I was pretty small, but still recall the furor in the neighborhood over the Tucker car! The War had ended, we needed a new car badly, as the '35 Ford my Dad had driven to work since new, was getting on in miles He really wanted a Mercury, but few of any new cars were available, as production geared back up, and new cars were speedily snapped up. Hearing about Tucker's new car, studying the brochures, he liked it. Both my Dad and our neighbor gave $200 deposits for one. Tucker's difficulties grew, but my Dad especially liked the fact that the old Ford Aircraft Engine Plant on South Cicero Ave., where he had taken a big die set to test, it making a complete Jeep dashboard panel in a single hit, was to be leased by Tucker and used to build the cars! The rest is history. Tucker was not a dishonest man. My Dad and the neighbor both got their deposits back! A good movie depicting Tucker's car was made in the '90s, entitled "Tucker". The producers extensively interviewed Tucker's widow and children in making the movie. Frank "An Ultra-Rare, $3 Million Tucker 48 Was Discovered in an Ohio Barn" "Preston Tucker's car company was responsible for 51 cars being built. Of those, we know that 47 "Tucker '48s" have survived and we know where all of them are. Sometimes, they come up for sale and fetch millions. 15 years ago, Mark Lieberman located one in a barn in Ohio. Tucker #1044 had not been driven since about 1982 and it became Mark's goal to acquire the car and restore it." "This restoration very well could take a few years so Mark has decided to leave the car as it is for this summer and will spend a bit of time enjoying it before it gets laid up for all of its work. He says he'll pop in unannounced at a few car shows or even the occasional Cars & Coffee. After all, when was the last time you saw a Tucker '48 show up at one of those?"
I watched the movie, and it IS an excellent movie, @Frank Sanoica ! ! Jeff Bridges has been one of my most favorite actors since I first saw him in "Starman", and he did give an awesome performance as Tucker in the movie. Here is the trailer for the movie.
@Yvonne Smith The story went that the "Big Three" did everything possible, as well as government interference, to prevent Tucker from obtaining engines for his cars. He was approached by a shadowy source thought to be Howard Hughes, who himself had had many such difficulties throughout his industrial lifetime, and offered the chance to obtain engines destined for use in airplanes. Thus, he got air-cooled engines, as needed. Tucker's ideas were years ahead of his time. Pop-out windshield, seat belts, rear-mounted air-cooled engine, central 3rd. headlight which pivoted side-to-side illuminating curves as they were entered. Mechanically, the car was set up very similarly to one introduced in the early 1960s. It was called the Corvair. Frank
@Ken Anderson I believed it to be pretty factually correct, edited, of course, to add Hollywood appeal, but still, Preston Tucker was presented as the hero in the end. Too bad he died a broken spirited man, but no surprise. His intent was genuine; his discreditors predatory. My Dad wound up being talked into buying a new Lincoln, dealer had no Mercuries, a 1949 bought sometime in 1948. I was then 6. My Mother loved how the Lincoln rode. It had a manual 3-speed transmission with Overdrive. At least he no longer had to shake the rear of the car (as with the old Ford, busted fuel gauge), to determine whether we could make it to our destination! Frank
What I liked about Rudy Schroeder's story was that he was 21 years old and bought one raffle ticket for 35 cents, in 1949. The Tucker he won was a demonstration car with 90,000 miles on it and he only had it for 2 days, when he sold it for $35,000! He could not get it insured because there were no replacement parts available. When they drove Rudy to the airport, they took him in the Tucker, throwing his bags in the front trunk. It caused quite a stir at the airport, which was only a few miles away. I don't think the original tan color did the car justice.