REMEMBER THE TUCKER?

[crazyphil]

Do you remember the Tucker automobile? I sure do. They came
out near the end of the 1940s. They only made about 50 of them.

Sometime around 1958 I was shopping for a car. I was in
college so didn't have a lot of money. A car lot in a little
town in Montana had a nice looking car. Very classy and it
was in good shape. I passed on it because I wondered where
I would ever get parts for repairs. Smart move huh? It was
a Tucker. I bought a Buick instead.

 

[ColbyBruce]

Gene Cofer of Cofer Bros. Building Supply in Tucker, GA owned several fine automobiles, including a Tucker. He drove it to work a few times a month, right past the post office where I worked.

Jeff Bridges starred in a movie about the Tucker car.

 

[Muley Gil]

What year Buick did you buy? My first car was a 1952 Buick Super 4 door sedan, with a 263 straight eight and a DynaFlow tranny.

 

[crazyphil]

Muley Gill my Buick was also a 1952 dont remember model but it was
big and luxurious. Also the straight eight. Would pass everything on
the road except the gas station. Killed a bear and hauled him home in
the trunk. Never could get the stink out, so I traded up to a 1955 Buick.
Always liked Buicks. Still drive one. I was in commercial real estate
for about 30 years, so during that time I drove Cadillacs. Had to have
the image you know. Buick is a better car.

 

[Pond Scum 43]

I got to see a Tucker in person at a small museum in Stone Mountain Georgia about 8 years ago.
A car ahead of its time.
A good movie also with Jeff Bridges playing Preston Tucker.

 

[walkin jack]

Jeff Bridges made a movie about that car and how the oil companies bullied him and stopped him from making them. I think it was because they were so fuel efficient? But that car, the Edsel, and the Studebaker were some of the ugliest cars ever made IMHO.

 

[martybee]

One was sold at auction in 2012. It sold for just under $3,000,000.
1948 TUCKER TORPEDO - 115982

 

[Narrowback]

There's a private collection here in Maine, Bob Bahr's. He opens it up to the public once per year and has some of the rarest cars in the country. At the end of this video you can see his Tucker.

Bob Bahre classic car collection [Video]

 

[crazyphil]

Yup I shudda bought it when I had a chance. But I guess we all have
those shuddas don't we?

 

[loknload]

The Hershey Car Museum has a wing dedicated just to the Tucker.
It seems a gentleman by the name of Cammack had a vast collection of Tucker items, prototype engines, transmissions, chassis, and of course 4 complete cars.
His collection even included items from the factory, desks, chairs, lockers, phones and time clocks.
All this was given to Hershey providing they give it the wing which they did.
I have seen this collection several times now and it is thoroughly fantastic.
If you have an interest and in Hershey PA. this is something worth the looksee especially if you like the Tucker!

 

[Tom S.]

Yup I shudda bought it when I had a chance. But I guess we all have
those shuddas don't we?

Yup, my dad had a chance to buy some "farm land" right after the end of WWII in California. That land is now called Disneyland.

In the 80's, when Chrysler stock was $3 a share, I talked to my wife about remortgaging the house and buying it. We decided not to take the risk.

I did however buy a boat load of the old GM stock when it was down to 29 a share and dumped it at $48.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Barely. Saw the movie, saw One in a car museum.
I doubt if there were ever any parts available.
Some marginal car companies - like Yugo - have solid excuses for not having parts.
We smartbombed the factory!

 

[DWalt]

Barely. Saw the movie, saw One in a car museum.
I doubt if there were ever any parts available.
Some marginal car companies - like Yugo - have solid excuses for not having parts.
We smartbombed the factory!

I remember something about the Yugo factory being used to manufacture armaments. I haven't seen any Yugo vehicles for a very long time. I imagine they may have some collectible value.

 

[arjay]

Yup I shudda bought it when I had a chance. But I guess we all have
those shuddas don't we?

Pop bought 1-2 acres in Breckinridge for 30k with the idea of building a mountain house when I was 13.Ten years later he sold it at a modest profit since ma didn't want to retire up there.That land is now worth 1-2 mil [emoji33]
I had similar experiences with my own wife [emoji57]

 

[Big Cholla]

MY DAD

Yup, my dad had a chance to buy some "farm land" right after the end of WWII in California. That land is now called Disneyland.

In the 80's, when Chrysler stock was $3 a share, I talked to my wife about remortgaging the house and buying it. We decided not to take the risk.

I did however buy a boat load of the old GM stock when it was down to 29 a share and dumped it at $48.

In 1946 my Dad bought a 160 acre place out in the desert way south of Las Vegas that had a lot of Quail running around in the sand dunes. He was a driven Quail hunter. He paid $1,000 down and was to pay $50 a month (owner carry) towards the total price of $5,000. It had a cabin and an artesian water well. My mother thru a fit and made him give it back. That 160 acres is now called the University of Nevada Las Vegas. ..... :-(

 

[crazyphil]

Big Cholla your story kinda reminded me of my Great Granddad. He
was one of the pioneers in Boise so he owned some land. He couldn't
pay the taxes so he lost the land. It was called Briggs (his name) first
subdivision. The state capitol building now occupies the land.

 

[olcop]

I've asked before, but, I'll ask again; does anyone know if some of the Tuckers designers went over to Studebaker? The Stude sure is a reminder of how the Tucker looked to me.
olcop

 

[rwsmith]

Tucker had some good ideas....

...I'm not sure I like ALL of his ideas. His main problem was lack of capital that prevented him from building working cars instead of hand made prototypes with substitute internals that were just built to move or shells on wheels that wouldn't movie anywhere. In order to get more capital he kept selling dealerships and accessories ahead of time for cars that he couldn't make and it about landed him in jail for fraud. It is a great question that if he had had capital and factory facilities would the Tucker would have taken off?

He designed and sold turret for various crafts in WWII but the patent rights were stolen and he spent years and a lot of money in court.

He had an association with Jackson Higgens of Higgens boat fame to provide armaments and machinery for ships and boats that Higgens produced in WWII but that went out the window, too.

He was even involved in the development of a fighter plane that actually in the contract process with the US government, but financial problems nixed that project, too.

Preston Tucker was a great engineer, but a lousy businessman. It seems to me that if he had succeeded in any one of several entrepreneurial projects it may have provided capital and confidence from investors to make the others work as well.

 

[Mals9]

I saw a Tucker about 10 years ago in a small strip mall parking lot. It was not in the best of shape but I was amazed that it was just parked like any ordinary car.

Mals

 

[shouldazagged]

I remember very well when the first ads for the Tucker appeared--I was eleven at the time, and that steerable center headlight fascinated the heck out of me.

I didn't see one until ten or fiftee years ago, at the National Street Rod Show here as I recall. There was a sidebar exhibit of classic cars, and I saw two or three Cords and two Tuckers, all absolutely gorgeous.

When I was in my teens ther was a guy who lived up the street about a block who drove a white Cord, a 1938 I believe. He parked it on the street, in the weather and a rain of bird and squirrel droppings. I don't even want to think what it would be worth today.