History Searching for 1948 Tucker photos

I can confirm this. I have many very fond memories of this very car. Ray Burton was my grandfather. He frequently drove the Tucker to the Rockville show and I usually got to ride along. He also drove his car in the 1988 Tucker movie. I remember all the local TV news stations coming out to interview him with the car when the movie came out. This car was on display at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC for the Washington premiere of the film.

You're correct that this picture must have been taken prior to 1990, since he passed away in 1990. In the early '90s, #1004 was briefly on loan to the small museum at NASCAR driver Richard Petty's home in North Carolina before being sold. I understand it's now on display at the Toyota Automobile Museum in Japan.

I have a snapshot of me and Richard Petty standing in front of the Tucker at his museum (I was about 12 years old). I'll see if I can dig it up.

 

I'm sure you saw this Tucker Corp paycheck stub on eBay. Seems to me I met Dan Leabu at the mid-80s Tucker Club convention in Ann Arbor. Is that possible?

Frank C.

 

Yes, I believe Dan was there. After he passed away much of his Tucker Collection went to the Tucker Club.

 

Found copies of the photos of Tucker # 001 that a friend's father owned until the 70's. Also an extra drivetrain he had at the time??

 

Still trying to get accurate information on the Tucker that was wrecked and repaired in Billings, Montana. The dealership building is now vacant, but a 1948 Billings phone book yielded this information. The business was called Montana Tucker Sales Inc., and was located at 6 North 29th street. The phone # was 9-1629. The dealership was owned by George Pierce of Pierce Motors.

 

These photos should shut the people up that keep insisting the car wasn't green. It was Maroon when it left the factory but by 1950 it was green and remained that way until it was sold in 1972.

 

I'm showing a Robert F. Dashow as the owner. He is in all the press clippings from 1948. Leo Walsh was VP and Ruth Gilbert, Assistant secretary-treasurer. Dashow was part of a 10 person Board that advised Tucker on National Distribution.

Dashow moved to Billings from Rochester MN to open the dealership on March 20 1948. Reverse directories don't show him there afterward so he may have left town quickly when the dealership closed.

Where was the car damaged again? I can check with the person that restored the car that was in Billings to see if they found any damage in that area.

TF48

 

By any chance were you at that convention, too?

Frank C.

 

Okay, so a friend who does know cars said there used to a Tucker in Chicago/Park Ridge/Edison Park area, in the late 80's. It was blue and had a stuff all around it, maybe on top of it too. The older lady also had a 70's Cadillac. Does this ring a bell with anyone? My friend is very knowledgeable so I posted this year.

 

Can you narrow down the location a bit more? Like near the corner of x & y. I have the addresses of every known Tucker owner in history plugged into Google Earth. Maybe I can match something up.

 

I will ask today.

 

Here's a fun little time waster for Tucker fans. A list of Tucker's patents has some real surprises, and some clues to what stuff was in store had the enterprise survived.

Google Patents

Frank C.

 

Cool, Gene Clarke and I assume his lovely wife, were out enjoying Tucker #1021 yesterday. Didn't sound like he was babying it to much as he was leaving the stop lite where I saw him. Good to see cars driven and not trailered.

 

Add a third-eye headlight and this could pass as the spiritual descendent of the 1948 Tucker Torpedo. What's more, it's not hard to imagine this idea originating in Preston T. Tucker's fertile imagination. Check it out HERE.

Frank C.

 

Jimmy Caruthers at the Indianapolis Speedway.

Note: I copied this photo from Trackforum.com

 

A friend of mine just did an interview with the original owner of number 1008.

 

A friend of mine who's a mechanic swears he saw one in a garage in Park Ridge in Chicago in the early 90's....

 

I know someone who has a motor out of a Tucker,we found it in a garage we were cleaning out in Milwaukee WI.

 

Kind of a neat story with Tucker pics,dunno if it's been hotlinked here or not(too lazy to search) I like the part where he said "he couldn't get insurance on it."
Enjoy....

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/...-winner-reunited-with-his-car-after-63-years/

 

This one showed up at the Hunnert Car Pile-up this year. Couldn't believe my eyes.

 

Wow,90,000 miles and a repaint on a one year old car?

 

90,000 miles in about 52 weeks....1750 miles per week?
Divided by 7 days= 250 miles per day?

 

what a great thread, thks TF48, FC!!

 

Sounds like it was actually DROVE his as it was intended. The original owner was a travelling salesman, perhaps?

I have a feeling that it had 9,000 miles on it, rather than 90K.

 

It was the display model, shown around the country to prospective dealers and buyers. From the story;
"As it turns out, the Tucker was the first one sold to a private party: A Tucker distributor in St. Louis used it as a demonstrator to sell both dealerships and cars"

Makes sense that it would be shown far and wide. Sure proves the design. You can bet that there weren't a whole lot of parts or mechanics to rely on for that first year.
They were busy trying to build other cars.

 

I saw in 1959 [could of been there earler as well] to about 62 there was a Tucker in side the window of a used car lot on nw36st and about 3000 block,place had big glass windows that slanted out at the top in Miami Fla.

 

It actually was 90,000 miles. I have documentation on the mileage of many of the cars. These cars were prototypes and were how the company did testing on the design. Also remember this car was more like 18 months old and the VFW put a lot of miles on the car driving from town to town.

 

The Tucker you saw was #1003 owned at that time by Art Watson at 585 NW 36th Street. in Miami.

Tucker #1003 is seen on the right racing Tucker #1031 during the Tucker Convention this summer