The story of America’s first front-wheel-drive car is a turbulent tale.

THE Ruxton could have changed the direction of America’s automobile industry. It could have been the saving grace for Moon. It might have transformed the Hupp Motor Car Corporation and enabled the company to survive the Great Depression. It had the potential to give Kissel a marketing boost.

But there were two major obstacles that proved insurmountable. One was the dramatic economic downturn that kicked off with the stock market crash in October of 1929. The second was Archie Andrews, a swashbuckling financier and promotor not constrained by ethics.

The Ruxton story starts with William Muller who was working as an experimental engineer at the Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Company in the mid-1920s. The company was a major producer of auto bodies for numerous manufacturers that was looking for opportunities to diversify operations.

This worked well for Muller who had an idea for a revolutionary front wheel drive vehicle. After presenting his ideas to the board of directors, he was given the green light to develop a prototype. Upon completion, plans for the car that had been dubbed Ruxton by Andrews, with Budd body, would be sold to an established manufacturer under limited license for production and distribution.   

Archie Andrews was a member of the board of directors for several companies including Budd and Hupp Motor Car Corporation. The Ruxton project piqued his interest. So, he deftly used his position on the boards in the hope of having Hupp manufacture the car. When that initiative failed, he established New Era Motors in April 1929 with plans to produce the car himself.  

But Andrews was unscrupulous. Indicative of this was use of the Ruxton name. When Andrews had first gained control of the project at Budd, he had been involved in back door negotiations with William Ruxton, a financier that was a member of the New York Stock Exchange. Ruxton chose not to invest in New Era Motors, but the Ruxton name on the car enabled Andrews to attract investors. It took William Ruxton several years of legal wrangling and lawsuits against Andrews to prove that he was not involved with the company and had not given permission for use of his name. By then the Ruxton was an historic footnote.

New Era Motors had a prestigious address in New York City. It had eager investors and it had excited stockholders. It had a colorful prospectus. It had a stylish front wheel drive prototype with Budd body. It had exclusive production rights secured from Budd. But it was all a façade, an automobile manufacturing company without a factory, engineers, a dealer network, or plans for distribution.   

With the colorful low-slung front wheel drive car powered by a 100-horsepower eight-cylinder engine produced by Continental as his business card Andrews aggressively sought partnership with a company to produce the Ruxton. Negotiations with Peerless, Gardner and Marmon were fruitless. Next, he prepared a sales pitch for St. Louis based Moon, a company that had been established in 1905 and that was on the cusp of receivership resultant of declining sales, quality control issues, and a growing reputation for unreliability.    

In November 1929, a press release announcing that Moon would be producing the exciting new Ruxton was published in trade journals as well as St. Louis newspapers. The board of directors at Moon staked it all on the project that had two components. The Ruxton and production of the Moon bodies by Budd as a cost saving measure, an arrangement negotiated by Andrews. What they had not counted on was Andrews ruthless back room deals.

As part of the arrangement, Andrews would provide designs and limited patent rights for the Ruxton in exchange for a sizable, preferred stock interest in Moon. Unknown to the directors he had also acquired blocks of stock through purchase by a proxy before closing the deal. These were sold at a profit with announcement that Moon would be manufacturing the new car. Then came his boldest move which was an attempt to remove the board of directors with plans to assume complete control of the company. His plans also called for restructuring the company and using it as collateral to fund acquisition of several small independent automobile manufacturers that were on the cusp of bankruptcy.  

C.W. Burst and the Moon board of directors filed for an injunction hoping to stave off Andrews company take over. When the stay was overturned, they filed an appeal and literally barricaded themselves in the boardroom while awaiting a decision. Andrews and Muller that had been lured from Budd with the promise that he would be appointed president at Moon, and several hired thugs broke down the door and served court papers giving him control of the company.

As suits and countersuits circulated in the courts, and precious cash reserves were expended on legal fees, the Ruxton and the Windsor, a rebadged Moon, entered production in June 1930. The Ruxton was also being produced in the Hartford, Wisconsin factories of Kissel, a company that Andrews had manipulated into producing the car as well as transmissions and final drive assemblies.

When Andrews attempted a take over of Kissel in a manner like that used to gain control of Moon, the Kissel brothers shuttered their company and filed for bankruptcy. As Moon’s cash reserves had been depleted, parts suppliers were demanding payment, and the Ruxton project was brought to a standstill without the Kissel produced components, Andrews was forced to suspend all production on November 10, 1930. A filing for receivership was submitted on the 15th.

Kissel, a company that had began operations in 1907 as Kissel Kar, reorganized as Kissel Industries and manufactured automotive components into the 1940s. Andrews had so financially entangled Moon with other companies, resolution of the bankruptcy, and subsequent claims and lawsuits were not completed until 1965!

Incredibly this was not the end of Andrews automotive endeavors. He maneuvered his position on the board of directors at Hupp and was elected chairman. Angry Hupp stockholders that had lost money on Moon and New Era Motors filed a string of lawsuits when Andrews attempted to gain full control of the company and use assets to take over Gardner, Stutz and Peerless.

Andrews was forced from Hupp, and private assets were seized. For the next few years Andrews was engaged in constant legal battles. They only ended in 1938 because Andrews died of heart failure at age 59.

Only about 500 Ruxton automobiles were manufactured but some were not sold until 1932. Of these about twenty-five had been produced at the Kissel factory. This included two custom phaetons produced for the Kissel brothers. Four other special bodied show cars were produced in the Moon factory. The production models were roadsters and sedans.

For all his shortcomings, Andrews was a promoter and showman extraordinaire. Ruxton automobiles were finished in outlandish tricolor or two tone finishes with color combinations such as lavender, black, and grey. They sat ten inches lower than most production cars manufactured at the time, and there were no running boards. The narrow Woodlite headlights gave the car a distinct appearance. The Ruxton would not be mistaken for anything else on the road.

Surprisingly, the cars were well engineered. Owners expressed overall satisfaction with the Ruxton. And unlike the first generation of the contemporary front wheel drive Cord, the Ruxton did not have shifting or transmission issues. And those that have survived into the modern era are treasured by collectors.  

Written by Jim Hinckley of jimhinckleysamerica.com