The Ruxton Car

(I want one to impress the neighbours ! Ed.)

Ruxton (US) 1929-31

New Era Motors Inc, New York, N.Y. ; Moon Motor Corp., St Louis, Mo;Kissel Motor Car Co. , Hartford, Wisc.

"The Ruxton was a front-drive car which, like its rival, the Cord L-29,was built in limited numbers during roughly the same period. The Ruxton was the idea of Archie M. Andrews, a promoter and financier who was also a director of the Hupp Motor Corporation. An experimental car embodying the front-drive principle was built late in 1928 and named after William V. C. Ruxton, one of Andrew's acquaintances who showed an interest in the production of this type of car. A long, low prototype was built in the spring of 1929. This car was powered by a 4.4 litre Continental Straight Eight engine which produced a maximum of about 100 bhp at 3,400 rpm. All Ruxton cars followed this initial pilot model both in engine and overall design.

Actual production began in June 1930 in both the Moon and Kissel factories; Ruxtons of either origin had to struggle in an increasingly competitive market. Sedan bodies were built by Budd on dies and tooling used by some models of the English Wolseley. Open models were built by Raulang. The cars were low, rakish and carried no running boards. The price of the sedan, at $3, 195, was approximately that of its rival, Cord. Because of the collapse of Moon and Kissel and a flagging Depression market, Ruxton failed late in 1930 or early 1931 after between 300 and 500 cars had been built, some of which were not actually sold until 1932. Of these, two were phaetons, one a town car and the remainder almost equally divided between roadsters and sedans."

from The Complete Encyclopedia of Motor Cars -1885 to the Present
Ebury Press, London. (1968).

(Thanks to my good friend Martin Robinson for the above information. AFAIK William Ruxton never actually invested in the venture. Ed.)

See here also.

And another photo sent by Keith Ruxton whose home page is here. This one is on permanent display at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

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