Yes the Marx drum head does resemble the "Rising Sun" symbol of Imperial Japan. However in the late 1930's this was not as well known as after 1941. In fact the US insignia on our aircraft had a solid red circle in the middle of the star, this was removed after '41 to reduce the chances of mistaken identification. This car most likely dates between 1936-1946 with further dating based on the "tail" of the tab/slot extension. Eyelet rivet 1936, twisted tail 1938, punched tail 1946
Great looking car, good find!
Don