In the early twentieth century, St. Louis, Missouri, was an up-and-coming city in the automotive industry. Over the course of history, no fewer than 114 makes were built there, not counting assembly efforts of the Big Three, notable among which is the long-time manufacture of Corvettes. Chief among the St. Louis automakers, however, must be the temporal empire built by Joseph W. Moon.

Although noted for such brief ventures as Diana, Windsor, and a role in the ill-fated Ruxton adventure, it was the Moon nameplate that endured for nearly a quarter century. The first Moon car was designed by Louis P. Mooers, a talented engineer formerly with Peerless. “The Ideal American Car” was Moon’s motto, and production increased rapidly from its 1905 introduction. From 1916 all Moons had six cylinders and, from 1919, a Rolls-Royce–inspired radiator. The last Moons were built in 1929, but the factory continued into 1930 building the radical front-drive Ruxton.

This Moon 6-40 was acquired by the Merrick Auto Museum in 2013 from Charles Meeker of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Restored in 2003 to correct specifications, it features a Continental 7-U 50 bhp, 196-cubic-inch L-head six-cylinder engine and three-speed Warner Gear transmission. Dark blue with black fenders and upper body, it has a double gold pinstripe below the side molding. Body-color disc wheels carry a gold stripe and have 32 × 4 blackwall tires on demountable rims. Upholstered in blue cloth, it has dark blue carpets and a matching fringed roller shade in the rear window.