Quarterly Newsletter of the Moon Club, Saint Louis Missouri Dedicated to the appreciation, enjoyment and preservation of the made by The Company—Moon, Hol-Tan, Diana, & Volume 8, Issue 4 Dec 2018

President’s Corner I had some more Windsor radiator caps re- By Ron Moon produced and more Diana hood ornaments made for Jeff and me. If anyone needs ei- ther of these done, I do have the molds for them. This was the year to get some work done on the cars. I am excited that we’ll be having a Moon As you know, Jeff Meet in Forest City, Iowa in 2019! It should and I had some of be a full weekend of activities! Jeff is in- our brake drums cluding more details in this newsletter. redone. These pictures are the end result of my I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays cars. I was anx- and wish you all good health for 2019. ious to get them on the cars and find out how they ##### work. Series A Wheel Member Profiles Needed for the news- letter

We are looking for club members’ profiles As I was put- where you can share stories about your ting the Diana Moon, Diana, Windsor and / or Ruxton and wheels on, I share a little about yourself. It’s a fun way found a bad for our membership to get to know the histo- kingpin in the ry of your car and a little about you since we driver’s side don’t get together as a group very often. For and had to fix some this is the only link to each other. that problem! Please consider it and contact Jeff Buckley @ [email protected] to discuss further. ##### Diana Wheel

2019 Moon Meet June 6-9, 2019 - Forest City, Iowa Secretary’s Corner Treasurer’s Report By Linda Moon, Club Secretary By Melba Nolan, Club Treasurer

We have three new members to round out Well, it’s that time of year again to RENEW 2018: your membership for the upcoming year. If you are getting this newsletter in print then Merrick Auto Museum you will find an insert for the 2019 renewal. PO Box 188 If you are getting this newsletter in an email Alda, NE 68810 then look for another attached file that has (W) 308-384-1780 (358) the renewal information. Please take time to Email: [email protected] renew your membership now so you won’t 1924 Moon 6-40 Series U Sedan forget. It also helps our membership records if you take care of it now.

Make the Check/Money Order (US Funds only) to;

MOON CAR CLUB and mail it to: Melba Nolan – Moon Car Club 12 Nolan Hill Drive Fenton, MO 63026

Domestic U.S. - $25.00/year Rick & Jackie Quirin 1822 West Blvd. International via check - We still prefer to Belleville, IL 62221 have international payments via PayPal but if (C) 618-381-4706 you don’t have a PayPal account please con- Email: [email protected] tact me and we can work something else out. Master Antique/Classic car restorer Our bank charges very high fees for non-US (Rick has worked on 4 Moons & a Windsor) bank checks.

International via PayPal - $27.00US/year Andrew Small includes the PayPal fee we are charged. Con- 13/83-91 Parr Pde tact Melba Nolan via email if you are paying Narraweena, NSW Australia 2099 by this method. (C) +61438524009 [email protected] Email: [email protected] 1927 Moon 6-60 Jubilee Sedan Also, please indicate if you wish to switch over to receive the PDF version of our quar- terly newsletter via email instead of getting the newsletter by mail. About a third of our membership do this already. This saves our club postage which keeps our costs down and allows you to get your newsletter sooner.

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(Editors note: Thank you for being members of our club this past year. Your membership support helps us with the research about the Moon Car That brings our membership to 90 member Company of St. Louis and to find the surviving families! automobiles. Having our website on the Internet has led to some fantastic finds as you have seen Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in some of our newsletters. In fact, the article to everyone!! about one of the officers, F.H. Rengers, in this newsletter, was from his grandson, who saw our website and emailed us his story.) #####

2 Upcoming Events — 2019 Garner Inn & Suites by Jeff Buckley, Club Media Editor 785 US-18, Garner, IA 50438 (855) 925-1001 or (641) 925-1000 Comprehensive listing of “events of interest” is on our website— www.mooncarclub.com, There are two other hotels in Forest City but they may fill up quickly because of the festival, so 2019 St. Louis Auto Show don’t delay in securing your room if you are January 24-27, 2019 (Thursday-Sunday) thinking of coming to the meet. St. Louis, Missouri ##### The largest new automobile event in the St. Louis area, the show will have Pictures of Events Around the more than 500 new cars, trucks, SUVs World with Moon Motor Cars and luxury vehicles. Each year the Horseless Carriage Club of Missouri also AACA Hershey Swap Meet has a special display of antique automobiles and October 10 - 13, 2018 (Wed -Sat) this year the featured vehicles will be cars made in St. Louis. Moon will be a part of that display so Hershey, PA if you are in the area plan on stopping by to see By Jeff Buckley the special display. Since we didn't have a Moon Meet in 2018 the America's Center Convention Complex Hershey Swap Meet was our biggest gathering of 701 Convention Plaza Moon Car Club members this year. St. Louis, MO 63101 As in past Hershey meets, I hold a gathering for Visit saintlouisautoshow.com for more details. the Moon Club members on Thursday afternoon. We had a couple of tables full of Moon items for sale and also talked about what everyone found 2019 Moon Meet on the swap tables. June 6-9, 2019 (Thursday-Sunday) Forest City, Iowa The club members in attendance at Hershey were Joe Churchman, Keith Connell, Sean Guy, We are excited to announce that we have a loca- Jean & Linda Magre, Terry & Donna Johnson, tion for the 2019 Moon Meet. Fellow club mem- Gerry Perschbacher, Howard Thompson, ber, Ron Holland, has invited us to come to Io- Gene Boomer and Jim Gemmill. wa during the 36th Steam Threshing Festival at Heritage Park in Forest City. http://www.heritageparkofnorthiowa.com/

From Friday through Sunday Heritage Park of North Iowa will be hosting this annual Steam Threshing Festival as well as a classic car showing which will be held in conjunction with this event.

Ron Holland and your club leadership are work- ing out the schedule of events that include other interesting sights to see for our meet as well as our annual club meeting. So stay tuned. We will be sending out a special email to everyone with the rest of the details soon. However, for now we want to give you the hotel information so you can The weather was up and down the entire week secure your hotel reservations before all the but that didn’t stop anyone from walking the 20+ rooms are booked up for the festival. There are miles of vendor spots and to see the hundreds of only 3 motels/inns within 10 miles of Forest City. cars in the car corral.

Our host hotel is 10 miles from Forest City and What a great time at Hershey and hope to see we have a block of 10 rooms reserved for us. Just you there in 2019! call them and say you are booking your room for the Moon Car Club. #####

3 Pictures of Events Around the World my father Reed Anderson Thursby who grew up with Moon Motor Cars (cont.) thru high school in St. Louis before enlisting in the Army in 1940. Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance My grandparents knew Fred and Viva Rengers - November 3-4, 2018, (Saturday-Sunday) in the same social circles. My grandparents di- By Gary Moon vorced around 1950. My grandfather passed around 1952 I think when I was 2. After Viva Pat and I passed away Fred "courted" my grandmother; were pleased they married and moved to St. Pete, FL in 1953. to be invited to the Hilton My dad left the Army in 1953, worked for Chrys- Head Island ler in Detroit for 2 years, then we moved to St. Concours d'El- Pete about 2 miles from them in 1955. We were egance for the all very close to Fred and he loved us as true third time to grandchildren. show our 1922 Moon 6-40 Touring. The Con- He took me golfing with him and I watched many cours was held Sunday, November 4th. baseball games with him. He gave me a baseball when I was 10 that is signed by Babe Ruth and As usual, there were many beautiful vehicles Lou Gehrig. He won it from Buick in 1931. It there of all shapes and sizes. We also saw a was a prized possession of his - and mine. I re- few friends we had met at previous events cently gave it to my grandson (Reed C. Thursby) there and other Concours we have attended. with the story.

It looked like the weekend was going to be a Fred Rengers passed away at home from throat washout, but fortunately, it cancer and was in pain the last couple years of cleared up and we had a great his life. He left the three grandkids enough mon- ey to each pay for our college educations. Saturday and Sunday with some showers starting as the I hope you can use these copies of press releases show was winding down. and other documents to know more about him.

Looking forward to driving and (Editors note: I have gone through all the docu- showing our car next year. ments that Mr. Reed Thursby had copied for me and have put together some highlights of his ##### overall career in the automobile business and his positions at the Moon Motor Car Company.)

Mr. F.H. Rengers was born in 1894 and educat- From the MoonCarClub Email Bag ed in Belleville, Illinois (just east of St. Louis, By Jeff Buckley, Club Webmaster Missouri). He married Viva Shepard of St. Louis and had one son, James S. Rengers F.H. Rengers, VP & General Sales Manger By Reed Thursby - Tampa FL In 1911, seventeen year-old F.H. Rengers had his first position and first taste of automobiles start- My step-grandfather F.H. ing with A.L. Dyke Publishing. A.L. Dyke is Rengers was with Moon Mo- known as the Doctor of the automobile business, tor Car Company for many having opened the first supply company in Ameri- years. I have numerous press can and published the first book on automobiles. releases and company news- letters I'd be happy to share if Mr. Rengers remained with Mr. Dyke as Sales you are interested. Manger and Associate Editor of Dykes Automobile Encyclopedia until 1914 at which time he accept- Just to connect some dots for ed a position with the Moon Motor Car Company. you. In 1915, Mr. Rengers was appointed as Assistant Both my grandfather ( Arthur to the President, Joseph W. Moon, founder of Powell Thursby) and grand- the Moon Motor Car Company. He was also listed mother (Hermoine Anderson as in charge of “Office Sales” in a 1915 Moon or- Thursby) were from St Louis. He was an optician ganization chart. and I think fairly successful. They had one son - 4 In 1917, at the age of twenty three, Mr. Rengers, Then in the early part of 1928 he resigned from was made General Sales Manager of Moon Motor Moon and became General Sales Manager of the Car Company under the leadership of Stewart Motor Company until 1930 when it was McDonald, then Vice Presdident and General announced that Mr. Rengers would be the Gen- Manager of Moon. At 23 years-old, Mr. Rengers eral Sales Manager of a joint Moon/Gardner Sales was one of the youngest executives in the busi- organization. ness to hold that position. It was also said that “Most of his time is spent among Moon distribu- That didn’t last very long and by early 1931 Mr. tors and dealers, instilling pep into them, and Rengers and another former Moon employee, shooting carload orders into the factory. Bowls in A.H. Rederer organized Rederer-Rengers Buick the factory bowling league at every opportunity, Inc. at 126 East Lockwood Ave., Webster Groves, and is devoted to all forms of athletics. “ Missouri as an authorized Buick dealer / service station. It became one of the largest Buick deal- ers in the U.S. Notice the used Moon prices in the ad.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Sunday, June 21, 1931

In late 1934 he was the Sales Manager for South Side Buick-Pontiac Company and by early 1936 he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio and became Presi- dent of Metropolitan Motor Company, a General Motors Buick dealership. The Moon Crescent - November, 1919 Dealer Newsletter Published by the Moon Motor Car Company In 1941 he bought out General Motors’ interest in Metropolitan Motors and became the sole owner of the dealership. In 1925, The Moon Motors Corp. was organized (a subsidiary of the Moon Motor Car Company) and Sometime between 1951 and 1953 Mr. Rengers Mr. Rengers was made President of this corpora- sold the dealership and then moved to St. Pete, tion. Florida in 1953 where he passed away in the 1960’s. In 1926 Mr. Rengers was made President of the Diana Motor Car Company, a subsidiary of Moon.

By 1927 Mr. Rengers was a Vice President / Gen- ##### eral Sales Manager of Moon Motor Car Company.

5 Tech Talk The back side of the jig is pictured below. Notice By Jeff Buckley the rods in the tubes on each side of the jig. These rods slide back and forth so that the hot Brake Drums for the Moons & Dianas rivet can be placed in the hole and then slide against the bucking tool that you see in the mid- As a follow up to the last Tech Talk article, I want dle of jig. to show you a couple of better pictures of the re- sults of the “metalized” process on the brake drums. Here are a couple of before and after pic- tures of two brake drums.

To the left is the finished drum com- pared to one that didn’t get done. The original drum was well worn and the metalized pro- cess really built it up and smoothed it out.

The picture to the right shows the dif- ference between a So now we are ready to start the process to in- used drum and one stall the rivets. that was built back up to the standard The first process is to cut 1/8 inch thickness the rivets to size so that using that metalizing you don’t have excess rivet process. Ron Moon material when the rivet is and I can’t wait to pressed against the bucking try the drums’ new bar. A chop saw is set up surface braking with another jig to cut each power. rivet to the exact length.

Riveting it all back together Next, the rivets are heated up in a little brick oven. The next step after repairing the brake drum is to put the drum, wheel disc and hub back together like the original with rivets. This meant that I needed to have a process of putting eight hot rivets back into each wheel. To accomplish this, new club member Rick Quirin (my restoration guy) turned to one of his talented friends to set up a process to drive hot rivets through the drum, wheel disc and hub. While Rick is a great They are heated until restorer in his own right, the fact that he knows they are white hot other talented craftsmen in and are soft enough the area is a big plus. to be riveted in place. After bolting a sample brake drum, wheel disc The trick is to trans- and hub together a jig was fer the white hot riv- made out of scrap material et over to the wheel on hand. The jig now jig fast enough so would hold the brake drum that they can be riv- in place by an outside band eted in place. Every that tightens up on the second counts. brake drum. 6 Notice the red rivet Moons on the Move in front of the rivet By Jeff Buckley gun as he prepares to press it against From time to time Moons, Dianas, Windsors and the bucking bar on Ruxtons change ownership. Sometimes we know the back side. It who the new owner is and sometimes the cars takes a big rivet disappear for a while until we get contacted and gun and a very sometimes they just disappear. knowledgeable craftsman to know We always ask our membership to let us know how to properly when they sell their cars but the challenge is to place the rivet in. keep track of cars that don’t belong to club mem- bers. Here are three recent finds of Moons that The whole process we knew about that had changed hands and now took 4 people in an have re-surfaced. assembly line (I cut the rivets and New Moon Car club member sometimes worked Rick Merrick purchased a the slide on the jig to hold the wheel against the 1924 6-40 Series U Sedan that bucking bar). was owned by Charlie Meeker in Florida and passed through Hyman Classic Cars in St. Louis before Rick purchased it. It wasn’t until Rick contacted us at the club website did we find out where the 6-40 Series U ended up. Thanks, Rick, for saving the car and joining our club.

Another new re-discovery was from a tip from fel- low club member, Jan Arnett, that a 1922 Moon was at Louwman Mu- seum in The Nether- lands. Jan gave me a We did 8 wheels (64 rivets) and we could not link to their website have done it without the jig and the know-how of where I saw that they the craftsman. called the Moon a 1922 6-48 Touring. I initially Afterwards, the wheels were thought it was a previ- sprayed in primer ready for fi- ously unknown Moon until I looked at some pic- nal paint. The rivets on the tures of it and determined that it was a 1922 6- hubs look like the original, 40 Touring that was sold by David North from both front and back. Maryland years ago to an unknown buyer in Eu- rope. I have emailed the Museum to help them properly identify the Moon as a 6-40 instead of a 6-48. Its nice to know where this Moon has land- ed. Thanks, Jan, for the tip.

This was quite Finally, an update on the 1919 Moon 6-66 Tour- the process and ing in Brazil. The former was expensive owner Mr. Og Pozolli, but to have good passed away at the end braking on a of last year. His entire Moon I intend to collection of cars was drive a lot, it had purchased by a Brazillan to be done. foundation. This founda- tion will build a museum Here are a couple of links to that riveting video. and technical school dedicated to the restoration Direct Link - https://youtu.be/sVFZ6GCvcRY of old cars and it is my understanding that the Or www.youtube.com/mooncarclub to see 1919 Moon will be one of the featured cars. other Moon videos too. ##### ##### 7

Moons For Sale and Want Ads:

FOR SALE: 1921 6-40 Moon Touring Keith Connell Jeff Buckley, Newsletter Editor / Webmaster 1-908-439-2999 [email protected] / 314-608-8092 Or Email: [email protected] Club Officers President Ron Moon 360.491.8601 [email protected]

FOR SALE: Treasurer 1921 6-48 Moon Sedan Melba Nolan 636.343.9421 [email protected] Don McBee Secretary 1-314-910-7854 Linda Moon 360.491.8601 [email protected] Or Board Members Email: [email protected] Jack Lukeman 217-370-1524 [email protected] Gary Moon 770.318.7903 [email protected] Ramona Upright 308-284-4715 [email protected]

FOR SALE: 1929 6-77 Windsor Sedan Sean Guy 1-717-404-7326 Or www.mooncarclub.com Email: [email protected] PARTS WANTED: Looking for any dash parts for a 1923 6-40 Moon Roger Fletcher Email: [email protected] FOR SALE: 1929 8-92 Windsor Coupe PARTS WANTED: Sean Guy Steering gear box or parts for overhaul the steering on a 1-717-404-7326 1923 6-40. Call Chuck Keller @ 970-260-7943 (cell) or Or 970-241-0890 (home). [email protected] Email: [email protected] PARTS WANTED: Stromberg OE-1 Carburetor for a 1923 6-40 Moon Touring. FOR SALE: Call Joe Ribar @ 254-482-0655 (cell) or 254-501-9798 1925 Moon Newport Touring (located (home). [email protected] in Spain) Ana Costas PARTS WANTED: Phone: +34 609179134 Wing Nuts for the windshield of a 1922 6-40. Also need 1922 Email: [email protected] MOON 6-40 AMP GAUGE Allen Aucoin email: [email protected] or phone 504-737-7135 SOLD: 1927 Moon 6-60 2 Dr Jubilee Sedan (located in Aus- PARTS WANTED: tralia) I am in need of, for my 1924 6-40 touring: Late Breaking news - Tail Light & License Bracket,(4) Windshield Wing Nuts Warren Hunting 660-864-1237 Allan Bujayer sold his Moon to Trevor Ryan and his son Robert PARTS WANTED: Ryan. Trevor owned the Moon Looking for the 1925 Series A cowl lights like. Also with his father in the late sixties looking for the light box that fits on the bottom end of and its now back home. the steering column in the engine compartment. Jim Gemmill @ 410-374-3977. I have no email so you must call me.

For Sale: Moon Car Club Pins & Meet Posters. Pins $6 & Posters $18 plus shipping Send an email to [email protected] to request an order form. Renew your club membership for 2019 NOW!

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