1917 Moon Model 6-45 Roadster

Joseph W. Moon started his Moon Motor Car business in St. Louis with his brother John in 1907. St. Louis would turn out to be a popular location for building automobiles, with no fewer than 114 makes built there.

Joseph Moon had brief ventures as Dianaand Windsor and had a role in the Ruxton adventure. The Moon nameplate, however, would endure for nearly a quarter century.

Louis P. Mooers, an engineer formerly with Peerless, designed the first Moon car. It was a five-passenger touring car offering around 35 horsepower. It was marketed as the 'Ideal American Car,' but it was priced at $3,000, which was much more expensive than its competitors. By 1910 the company had halved its prices and adopted a new motto, 'Priced within the Bounds of Reason.' The Moons believed that style, comfort, and color were more important than solid engineering, and they sold many cars, but orders remained unfulfilled due to out-of-date production methods. The company did increase production to 1,540 cars in 1913 and 7,500 in 1925, but when Archie Andrews of New Era Motors contracted with Moon to build his revolutionary new Ruxton, the company found itself in ever deeper production troubles. The last Moons were built in 1929, but the factory continued into 1930, building the front-drive Ruxton.

From 1916, all Moon automobiles were powered by six-cylinder engines. From 1919, they all featured a Rolls-Royce-inspired radiator. In 1924, they were given a pioneering feature - four-wheel hydraulic braking.

This particular Moon is a Model 6-45 'Clover Leaf' roadster. It is a three-passenger body style that received its nickname from its appearance when viewed from overhead. The only way to access the rear seat is through the gap between the two front seats.

This car was restored over a seven-month period by 4 Generations, a central Pennsylvania restoration shop. It is finished in a cream color scheme and rides on hickory wheels, each of which has 265 individual parts. When the restoration was complete, it was displayed at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.