History Searching for 1948 Tucker photos

That article originally ran in the Chicago Tribune and is one of the more accurate reports about the sale and history of Tucker #1010. Congrats to the writer for doing his homework and not simply reprinting press releases from an auction company.

 

So, any word yet on the car from Brazil and those 'vents' at the rear pillar?

 

Not a Tucker car but it looks like the Barney Jr. Motor Car Corp. may have been a Tucker dealer .....

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Nothing concrete. Speculation that they might have been added to cool the rear engine. They said Brazil was extremely hot in the late 40s and early 50s and it's possible the car was overheating. No one can see that they were needed for the front engine setup. They never showed up on the pictures that were taken in the dark before.

 

Nice catch. I'll check with the Tucker Club and see if they have it.

 

The post about Nick Jenin was interesting. 1962, as a sixteen year old car nut to be, my buddy and I went to the new car show at McCormick Place (then a new structure) in Chicago.

Nick was there with his fleet of Tucker stuff. He was in a separated room and the admission to the Tucker exhibit was .50 (actually a hefty price for a sixteen year old). We both paid and went in. Best .50 I probably ever spent. A few of the cars were open and we took turns sitting in them. What a treat for a couple of pimple faced kids.

I knew Nick's brother Pete, later on in life (Raceway Park) and recall the efforts to sell the Tucker Exhibit. Thanks for a great thread. Stu

 

My Brother ws a printer at a place that did the "Tucker Times" newsletter for a Tucker club here in Seattle. I've got a few. I'll see if I can rustle them up.

 

If anyone has photos of Jenin's cars at the McCormick or anywhere else please post them up. Jenin had so many cars and painted them several times so no one is really sure exactly which cars he owned. The interesting thing about Tuckers is that no two cars are exactly alike so photos are very helpful in solving mysteries.

 

If you don't mind my asking, TF48, what are you doing with all this data? Are you, (as I hope) working on a book? That would be awesome! There hasn't been a really good book on Tucker since 1960, IMO.

FrankC

 

Actually I just plan to give each owner the history on their car and send the complete history of all the cars to the Tucker Club so that they'll have it for future generations.

Also the next time someone says they found a rare secret Tucker I'll be able to say, No, what you've got is the firewall off of body XX, the fenders from #XX, the hood from XX, some modified door skins using the doors from #XX, the rear fenders are reproductions that John Xxxxx had made and your motor is the old motor out of #XX. It'll save a lot of discussion and a total waste of energy.

 

That being the case are you aware of companies such as Lulu and Blurb?
They are "print on demand" outfits that would allow you to produce really nice, low volume (as few as 1 copy) bound presentations of the material you have collected.
Might be a bit pricey for the whole set but it would be a pretty cool set.

 

Think about it, TF48. I, for one, would shell out for a copy. (Especially if you autographed it) We're serious! Give it some thought!

Frank C.

 

Quote:
"He was born in Baltimore, MD on Sep 2, 1905 and died Feb 13, 1978. Nikola Janjanin became Nick Jenin and began a career as a race car driver. In 1946, Nick Jenin along with his brother Pete, took over ownership of Chicago’s Raceway Park, a ¼ mile stock car track, located on 130th St. and Ashland Ave. in Chicago."

Raceway Park then was reputed to be owned by a Chicago Syndicate boss named Tuffanelli, with the Jenin's as "Front Men".
Tuffanelli himself owned midgets and big cars that he raced in AAA events. They were the famous "Tuffy's Offy's".

Bob Pronger was a notorious stock car driver at Raceway Park later in the 50's and 60's and was hooked up with Tuffanelli as a "connected" guy who ran chop shops on the South Side. He met his demise when he refused to pay his "street tax" to the Mob guys who had more power than even "Tuffy"

 

not sure if this has been posted, have not read the entire post
but I found this to be interesting....
big bucks for a tucker
http://www.hubgarage.com/mygarage/proto72/blogs/28639

 

I saw that, Fred, and the author is pretty insistent on this "Bonneville" record holder...funny that there is NO record of a Tucker ever at either El Mirage or Bonneville, according to what has been posted here by the original poster, Tucker Fan 48.

 

roger that, remember when the Tucker movie came out yrs ago, wife and
I went to Athens TX while we were at out country place in Canton, told my wife it would be a big hit..... we were the only two in the movie..lol
I enjoyed it though..

 

Another case of someone writing from a press release written by someone that has a financial interest in the car selling for a lot of money.

None of the statements made in this article line up with the real facts about the car. Alex Tremulis DID do a study using all the information he had about the wind drag and torque of the car that showed it COULD have been possible to do the 131 MPH that was reported to have taken place with #1010. He did not say that it happened.

There are several auto magazines from that period that were very active at Bonneville. This was the beginning for Road and Track, Hot Rod, and others. They were all trying to beat each other. Certainly one of them would have mentioned a Tucker showing up. News like that would have been huge yet no one can find any mention of a Tucker in one of these early magazines.

I should make it clear, there is nothing more that I would like to do then to prove this story is true. As a follower of the Tucker this would be a great story. I obviously do a fair share of research on Tuckers and have dug up a lot of information that was hidden away. Most of it well over 50 years old. I don't look at information trying to prove it's not true but rather to find documentation that it is. I spent hundreds of hours searching for "convertible" information because I was going to come up with solid documentation and prove there was a Tucker Convertible. Instead I found Life Magazine photos, auction records, letters from people that owned it, and people that saw it. All of them clearly showing it had a roof on it long after the "story" said the roof was gone. It's hard to argue with Life Magazine photos.

When it came to verify the information on Bonneville I found nothing. Neither the SCRA or the AAA Contest Board records show anything. Searches in reverse directores, telephone books, ancestory.com for a Robert Kelly in Colton, CA. and cities around it from 1949 to 1955 come up empty.

I was able to trace back the first mention of the event to a December 1950 letter from the owner of another Tucker that was trying to sell his. He mentioned that he "heard" #1010 had done 131 MPH on the salt flats. The letter was sent to a friend of Bill Hamlin so I see where Hamlin would have found out about it and passed it on years later to Tucker Club members. No one has ever taken the rear end apart to see these special gears and the car was examined by a Tucker expert prior to the recent sale and the rear end looks like every other Tucker rear end. It could very well have some special gears but without taking it apart there is no way to know so how did they know this in 1950?

There is a possibility that Al Slonaker owned a Tucker. A search of Tucker Club records turned up Slonaker's business card from from the early 50s with a note on the back "owns a car". No idea who made the note on the card but it was in records turned over to the Club by a collector that had passed away. Joe Bailon said that he painted a Tucker for Al Slonaker around 1950. (this was five years before he invented candy apple paint). I'm sure this happened but there is no way to tell what Tucker was painted or if Slonaker owned it. It at least seems likely Slonaker owned a Tucker. There are several documents that clearly show the Tucker at the 1953 Oakland Grand National Show was NOT owned by Slonaker. Not knowing which car he did own there is no way to know if he sold his Tucker to the person that showed their car in 1953. There is also no evidence in any pictures of a "special" paint job as the writer claims. He also talks about special "Bailon" hubcaps. The hubcaps on #1010 look like plain old hubcaps that could have come from any old car. I don't think there is anything that proves without a doubt that the 1953 Oakland Grand National car or the 1954 photo of a Tucker at the Berkeley car lot are #1010.

I'd love to prove any this happened but there is just no evidence. If I find any I'll be the first to post it and say it's true. Until then, I don't think so.

 

It's interesting to read what others say about the alleged Bonneville "record run" if nothing else! I tell ya, I've learned more about the Tucker from just this thread, than I have from nearly any other source, and that includes the movie! TF48, I hope you realize that what you and others have posted here is greatly appreciated, and is a valuable source of info of one of the more storied events and men in 20th Century US automaking.

 

roger that and I am tuckered out from reading...lol... sorry, just an ole Tx term.. I love the old tuckers....

 

All -
When the "Bonneville Tucker" was first mentioned in this tread, I was more than curious as I love all things historical about the salt flats. So I did a thorough search, with several diffent search terms, through the Digital Utah Newspaper collection that resides at the Marriott Library at the University of Utah. I specifically searched 1950, but also went two years forward as well loocing for hits. I can honestly say that nothing about a run by a Tucker at Bonneville turned up. I challenge others to search as well as missing something is always possible. But Utah newspapers from 1950 are silent on this.
Bob.

 

Rapid Robert, I want to preface this question with the statement that I believe TF48 and you, that there is no evidence a Tucker ran at Bonneville. It would have shown somewhere by now.

The question is this: How much editorial content did the newspapers of the day give to the Bonneville meets? I ask because some local papers will only cover auto racing if there is blood, others do a great job of documenting the present to use as a historic guide in later years.

 

Here are a couple pictures I got in the mail yesterday from a friend of mine who once owned Tucker #55.

He says he also had the frame but these are the only pictures he has of the car. The frame was leaning up against the garage when he took these pictures.

He wrote the following;

Tucker #55 was sitting outside and a tree fell on it. I bought it from Stan Gilliland of Wellington Kansas about 1977 and owned it till 1979. I got some of the parts from Stan's place and the door jam from a field near Kansas City.

I sold it because it was beyond my restoration capability at the time. After running a restoration shop for 20 years, I could now do something with it. of course, I wish I had kept it. Oh well, we all have regrets.

 

#55 would have been great to turn into a factory style convertible...

 

RodstRace -
Racing on the salt flats received much coverage from newspapers in Utah in times past. Today, there often is hardly a mention of it in the local sports pages. But in the late 30's and post-war, Utahns were proud of the spotlight on something so unique. In 1950 there were at least 2 racing dates. Aug 22-27 the SCTA sanctioned runs which the papers made much of because of all the "Hot Rodders" present. On Labor Day weekend there were AAA sanctioned trials with notables such as Roland Free riding his "Belly Buster" Vincent, Jimmy Jackson with a Cummins diesel car that had raced at Indy. Utah's favorite son Ab Jenkins dusted off his famous Mormon Meteror III at that time as well. All were specifically noted in the local press. My thought is that if a car as unique and unusual as a rear-engined Tucker also made timed speed runs, it would have made the local coverage as well. I am still hunting.
Bob.

 

I'm not so sure about the newspapers but the car magazines of the day were all there. Road and Track, Motor Trend, Hot Rod, Hop Up and Motor Life they were all there. Many even had campers and stayed there the entire time. The Bonneville runs were a big deal and all these Magazines were trying to "scoop" each other so if there was a Tucker there surely one of them would have mentioned it.

There are several guys on here that have huge collections of these magazines and they've not found anything about a Tucker at Bonneville.
I've found lots of information and photos in those magazines about other cars and even some Tuckers that were "for sale".

 

I'm not a Tucker expert but I thought they only made 51 of them. Did they skip some serial numbers?

Not a photo but here is a link to a short YouTube video of Tucker #5 .....

Vintage Vehicle Show Clip​

 

There were 50 cars completed plus the Tin Goose however there were 8 unfinished bodies hanging on the production line when the plant closed. They were sold at the Plant Auction in October 1950.

One was built into a complete car. Another is presently being built into a car. One was used to create the car without a roof and one is posted here. The others were used for parts after rusting away to almost nothing.

 

Nice article in Old Cars Weekly on Tucker #1019

http://www.oldcarsweekly.com/article/A-daughters-life-with-Dads-Tucker/?print=1

 

There is a You Tube video of Tucker #1035 in Brazil. The Tucker is at 12:30 and
20:20 in the video but it is worth watching the entire video especially if you
understand Portuguese.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioY3nxn0hPQ

 

here is another link that was posted on another site, not sure if you have seen or not..
http://www.oldcarsweekly.com/article/A-daughters-life-with-Dads-Tucker?et_mid=138803&rid=3377258