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At the age of 21, Joseph W. Moon headed to St. Louis, Missouri with his horse and began working in the buggy industry. While attending a buggy convention in 1902 in Detroit, Joseph Moon's interest in automobiles began. In 1905 the first Moon automobile was an advantageous five-passenger touring model with a 35hp four cylinder Rutenber engine. This debut model came equipped with shaft drive and a sliding gear three-speed transmission Moons were not the most expensive cars around, but at $3,000, the first examples were big risks. It took five years for the price of Moons to drop to a more reasonable $1,500 to $2,000 and the slogan "Priced Within the Bounds of Reason" was introduced. 1913 saw the release of the first Moon six cylinder. Typically, these were of L shaped heads. Joseph Moon died in 1919 and his son-in-law, Stewart MacDonald, took control of the firm and sent production and sales figures soaring. In 1919 production figures were 1,633 cars and in 1924 the factory was at it's peak with 7,567 cars made. Merely five years on and the Moon automobile name was out of business. |