History Searching for 1948 Tucker photos

Great thread! subscribed. Love to see all these new to me pics.

BBC

 

The photo first appeared in the late 50s. Has been in a few magazines over the years. This is the best quality I've ever seen of it. Too bad they cropped it so much and there wasn't a little more about Tuckers.

 

You undoubtedly own the Tom McCahill Tucker road test from 1948, right? To me, that's still the definitive story on the car. His declaration that "the Tucker will make every other American car look like Harrigan's Hack with the wheels off" must have sent shivers thru Big 3 board rooms in Detroit.

Not to mention the part about how quickly the car got up to 120 mph while remaining steady on the road. Couldn't do that with your postwar Buick or DeSoto.

Frank C.

 

Joe Nagel wasn't an official Tucker dealer, was he?

Frank C.

 

Joe must have passed on a Tucker dealership and waited a couple years before signed on to be the areas new Edsel Dealer.

 

The guy was a genius, I tell ya', a freakin' genius! What was next? Studebaker? Bricklin? Fiat?

No replies yet on my craig's ad looking for info on the Rochester Fairgrounds Tucker race. Maybe nobody had their camera that day.

Frank C.

 

Have really enjoyed this thread as I have been a Tucker admirer for many years. There used to be a Tucker here in Quincy, IL in the local car club museum but it was removed some years ago. I did see it several times during the period it was displayed here. It was, as I recall, white (maybe silver) in color.

Also, there is a family here whose elder(s) where supposed to be getting a Tucker dealership and even named a newborn son Tucker at the time. I am acquaited with the family having served with the eldest surviving member on the City Council some years ago and his son, Tucker, also held office here for time.

If my memory serves me, they have some of the accessories that potential dealers bought at the time. If you (Tucker Fan 48) wish to pursue any of this with the family, PM me and I will see if they are willing to be contacted about it.

I am amazed by the amount of info that has been collected regarding the Tucker history and that of the cars themselves. Congratulations on your obviously extensive contribution to this effort.

Regards,

Ray

 

Thanks Ray,

I'd love to hear more about the family and where their dealership was supposed to be located as it may be one that we don't have on record. Also many of these dealers have photos of cars at their dealerships that would be great to see.

I think a lot of those pictures were buried away because it ended up to be a bad memory for many of the dealers when the court went after dealers for the remaining balances for the dealerships even though their was never going to be a car. I'm sure "Grandpa" wasn't too thrilled everytime "Grandma" brought out the Tucker pictures and said this is the car your Grandpa lost thousands of dollars on. Hopefully we can dig those out of where they are hidden away.

 

I got a reply from the Henry Ford in regard to the odometer reading. I must tell you this really pisses me off!

[FONT=&quot]Hello Mr. Calandra,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Thank you for your inquiry to the collections of The Henry Ford.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The records for our Tucker do not have the odometer miles listed and being as such to fulfill your request we would have to look inside the vehicle. This would fall into our Special Access Program which is fee based. We would be happy to complete your request, however, we do charge fees for such services: personal requests are $35/HOUR, commercial requests are $45/HOUR, rush fees are $65/HOUR. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We accept payment via check or credit card. If you are paying by check, please make it out to "The Henry Ford" and mail it to us directly: Benson Ford Research Center, 20900 Oakwood Blvd., Dearborn, MI 48124. If paying by credit card, you can fax the information to us at 313-982-6244. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Thank you once again and please let us know if you'd like us to move forward with your inquiry.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Benson[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Ford Research Center[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The Henry Ford[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Reading Room Hours:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]9:30am - 5:00pm Tuesday - Friday[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Closed Mondays, Weekends, and Holidays[/FONT]

 

Wow. What a bunch of shit.

 

Damn. That takes some balls to reply with crap like that. "Sure, we'll go look for you, but it'll cost $35.00 for you to have us perform this "special service", which probably takes us about ten seconds to perform"...sounds like a hooker, who knows?

You should send them a brief and terse reply: "Are you fucking kidding me???"

 

This is BS. I understand a museum has bills to pay, but first and foremost their mission should be educational. Unless a request is expected to be inordinately time-consuming, this kind of "service" should be part of what they do. We'd all be millionaires if we charged for the time we spend on research & preservation!

 

This isn't photos of a Tucker car, but it will bring this thread back to Hot Rods.

Tucker Jr's hot rod >>>>> http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=527071#post527071

 

Just throwing out an idea here.....

Maybe the next time someone is in the Henry, track down a nearby employee & give him/her a $20 to check the odometer for you or to let you check it yourself. Maybe even get a pic of it. Probably a lot easier than waiting for a research center person to do it. Cheaper too. The employees that I talked to when I was there were only too happy to provide any information that they could on any subject they were asked about. Most of them are history buffs happy to share their knowledge.

I have not been near enough to a Tucker to know - can the odometer be easily seen/read from outside the drivers door?

Where the car is now it would be impossible to open the drivers door without moving the car (and several others) The passenger side door may open, I do not have a picture with the right angle to tell if it will open or not around the barriers without moving the car. When I was in the museum I was just happy to be seeing a Tucker in person, I was not figuring out how to get into it. Although I will admit to having set my hand on top of the front fender to be able to have a physical connection with the history that car represents. Shhhh. Don't tell them, I might get into trouble.

 

The museum probably gets tons of requests for pictures and info on this or that item from people doing research and charging a fee is their way of weeding out the bullshitters. Sucks but it's understandable.

 

If only I had taken the time to jot down the odo reading back when they let me sit in it.

I'm not giving up on this. I'm going to the Detroit Autorama in Feb., so maybe I can swing in a side trip to the Hank.

Frank C.

 

So I have this vision. For $35.00 they'll walk over and check it. For $65.00 they'll run to the car and back so for that extra $30.00 you'll get the answer 5 minutes sooner!!!

I haven't been there for about ten years but isn't it still in the lobby as you walk in? It was like the first or second car you saw right after you paid the person collecting the money who was maybe 50 feet from the car.

They must get up there to dust the cars every so often. You could see it through the drivers window. Not so sure you could read it from the passengers side.

FC I suggest you take a long telescoping pole with a camera. If they ask what you are doing say "I'm saving 35 bucks".

 

That's what i'm thinking. It's a bit of a bullshit fee, but it makes sense.

 

Have you considered contacting NASCAR? possibly their archives have photos? (though you might get the museum hourly rate for research quote from them)
Another possibility may be area racing newspapers or programs that may have photographed the car.
It may be a godsend that the car didn't actually run the race. It could have easily been banged up, rolled then totaled and we'd all be down one precious Tucker.

I'm really enjoying the read here. Makes me want to take another visit to the San Diego Auto Museum to see the Tucker on display there (if its still there).

 

We haven't found anything with NASCAR. They were pretty new back then. Not many Joe Merola #12 hats and t-shirts floating around. Can't seem to find much news coverage either as the million dollar marketing deals had not yet rolled in and newspapers didn't much care about something called NASCAR.

Tuckers did alright at the track. Here's some video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG8vU1fs7_s

Tucker #1019 is still in San Diego.

 

As someone else pointed out, they've changed the display since the last time I was at the Hank in 1984. I have no problem with the museum wanting to be compensated for research work, which all museums must do in order to remain open. But, please, for sticking their head inside the car for 5 seconds and reading the numbers off the odo? I've done lots of volunteer work at a local world-class museum, and they dole out small tidbits of info to people who phone, write or e-mail, and without charge. Sure, for a major study involving hours of research, they need to be paid, and who can begrudge them?

I'm trying another angle, and if I can connect with someone who can ferret out the reading, we'll have it. Other than that, all I can offer is to suggest to Tucker Fan 48 to pay the money, but insist on a good digital photo of the dash (and the car's serial number plate) to verify the reading. If they're going to charge for an hour, may as well keep them busy for longer than the 60 seconds it would take to check the mileage.

Frank C.

 

This is one of the most interesting reads about "modern" (that's 1970's) Tucker speed/endurance tests I've come across: http://walterzoomiesworld.blogspot.com/2008/09/preston-t-tucker.html

Lots of great photos in that article. And, this line from the piece is classic: "Mario Andretti and Al Unser were household names in 1948…in their houses…and they were a long way from winning the 500-Mile Race."

 

Here is another link to a youtube video of an interview with David Cammack, a collector that has 3 Tuckers. Pretty interesting stuff. Not sure when the video was shot but he must have the most comprehensive collection of Tucker "stuff" anywhere.

clear nicely produced video, not fuzzy like most of the youtube stuff.

Check it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeCgFeadUY4&NR=1

 

Taht was a great video Toner283 thanks for posting it

 

I love this thread! I didn't know if anyone has seen this, so I thought I would post it. It's not about the original Tuckers, but I thought it would be of some interest.

 

Ah, what might have been! I think Tucker's health was in decline when this article was printed. I have an old Motor Trend somewhere with a similar story.

That VW-like motor was probably based on a Franklin airplane engine, much as the 48's was. A shame this didn't get off the dwg boards. We had to wait until late 1990s and the Prowler to get anything close to this concept on the roads, and Tucker's design was much better.

Frank C.

 

I will be at The Henry Ford Museum tomorrow.
I will try to get the mileage.Even better if I can get a pic of it.

 

If they have docents walking about, one of them may check it for you, as they can get close enough to read it while you jot it down.

Frank C.

 

Wow. SOMEBODY on here is gonna build that.... You heard it here first.

 

Rob Ida has started on one.


"I will be at The Henry Ford Museum tomorrow.
I will try to get the mileage.Even better if I can get a pic of it".

Someone play dumb and just slip into the display on your way out for a quick pop shot of the odometer-the suspense is killing us, LOL!