggy business prior to this venture and built his first vehicle, a five-passenger touring car featuring a 35-hp engine three speed. Many critics thought the first Moons were overpriced at $3000.00. Moon’s philosophy was to build the ideal car with contoured lines and a touch of class.

By the teens, Moon’s son-in-law, Stewart McDonald, became the Vice President. Moon Motor Car had grown from producing around 50 cars in 1906 to over 1500 cars being sold in 1913. Moon vehicles were originally manufactured with 4 cylinder engines, which produced around 30 HP until 1913, when the moved to a 6 cylinder engine producing around 70 HP.

McDonald’s concept was a massive advertising campaign along with focusing on style and color as opposed to an engineering approach. He pioneered a marketing campaign, which included ads in the Saturday Evening Post with Silent film star, Clara Bow. They dubbed the campaign “Over-The-Moon Style”

Joseph Moon died in 1919 and McDonald took over the company. In 1924 The Moon Motor Car Co. produced roadsters, touring cars, sport touring, coupes, sedans and sport sedans. Six cylinder engines rated at 50 and 58 horsepower were used. In 1928 Moon introduced the Aeroype model 8-80. A straight 8 engine rated at 85 horsepower was used in these vehicles.

Unfortunately, Moon folded in 1930, but the Moon Vehicle is kept alive at the Moon Car Club http://mooncarclub.com/

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