TBD 2017 Location - Tacoma, WA the Moon Publically Rose High Over St
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Quarterly Newsletter of the Moon Car Club, Saint Louis Missouri Dedicated to the appreciation, enjoyment and preservation of the cars made by The Moon Motor Car Company—Moon, Hol-Tan, Diana, Windsor & Ruxton Volume 6, Issue 2 June 2016 President’s Corner I hope everyone will get their cars out and do some driving this summer. My Diana is finished, just in time By Ron Moon for the summer car shows! Now it’s time to start re- storing the Windsor. We had another unique annual ##### Moon Meet this year with our once -in-a-lifetime “Great St. Louis Car Letter to the Editor of the Moon Car Club Meet,” incorporating other makes that were manufactured in St. This past week the Great St. Louis Car Show was a Louis. Each year since 2011 we’ve Great Success! A record number of Gardner cars were had a meet that is unique and dif- there - five. ferent. Jeff did a fabulous job with The activities were a lot of fun and very interest- an exceptional number of details ing. The car collections and the presentations were to keep track of. He’s like the just a few of the events I will remember. It was obvi- “energizer bunny” that never runs The 2016 Meet poster designed by Terry McBee ous that a great deal of time was spent on the plan- down. Linda and I would like to ning. I wish to thank Jeff Buckley and all the mem- thank everyone who helped Jeff put this one on. We bers of the Moon Car Club that did such an outstand- had a great time (even if I did have a close call driving ing job, and thank you for inviting the Gardner Club to one of Jeff’s cars!). We saw a couple of great car col- participate. lections and some cars that I had never heard of that were at the show on Sunday. We might get more Bob Gardner www.gardnermotorcars.com members in the Moon club as a result of this meet. ##### Editors note: This is an expanded club newsletter that It was good to see all the old friends from the club and focuses on the recently held meet. We received over a meet some new folks. The Ronnings were there from thousand pictures from some of the attendees. En- Norway again. PerArne has attended almost all of our closed are samples of those pictures. To see more of meets. them, please check out our website for the 2016 Meet. Display in front of the Missouri History Museum on Friday morning of “The Great St. Louis Car Meet of 2016” Next Annual Moon Meet: - TBD 2017 Location - Tacoma, WA The Moon Publically Rose High Over St. Louis By Gerald Perschbacher (LL.D.; all rights reserved on text and photos) Among all the car makers who called St. Louis their sole home, none rose as high as Moon when it came to production. Logically, then, it fell to the well- organized Moon Car Club to pull off one of the most outstanding events to be held in the Midwest in recent memory. Thousands of visitors were introduced to an ar- ray of several dozen pre-1932 cars on exhibit at two venues in St. Louis, Missouri, June 10-12. While the cars carried different brand names but all had one common link: made in St. Louis. Judy Wolters, granddaughter A.L. Dyke, was allowed to pose at the wheel of a 1903 Dyke owned by Doug & Susan Durein. A.L. Dyke was renowned for his massive printing and distribution of early technical literature and for being the pioneer who launched the aftermarket car-parts business. manufactured exclusively in the Midwestern city, known by 1900 as the fourth largest metropolitan area in the United States. Furthermore, in the 1800s St. Louis gained the designation as Gateway to the West for pioneer travelers, settlers, and California Gold Rush hopefuls who poured through the community to make travel connections westward. St. Louis was their last site to stock supplies plus necessary items for the ar- duous trip. Dominating the St. Louis-made vintage vehi- cles at the recent meet were the hosting Moon brand and its companions. Moon (1906-1930) was the larg- est producer of cars made in the city and is likely the most remembered. Second is Gardner (1920-1931) A Moon and Gardner, both from the 1920s, graced the Missouri History which vied for the top post. Both were priced in the Museum in St. Louis, as part of the public display held by the Moon Car medium field, with select models edging into the high- Club in June. The national meet held by the Moon club, invited other price bracket over the years. Moon’s companion cars brands of cars made in the Midwestern city before 1932. were the East Coast Hol-Tan (Moon products sold to Hollander and Tangeman), the sporty Diana, the low- Even a good many car collectors never may slung and extravagant Windsor designed by Howard have seen a Moon, Gardner, Dorris, Dyke, Simplo, “Dutch” Darrin, and the outstandingly rakish front- Ruxton, or Windsor until the meet. Adding to the list drive Ruxton, which preceded the front-drive Cord by of rarities were two Traffic trucks. Jeff Buckley, event months. Each of those companion brands was made chairman and a founder of the Moon Car Club, said, in limited quantities. It should be added that Moon “The Great St. Louis made the greater number of Ruxtons, while the Kissel Car Meet of 2016 was car company also entered the agreement with New Era very well received at Motors. Production numbers show that Kissel made a two public events at few Ruxtons; Moon making the majority. the Missouri History Museum and the Muse- um of Transporta- tion.” Other St. Louis makes were invited to this event due to the location and special theme. According to Traffic trucks were made in St. Louis the late John A. Conde from 1917 to 1929. Most were powered of Detroit, St. Louis by Continental engines. was a hub for vehicle manufacturing. He studied the subject and stated to Fred Guyton motored to one event in an unrestored front-drive Ruxton with this writer that at least a hundred makes of cars were Dave Groerich, master mechanic. 2 Today the Ruxton is considered a full-fledged The Moon Car Club meet is held annually at dif- Classic by the Classic Car Club of America, and a good ferent locations. For further information about this number of serious collectors wonder if the Diana Eight event and other aspects relating to the club and its and Windsor Eight are close to gaining that designa- cars, go to www.mooncarclub.com. The club holds as tion since a variety of attendees noted the cars are its aim the encouragement of members to acquire, re- worthy of consideration on multiple counts. store, preserve, and exhibit any vehicle produced by the Moon Motor Car Company. Moon traced its rise to the booming buggy busi- ness in the late 1800s under the name of Moon Broth- ##### ers. It wasn’t long and the two brothers John and Jo- seph separated, John holding tight to the Moon Broth- Upcoming Events — 2016 ers name while Joseph formed a new carriage compet- by Jeff Buckley, Club, Media Editor itor. There was trouble brewing for the carriage trade as motorized personal transportation took a larger and Comprehensive listing of “events of interest” is on our larger annual percentage of sales. Joseph tried his website— www.mooncarclub.com, hand at car making by 1906. Eventually that produc- tion increased while his buggy making declined. In effect, the carriage business was comatose by 1915 AACA Hershey Swap Meet and practically declared dead by 1917. October 5-8, 2016 (Wednesday - Saturday) Hershey, Pennsylvania Not so the car business. Joseph saw his new venture grow and become profitable. As with many regional car makers, Moon enjoyed loyal repeat cus- tomers around its city of manufacture. Due to St. Louis being an active port city along the Missouri and We will be at the AACA Hershey Swap Meet and hope Mississippi rivers, Moons were hoisted aboard ship and to meet you there! Many of our fellow Moon Car Club sent down the river to New Orleans, then loaded large members attend, so please consider joining us! seagoing ships for overseas delivery. We have a spot for you to meet up in the Orange Some Moon competitors took different paths to Field (OAI 51-52) and we have a listing in the Her- success. The Gardners and display material at the re- shey book for Moon & Model A parts. I will try to bring cent meet reminded Moon owners of the Banner Buggy some things to Hershey about the club and will be business by the Gardner family and how they shifted around to meet anyone that is interested in the club. to assembling the new Chevrolet Model Four-Ninety through the direct encouragement of William C. Durant As in past Hershey meets, we invite all club members who used Chevrolet to leverage his return to the top attending the meet to stop by on Thursday after- seat at General Motors. There was a 1916 Four-Ninety noon around 4 pm to meet and greet each other. at the Moon meet in June. While the Moon name on buggies and cars was well known by 1910, the Gard- ##### ner name did not appear on horse-drawn conveyances at all and was not affixed to a car until the 1920 ver- Member Profiles Needed for the newsletter sions appeared in quantity.