Ruxton Model A Sedan
Time and again in automotive history, there have been brands that haven’t lasted long for a variety of reasons. Nevertheless, their individual history is often exciting and worth an article for us. This is also the case with Ruxton, a small carmaker from New York. Behind the brand was engineer William J. Muller, who was employed by the Budd Body Company in Philadelphia in the late 1920s. This company supplied metal and finished bodies to various automakers. Company founder Edward G. Budd had developed the world’s first all-steel bodies in 1913. Budd then worked on a process to weld galvanized steel without damaging the rust-protection layer, which was accomplished in the 1930s. One of the innovative engineers was William Muller, who apparently had enough capacity left over in his spare time to develop his own front-wheel drive car.
Design by Joseph Ledwinka
In fact, his ideas were good enough to persuade Budd’s management to finance a prototype. In exchange, the company received the rights to the new car, which they had originally planned to sell to Hupp Motor. When Hupp backed out of the deal, Muller formed the New Era Motors Company in New York with Archie Andrews. At the same time, Budd was awarded the contract to supply the bodies. Their design came from Joseph Ledwinka, a distant relative of Tatra developer Hans Ledwinka. Front-wheel drive allowed Muller to dispense with a high-build front-to-rear power transmission in the design of the chassis, resulting in a much flatter overall vehicle than comparable sedans of the time. Joseph Ledwinka’s design therefore omitted the usual side running boards and provided for a multi-colored paint scheme in the style of architect and designer Joseph Urban. This was intended to make the car look even longer.
Mr Ruxton was never involved in the project
Muller and Andrews didn’t have the financial resources to mass produce the new car. They tried in vain to make connections with Gardner, Peerless and Marmon. After renaming the car after entrepreneur William V.C. Ruxton, from whom they hoped in vain for a larger investment, they were able to sign a contract with Moon Motors of St. Louis in 1929. William Ruxton later sued Andrews to prove that he had never invested in the project. At the same time, Andrews was unhappy with the work Moon was putting into car production. In order to gain more control, he bought many shares in the company, which in turn didn’t please the company’s president, C.W. Burst. In protest, he locked himself in his office for several days. Nevertheless, the Ruxton Model A went into production in 1930. The vast majority of vehicles were fitted with the narrow Woodlite headlights, which quickly proved to be ineffective due to their shape.
Third built car is for sale
While the engines came from Continental Motors, Kissel made the transmissions and driveshafts. When Moon Motors failed, Andrews tried to move production to Kissel. Again, he bought many company shares to continue to have influence over the manufacturing and further development of the project. However, in November 1930, the Kissel brothers filed for a receiver to keep the self-proclaimed entrepreneur off their backs. This brought production of the Ruxton to an abrupt halt. Andrews still tried to take over the Hupp company, which he nearly succeeded in doing. However, angry sharehoulders chased him out of the administration and thus prevented the resumption of Ruxton production. Including the prototypes, only 96 examples of the Model A were produced, 19 of which are still known to exist. One, namely the third built car (# 1005) and at the same time the show car from the New York Auto Show 1930, is currently for sale at the Blackhawk Collection in the USA.
Images: Blackhawk Collection
