Shamless self-promotion here folks...but an interesting article that I wanted to share. Some folks up here in chilly Wisconsin have purchased what some believe is the only topless Tucker that was ever built. Whether or not an unfinished, legitimate Tucker convertible one that was designed and at least partially assembled at the company factory actually exists has been a hot-button topic for years among Tucker fans. Think what you want, a couple of guys are getting ready to start restoring what they believe is the only topless Tucker out there. Don't click here if you don't want to see the article on Old Cars Weekly's site (However, feel free to click on the link if you do...)
My knowledge of the Tucker cars would fill a thimble but I always wondered if they rebuilt the one that was wrecked during there reliability testing. It definitely proved that seat belts and safety glass would be a big advantage in a roll over accident.
Wether it's legit or not matters not to me, That's a good looking car without the fugly roof line of the orig. Is the windshield shorter than the version with a roof?
There's a guy with a bare original frame out there.. get a repop front clip/cowl and make a woodie wagon to go with the ragtop -
the tucker club states that the car is a modified 4 door that was never completed. I hope they get it togeather. Theres alot of shady stuff goin on with those tucker guys! I would like to see the convert if and when they let the public see it. I go through madison pretty often. I will post pictures
There is a movie called Tucker it is great. I show this movie every year to my shop students they think it is great.
I would think the whole big rear-engine thing might upset the overall wagon application... I know, Corvairs and VW's made it work...just sayin...
i tink i find in a barn a tucker pickup.....i tink dat what de farmer say..i was looking at da ting and he say get away from dat tucker....
I've been a 'student' of Tucker since even before I wrote to & got replied to by Alex Tremulis, the Tucker's designer, circa 1983. Everything I have read & learned in those years supports the Tucker Club's contention- no way was this a factory or even an 'off-site' authorized project. The cobbled-together pics above certainly make that clear enough, IMO. Tucker Corp was far too busy just getting the '48' up & rolling to have either the time or manpower to diddle around with a one-off unique bodystyle.
Pix of this car have been posted before My dad had the chance to buy a Tucker back in the mid 70's. My great grandma would not loan him the $1500 the guy wanted for it. I wonder what ever happened to the car. The building it was in is still down in the D we drive past it a couple time a year. And every time we do I hear the samething thats were that Tucker was or still is?
From my thimble-full of Tucker knowledge I believe that the Tucker convertible story was started when Richard Kughn, a well-heeled car collector here in Michigan began to have a convertible made for his personal use from ether a wrecked Tucker and/or from various Tucker parts he collected over the decades. Remember the last 8-10 cars of the original 50 had no engines or transmissions so the history of those last few cars is usually quite sketchy. I seem to remember seeing an article about this very car in Hour Magazine, a local hoighty-toighty monthly just a couple of years ago. Maybe I'm dead wrong...but I think the car was long-ago started by Richard Kughn and the once the stories started being told long enough of it being a Factory Convertible, eventually they became legend and whether true or not-history. Sort-of...
Yeah, there has got to be alot of "embellishment" in that Tucker movie. I my parents thought he was a crook as well, but then again, in today's world, he would be among the normal (i.e. selling something that really doesn't exist). Though in the movie, I could never figure out how he paid his many employees or put food on the table...he didn't seem to have a business. But I don't doubt that the Big 3 conspired against him.
Want a topless Tucker? Star with one of these. http://www.robidaconcepts.com/page/page/1916736.htm<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top></TD><TD width=10></TD><TD vAlign=top width="100%">"The New Tucker 48" Vehicle Type: Rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 6-passenger, 4-door sedan Engine type: DOHC 32-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, GM engine-control system with port fuel injection Displacement 279 cu in, 4565cc Power (SAE net) 300 bhp @ 6000 rpm Torque (SAE net) 295 lb-ft @ 4400 rpm Transmission 4-speed automatic with lockup torque converter Wheelbase 130.0 in Length 220.0 in Width 80.0 in Height 58.0 in Curb weight 4080 lb Estimated performance: Zero to 60 mph 7.0 sec Zero to 100 mph 29.4 sec Standing 1/4-mile 15.8 sec @ 90 mph Projected fuel economy: EPA city driving 16 mpg EPA highway driving 25 mpg </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
How many of the original Tuckers are accounted for??? Looks to be a custom, possibly started from a wreck or as previously mentioned Tucker parts collection. In reading an article about Tucker's once, they mentioned one collector had 2 1/2 Tucker's: The 'half' was leftovers from a Tucker that had been hit by a train.
Tucker was a bit of a wheeler dealer in the 30's- helped to ruin Miller's reputation and tarnish Ford's by being a lousy middleman on the 1935 Miller-Ford Indy cars... Wonder if Henry Ford held a grudge?
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