History Searching for 1948 Tucker photos

He bought it a year earlier with 6,000 miles on it for $3,900.
Lund didn't actually sell the car until 1961 when Bill Harrah bought it.

I've found a lot of ads for Tuckers back in early 50s car magazines
but I'm sure there are still more to be discovered.

 

I had found an ad in the back of a 57 or 58 motor trend for one. I can't remember the details, other than I think they wanted around $5k for it.

 

Here is a photo of #1046 I took when the car was living here in Lake Havasu City, AZ with owner Walter Ready .....

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These photos were taken by me at a car show in Beverly Hills, CA in 1996. The guard, standing by to watch the car, said it was Preston Tucker's personal car and that the Peterson Museum had just purchased it for $750,000.00.

I've been asked more than once if my bullet nose Studebaker was a Tucker.​

 

Wow, even $3900 seems a high price for it. Especially when the same Motor Trend had ads for stuff like a nice '34 Packard Dietrich-bodied Twelve for $850, a '53 Porsche America for $2650 and a '32 Model B with an OHV head, twin Winfields and lots of spares for $250. I'm not surprised Lund didn't find a buyer until 7 years later. What did Harrah pay for it? And where is the car now?

Frank C.

 

The Preston Tucker's personal car at the Peterson is just one of the stories that just ain't so. The car was never owned by Preston other than if you consider he was President of the Tucker Corporation and therefore technically owned all of the Tuckers. Peterson owns the car and is entitled to say whatever they want but it is not true.

 

It was the security guard that told me it was Tucker's car. Is the story about it costing Peterson $750,000.00 also a lie?

 

I've heard $280,000 but it was a private transaction so who knows. $750,000 at that time would have been way over priced. I'm sure the guard was just repeating what he was told. The current sign says the same thing.

 

With that POS at Gooding fetching $725,000, suddenly everyone else's Tuckers are worth lots more.

FC

 

Dumb question time. what was done to 1046 to make it not original? What are the "gills" on either side of the center light in this picture?

 

Back in the 50s the owner of this car had 10 Tuckers and he wanted a car for his daughter that would be dependable. At the same time she shared his interest in the Tuckers so he took this car and modified it by putting an engine in the front and gave it a modern drivetrain. He later sold the car to a Mercury dealer who had an almost new 1964 Mercury Monterey that had rolled over. He installed the Mercury drivetrain under the car where it remained until last year when the current owner began a full restoration of the car that will return it to stock Tucker condition. The car should be completed this year.

 

Well that's kind of disappointing. To me, the only thing better than the story of their origin is the stories of their survival.

 

I don't blame the guy for wanting to restore it back to stock, but at the same time I hope he doesn't just trash the Merc drivetrain/chassis from it. That would be the perfect thing to put one of those Ida fiberglass Tucker bodies on, with the hood louvers and all, just to keep those pieces around.

 

Walter Ready told me the louvers were an attempt to help cool the engine. With the radiator in the front and small openings in the grill, it had a problem with overheating.

 

The restoration is being done at RM in Ontario. They have restored Tuckers in the past. As far as saving the Merc frame I'm sure it depended on how it was attached. Would they save what they could of a million dollar Tucker or a dime a dozen Merc frame to take it apart? Since the Merc frame was the third frame under the car I would see any significance in saving it. Most of the Tucker frame was still under the car. The Olds frame was torched out in 1964 and scrapped. I'm not sure there'd be any value other than it sat under the Tucker for 40+ years. The Ida cars use a rear engine so they'd have to modify their templete to make one work for this. I'm not sure having a 64 merc frame under an Ida car adds any value. I'm guessing if the Merc frame still exists you could buy it cheap but it was removed several months ago now.

You might be able to make a deal on the Buick frame under the Tucker in Brazil. It has not been removed yet and is the second frame under that car and has been there 50+ years.

 

Man, I keep coming back to this thread. I love the knowledge and passion in here. I am sorry to say that my exposure to Tucker is from the movie... but this thread is SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE MOVIE!!! Amazing...

 

California or Canada?

 

http://www.rmauctions.com/Restorations/ContactUs.cfm

 

"Can you tell what color the interior is in the Henry Ford car? Some photos it looks blue, others it looks more tan or beige."
Lousy pictures but it looks like tan or beige.

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It's a light tan color, from what I recall when I sat in that car 25 years ago.

FC

 

Just heard that David "Whitey" Lares has passed away. Whitey was the long time former owner of Tucker #1011. He bought #1011 from Bill Lund in 1959 and had it until he sold it to Rick Nash in June of 1987. My condolences to the Lares Family.

He operated Whitey's Auto Parts, at 13517 NE Hwy 65 in Blaine MN. for many years. His given name was David but everyone called him Whitey. Whitey's was the type of place where you could go to drool over the great collection of old classic cars he had including a Tucker. His family went on to start the Lares Corporation which makes power steering gears and pumps for classic cars.

David L. "Whitey" Lares was 88 and still lived in Ham Lake, MN. A celebration of David's life will be held Saturday, February 5, 2011 at KOZLAK-RADULOVICH BLAINE CHAPEL (107th Ave. NE & Hwy. 65) from 2-4 PM. In lieu of flowers, donations preferred to "The Special Ops Warrior Fund". <!-- w -->www.kozlakradulovich.com<!-- w --> "A Celebration of Life" 763-783-1100

 

TF48, how about posting a small pic of 1011 on the funeral home remembrance site?

FC

 

Here are the latest photos of Tucker #1035 in Brazil. After 40 years the car finally received a wash. Photos show part of what was done in an attempt to convert it to front wheel drive. Overall, it could have been a lot worse. The car looks pretty solid.

 

I'm glad the Brazilian Tucker is getting the proper attention, even it that just entails a proper cleaning and ensuring against further decomposition and vandalism.

 

Here are some photos that were taken at the Petersen Museum and posted on the Hot Rod Hot Line website. I believe this is the same car I saw at the car show in Beverly Hills in 1996 .....

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PS: This is the one that may, or may not, have belonged to Preston Tucker. After giving it some thought, It would seem more logical that if he did own one, it would have been more to the front of production instead of the 5th to last one built.

 

This car was NOT Preston Tucker's personal car. It was purchased at the Tucker Plant auction on October 20, 1950 by a Studebaker dealer from Nebraska. There is a continuous line of ownership from then until today.

The cars second owner added the embellishments that are on the car. At some point "someone" noticed the extra emblems and thought that Preston must have had them added to his personal car. At that point an "urban legend" was born.

Preston Tucker did own Tucker #1029 and Tucker #1031 which might be another reason why "someone" thought he must have owned #1030 as well. #1029 was a grey car which Preston sold to Governor Rockefeller of Arkansas in 1955. #1031 was waltz blue and was Vera Tucker's car which she sold on 1962.

 

We spoke with Rick Nash a few weeks ago about his Tucker. He's a really interesting guy.
His Tucker 1011 is still in process and there's been some crazy stuff that has happened along the way. He has an amazing collection of cars (and other stuff) including the Gordon Diamond and much of the prototypes for its second iteration. The Tucker is alternately being worked on and in storage . Many of his projects take a while, but they're always amazing on completion.

 

I'm puzzled about the reference to converting this car to "front-wheel drive." Those pics don't show any evidence of this, unless I'm missing something. How were they planning on doing a FWD set-up? Wasn't this car sitting on a Buick frame? As far as I know, Buick never made a FWD car that wasn't unibody.

Frank C.