Tucker Museum

[Rodney Bullock]

Yesterday my club and I visited the Tucker museum here in Alexandia VA. I don't think I will ever be the same after this fact finding tour. Preston Tucker and his team would have changed the course of the automotive industry if he would have been allowed to go into production with his tucker"48" The tin goose which was the first in a long line of proto types was just that a proto type, almost ever car that was produced(51) was different from the others, some had automatics, standart shift some had inovations that were not thought of in the first half of developement. One thing that stands out in my mind is when a tucker door was opened it would lift 2 1/2 inches from the ground so it would not drag the ground at a curb, Henry Ford gave tucker 100 steering wheels out of his zephers. he employed 2,000 people at his plant. There are so many things I could tell you all however my mind has not digested everything I have saw. I will share some pic's:D This is the proto type motor for the tin goose

[Rodney Bullock]

This is a piston out of the motor that they finally went with remember this is franklin heli motors turned on there side.

[Rodney Bullock]

All three cars were perfect, the restoration was phenominal. Everything was replaced, the motors and all parts were show room.

[Rodney Bullock]

We saw the brake system that he wanted to install on the Tucker 48's however thy were only installed on the tin goose. Tucker had a race car that he ran at bonniville it set a record at 244 miles an hour, you could not guess who helped ( the Ganitelli brothers) In the show room there where about 7 engines all had different inovations there was one that had a blower that was adopted from the Cord technology each motor had one feature better then the next until you got to the one that they used. The frame had a safety tube around it and it was of the step down type. If Tucker had gone in to production I think that by the 1960's he would have had a car that ran off alternative fuel, they were working on a turbine motor. Tucker started working for the president of Caddilac then worked for henry Ford and Studebaker. He was not formally trained however had a great deal of knowlege by the time he was in his 20's http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/mr1940/IMG_0610.jpg

[Rodney Bullock]

This is a steering wheel that Henry Ford sent to Tucker it has the Zepher center however Mr. Camack has the tucker center and just has not installed it. I saw first hand the crash area that tucker talked about, we also saw a sales film that talked about all of the advantges of having a Tucker. The sales film talked about when you order your tucker you received your assesories (radio, blanket,heater etc. and you were given a number that way you were not pushed farther down the line when your car came in, as a result the establisment said he was cheating the public selling parts and no cars. There was a congressman behind this attack who so 10 or 15 years later was charged with some kind of fraud himself

[55 Fargo]

Cool pic Rodney, musta been fun touring this museum

[eric wissing]

Rodney, they had a good writeup in Hemmings about this place. Nice pics thanks. Eric

[JIPJOBXX]

Just thought I would throw this in and its about the steering wheel photo. Just behind that steering wheel on the passenger side that deep area was suppose to be a safety zone for the passenger. It was purposely built so that if you had ample time and knew you were about to crash then you could dive under the dash board in that area and be protected! Can you imagine thinking about that fast enough to get into that area?? Owell Tucker had wonderful ideas and way ahead of his time and its to bad he couldn't have stayed in business! Jon:)

PS. I saw my first Tucker up in San Francisco at Suttro's Baths Ice skating rink by the Cliff house back when I was probably 12 years old.

[BobT-47P15]

Thanks for the report, Rodney. Looks like a very interesting place. It seems there has been a lot of mystery connected with Tucker all along the way.

[62rebelP23]

i have always been a Tucker fan; from way back when my Dad had all the Floyd Clymer books around. Tucker may not have been properly trained, but he had an eye for innovations, many beyond the technology available at the time. maybe if he'd kept a lower profile and not targeted the Big Three so directly, his cars might have been the success they deserved to be. truly good cars failed all the time; Studebaker, Packard, Willys, Rambler; some absorbed into larger companies, some lost forever. Studes had marvelous engines and transmissions, stout bodies and frames, and topline cars rivaled Caddies. Packard beat Chrysler with torsion bar suspension on all 4 wheels, and Willys had the economy car business Ford and Chevy lusted for. Rambler built some of the toughest cars available for the money, if you kept them dry.

Tucker had the brass and the brains to challenge the Kings in their own thronerooms.

[Rodney Bullock]

Your right, he was not formally trained and I think that's what kept him thinking out of the box. I wonder if you knew who was the best selling car after the war, Kaiser/frazier who would have thought. The tucker was a totally new car not a warmed over "42" model. There is so much I walked away with after that visit with the Gentleman I will never be the same.....I sent away for my tucker "48" should be here in Sept. I can't wait! yep! I will be in the floor playing with it!

[62rebelP23]

K/F's are easily some of the best postwar cars made. i overlooked them.. shame on me. sleek and futuristic styling, delicate detailing, robust drivetrains. not to mention the Darrin; artistic exercise in GRP. many small makes had to make do with holdover engineering and suffered badly for it; look at the huge time gap between 1945 and the first Chrysler V8's. Cadillac and Oldsmobile enjoyed a huge jump on ChryslerCo at the time. Packard spent millions developing their own excellent 327 v8, only to lose it to Studebaker when they were absorbed. oh for a time machine and a cool million dollars.....

[toddbracik]

Didnt the center headlight follow the steering wheel and have fuel injection with an engine in the back. I saw that tucker movie and I was just amazed by the way greed just shut Tucker down. I might be wrong but at the end of the movie I think its said that of the 51 cars 48 are still running? Maybe Im wrong. I saw that movie like 10 years ago.

[Rodney Bullock]

The Gentleman did talk about the head light, In the early cars the headlight worked off a cable, then in the later models it worked off control arms. One fact that Mr. Kamack stated to me was 17 states out lawed the use of the center light, in those states the light was covered. The light rotated inside of a lens. I took a very good look at it and it was very well developed. I don't know if I mentioned it but the doors would lift 2 1/2 inches from the ground so you would never have to worry about dragging doors when you had 4 passengers in the car. The original cars had a lot of weight to them if they would have gone into production they would have weighted 200 to 300 pounds less. This motor was the beginning of the engine evolution that the Tucker 48 used, this is not the final one as they continued to evolve. This is and all were 6cly motors.

[Dennis Hemingway]

Here is the Tucker Web Site.

Dennis

http://www.tuckerclub.org/index.php

[Rodney Bullock]

Hey Dennis, Thanks you so much for that link, I sent an hour on it and was able to see all the tucker 48's and the tin goose. It kind of shocked me to see that some where destroyed and buried. You got to love this hobby, it gets more exciting everyday!

[eric wissing]

Dennis nice link. Amazing the cars are still out there. There is one in South Dakota, I will have to keep my eyes on the want ads. Now why does the Smithsonian have one but it isn't displayed? Eric

[Young Ed]

The site shows the SD one as not on display but I saw it at a museum in 2000. We were on our way to the POC national. Check the link for a few other pictures of it. For some reason I don't seem to have one of the whole car though! http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v172/dodgepu1946/south%20dakota/

[Lee Exline]

Them darn tucker are everywhere!

Here is one on a used car lot.

[1just4don]

When first drivng to high school I had the old Plymouths. A neighbor kid up the road aways drove his Kaiser Frazier. I think he still has it and has restored it like new,,,havent seen it tho.

Just found out my cousins husband,,,well both of them,,, have restored a 40 Hudson and are showing it at local shows. Funny story was this car was in his welding shop(he owns the pro welding shop),,,a younger(not too young,,,he is 72 or more,,,so younger than him))) lady ask if it was for sale. He said not right now,,,but eventually it may be,,,someday. What she said sorts shocked the owner(she was a no nonsense,,, say what you want direct talking lady). She blurted out ,,,"That back seat is the best place in the world for a good piece of tail" (WELL she didnt quite say tail, she said the real thing that I wont print here) Obviously she was well versed on said subject!!

[desoto1939]

With rodneys posted there is the statement that 17 states outlawed the center light. I guess the cars from the 20's that had the pilot rays lights that moved when the steering wheel was turned must have been illegal since these lights were moveable and would turning the direction that the car was going.

Have these same states changed therir minds since some of the newer cars Lexus now have these same headlight features. I guess after 50 some years the states have now come to see the light, no pun intended. Yes Tucker was way ahead of his time and he was put out of business because the other auto makers knew that he had a far superior product and this was a big threat to them.

We can only imagine what a 2009 Tucker would look like today we can only dream.

rich Hartung

Edited August 6, 2009 by desoto1939

[Rodney Bullock]

Hey Rich, I think a 2009 Tucker would have wings and could fly:D

Now if someone would bring up doria:) that chrysler was something else.