I love hearing these stories about the tucker. The Tucker is one of my dream cars. Somewhere, way down on the list, because of its' rairity not how much I love it compared to the others. If the vert is a "fake" lets just call it a phantom car. Thats what we call cars conceved by customizers that the factory never built. I have two phantoms in my shop now that are unlike anything built by chevy or ford. Maybe the diference here is they are trying to p*** it off as a factory prototype. Regardless weather it is or is not "real" the fact remains that it is a tucker. Built with a real tucker parts. It is no less rare weather real or fake! It is a beautifull car and if well built worth whatever someone is willing to give for it. If that is 1M+ so be it! Mike
HEY, GANG!!! I posted a Q thread, and in the snap of the fingers "52Pickup" (aka Bart) came up with this rendering of Alex T's conceptual art for the TUCKER "TALISMAN" !!!!
**** some others here, I find Justin Cole's car fascinating to see -- WHATEVER it really is. I can believe it's possible there could be some genuine Tucker components in this project which, as I understand, was started on someone else's watch, right? It's conceivable someone had a wish to build something unique, based on the original. But, GIVEN that Preston Tucker promo-d the 48 as a "SAFETY CAR," I have a hard time believing that they had the time, money or inclination to mess with a convertible when they were struggling to get the intial Tuckers off the ground!
Maybe one of the reasons the Tucker is celebrated today by auto enthusiasts is: Even though Preston and Alex failed to bring it to M*** production, IT IS OBVIOUS THAT OTHER AUTOMAKERS WERE WATCHING THIS CAR CLOSELY !!! Turn the 48 Torpedo ANY way you please, and I contend you can SEE style touches that appeared on other, later cars from Detroit & South Bend! Checked out a '50 Studebaker Starlight Coupe lately? The Pontiacs of the late '60s and early '70s may have gotten osme inspiration from the 48 and/or the Talisman. The grille & rear end (seems to me!) popped up on OTHER cars later, too.
I wish my uncle Ed was still alive. He was best of friends with Preston's son back in the day. My uncle hung out and even slept over at Prestons house. Uncle Ed was telling me some stories about the Tuckers, that he was a head of his time.
Ridin' dirty, GREAT story!!! Can you fill us IN a litle more? E.g., it's known Tucker loved his wife & kids. Would LOVE to hear more about daily life in the Tucker household!!!
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