When did "Moon" tanks first appear on the front of rods?

can't say for sure with Tom and can't ask him since he's no longer with us.
I do remember a guy on Van Nuys Blvd one night with an early Vette with a dual tunnel ram and a moon tank. We chose him off in our 55. He said give me ten minutes and went to the carbs, then turned a valve by the moon tank. When he spanked us, I could smell the Fuel as he blew by. My eyes still water thinking about it. I'm sure he was swapping jets in that 10 minutes ....

 

Anyone have pix of the very early tanks?

 

prohibition


anyone need a big one??--16 gal---u can outrunt the irs and fbw

 

I wanted to put a Moon tank on my car but the prices are out of my reach. I did find this tank in my price range, what do you think? Would it look good?

 

I'm afraid of fitting that on a car, it might leave a mark.

 

The tank on the front of my 3-window is an early style, with the pressure pump inside below the dash.

The tag on the tank reads:

Moon Fuel Pressure Tank
Moon Automotive Equipment
10935 S. Bloomfield Ave Santa Fe Springs, Calif.

Plus it has a small moon roadster tag.

The threads on the cap are outside (male), where the newer tanks caps are inside (female) threaded.

MIck

 

hard to see tank,, but tag and thread info are helpful,,thanks

 

Here's mine, Moon tank, Webb mounts, Eelco hand pump. Was on an early '60s altered roadster built by Doc Eiland and later owned by Bill Stauffer.

 

Does anyone have pics of vintage Moon tanks with the pressure pump as part of the winged cap?

I've seen only 1 picture of same and wondering if this was something Moon made, or was it a fabricated piece? Just curious.

 

>>>>>,Moon offered the hand pump in the early years ,,,had one on my chopped model A two door w' a Lincoln V-12 Flathead when i was in hi school in the '50's ,,only fuel tank n pump it had ,,J C Whitney sold a copy cat version back then too ,,i remember seeing early Moon tanks w' the hand pump on Dry Lakes and Bonneville Speed Record cars in the late '40's - '50's in magazines back then too ,,i think the land speed record cars is where Dean Moon got really started ,,NHRA didn't get going 'till the middle '50's with the Safety Safari cross country tour ,,
sorry ,,no pics ,,didn't have a camera then ,,

 

One of the reason for mounting tanks up front were to keep all the fuel lines away from the driveline. In the fifties an early sixties clutch and flywheel explosions were common place with less than adequate scattershields. Flying parts could make a bad situation worse with an added fire.

 

They were outlawed by the sanctioning bodies. In an accident they could spring open with diasterous results. I modified the cap I have, so it no longer opens as a flip top. I just screw it on and off like a coventional cap.