History Searching for 1948 Tucker photos

Yes, it's a joke. I just spent a few great hours over at the Tucker site, catching up on a little history on these cars. Tuckerfan48 is a prolific poster and seems to be one of the top few most knowledgable guys there.

Here is 1042 info
http://www.tuckerclub.org/html/display_car.php?car_number=1042&

 

I heard 1046 is being coverted back to original.

The guys at RM Restorations are doing a beautiful job on bringing back #1046. One of the interesting discoveries they made was that much of the original frame was still under the car. When the car was modified to front engine the former owners had just cut out the cross members where ever it was needed and set the car on a new frame. RM is familiar with the Tucker and was able to figure out what was missing. They have a stock Tucker motor to put in the car. When it's finished the car should look exactly like it did before. I believe they are returning it to its original Maroon color. It should be a beautiful car.

Here is a recent picture of the car on the ground with its stock suspension restored. (picture courtesy of RM)

 

Back in the 80s I used to visit with an old Studebaker dealership owner in southeast Nebraska (somewhere around Nebraska City). he had attended the sale and had owned one of the cars and a bunch of parts that he had purchased from the auction. I purchased a bunch of old Packard parts from him and I remember he still had a 37 Studebaker Coupe express. If I can pry more information from my noggin I will let you know..

I am glad the photo I had (above) of the one on the used car lot lead to solving a very old mystery, do you know what serial number that one is yet?

 

The car in Nebraska was Tucker #1030. It was owned by Ray Wiysel of Union NE. I believe his Studebaker dealership was in nearby Plattsmouth NE. This is the same car that is at the Petersen Museum. Photos from that period show that car did not have the embellishments it has today. The car was Ray Wiysel's personal car.

The above pictured car was at Bob Held's Berkeley Auto Mart at 2525 Shattuck Ave in Berkeley CA. The car had 109,000 miles on it at the time although there are several documents from the period that suggest it was 209,000 miles. The car received a new paint job and interior shortly after this photo was taken. It went through a couple more owners in the next two years before going into storage for a very long time. It was sold about two months ago for around $350,000. What is really amazing is that it is still setting on the same set of tires.

 

My grandpa told me a long time ago the he got to drive a Tucker. Supposedly a lady he knew won a tucker in a raffle or something and had no clue how to drive it. She asked my grandpa to drive it home for her. Unfortunatly, grandpa died a few years ago so i cant ask him about it again.

 

Car number 1030 was in Union Nebraska which is 45 miles east of Lincoln Nebraska where car #1024 resides in the Speedy Bill Museum. When did Ray sell his and when and where did Speedy Bill buy his. Just wondering.

 

Not sure if this link was already posted....

 

There is a Tucker in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. I wonder which one it is?

 

I don't know what # it is but it is a black one. Saw it this past summer. The henry is a tough place to take good pictures in, it has really funky lighting.

First Tucker I have seen in person. They are a huge car, a lot bigger than I thought they were.

 

found this on the www a long time ago... sorry, can't remember where

 

Alot of years ago, I went to my auto parts supply on park st and michigan ave in ypsilanti,MI to get some parts. The house next door to the auto parts place had 2 tuckers sitting out in front with a boat load of people standing around. I asked the guys what was going on. They replyed that a movie was being made about Tucker and the house on park st was the Tuckers original house. At the time, I never heard of Tucker.....wish I hung out for a while.
There are some magnificent mansions in ypsilanti area and I was very suprized to see that Tuckers house was modest, not at all like the mansions down the street. Tha house is restored, no one lives there tho. I see it daily.
Also there is a restored hudson dearlership in ypsilanti that has a area dedecated to Tucker with alot of newspaper clippings, personal items and a fiberglass repicaca among other items. Here is a link: <CITE>www.michigan.org/Property/Detail.aspx?p=G17483</CITE> - Cached
Johnny Rotten

 

I remember a Tucker for sale in Hemming's Motor News in the mid-late '70's.

Having weird taste in vehicles, I wanted that Tucker bad.

I did have some money saved up for a car, unfortunately, the Tucker was advertised for $8000. Triple what I'd saved up.

 

You are more than welcome to check out my Tucker photo album.

http://public.fotki.com/JCole/tucker-48-torpedo/

Judging by what I see you already have, I doubt I have anything new for you. But, you never know. Besides, it costs nothing to look (or save my pics for yourself)

 

Says access denied.

 

<HR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e5e5e5; COLOR: #e5e5e5" SIZE=1>" My grandpa told me a long time ago the he got to drive a Tucker. Supposedly a lady he knew won a tucker in a raffle or something and had no clue how to drive it. She asked my grandpa to drive it home for her. Unfortunatly, grandpa died a few years ago so i cant ask him about it again."

I would love to hear more about this. Maybe you can tell us where your Grandpa lived and if you have any idea of the timeframe of this story?

The Tucker at the Henry Ford Museum is #1016. It was donated to the Museum by the Detroit News who had bought the car to defend themselves in a lawsuit filed against them by Preston Tucker. Tucker alleged that the News had printed several stories that were derogatory about the car, had no basis, and thus helped to drive him out of business. He felt the Detroit News was pro-big three automaker. The News figured they'd buy one of the cars, tear it apart, and prove it was no good. The problem was when they had their experts do that they discovered it was a really well made car and was not built from junk cars as they had printed. Unfortunately for Preston Tucker he passed away before the case went to trial and it was dismissed.

You are correct about the Henry Ford Museum being a hard place to take pictures. The Tucker is so crowded that you can't get a good picture. I've seen 50 or 60 shots and they all look exactly alike because there is no way to get a clean shot of it. Maybe they'll bring it out someday to vacuum the carpet and we can get a better look at it.

The Tucker in Lincoln NE is #1024. It was at the Gast Museum prior the it being purchased in October of 1997 by its present owner. Tom Monahan owned this car and had it in Ann Arbor MI for many years.

Ray Wiysel sold Tucker #1030 in 1955

 

I don't see why... the album is not locked or password protected. If anyone else has probs opening it, e-mail me

[email protected]

Again, the link: http://public.fotki.com/JCole/tucker-48-torpedo/

 

access denied

 

years ago my dad told me of a tucker in parades in Gary Indiana he thought was owned by the owner of Dixie diary. apparently it was diary rich, he was close! where is it now? also there is one in laporte indiana owned i believe by Dr Kessling.

 

Tucker #1033 was purchased by the owner of the Loudon NH Speedway in Paris Hill Maine. He opens his collection each year during the local Founders Day celebration.

It would be great to see photos of the car during its time in Gary IN. I understand it had some logos for Dairy Rich Ice Cream which was owned by the person the had the car.

 

It appears that you need to be a Fotki member to get into it... you need to set your prefs (not sure which) so that they are available for everybody.... It now will say Fotki members only

 

Yep... right you are. I wasn't aware of that. Fixed it. Link in my earlier threads should work now.

 

a guy across the street from me has a radio out of a tucker. is any of the cars missing one or is it a surplus item?

 

Tucker Fan 48, Would you know if the Tucker on display at the Coppola Winery is real or is it a movie prop (recreation)
The winery said that it is an original Tucker.

 

There were around 40,000 radios made. They were part of the Tucker accessory program. After WWII it was hard to buy a new car. Waiting lists were full of payoffs and backroom deals. Tucker came up with a plan so that Tucker buyers were guaranteed a car (if they had only been built). If you bought an accessory, (radio, seat covers, luggage, heater), you were given a sequence number for your dealer. If your number was #1010, the you would have received the 10th car that dealer received. It prevented dealers from giving cars to their friends or taking payoffs which was common in that period. It also gave Tucker an additional revenue stream and kept buyers locked up until they could get the production line rolling. Unfortunately, Tucker ran out of money after a series of government investigations and bad press lead to the collapse of the company.

Still Tucker radios have grown in popularity and go for a chunk of change.

 

Here's a list of all the cars and some photos of each, along with the location of each.

For you guys who want to figure out which one you may have seen, follow this link to the Tucker Club list

 

It sure is real. Tucker #1037 was used in the movie as well. It is the car that was unveiled to the public and was christened with champagne.

 

I believe there is one in the Desoto museum in Clinton Mo, the owner only opens the museum 1 or 2 days a year, next time is rumored to be around the 4th of July next summer.

 

I was first confused after reading this. I had always known a tucker in Elk Point, SD as having been Vera's. So I went over to the Tucker web site and found this update on 1031:
http://www.tuckerclub.org/bbs3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1927

I was saddened to learn of Jay Busker's passing. My farmer father drug me all over looking at tractors and the Busker's owned an implement dealership (John Deere maybe?). Long ago looking at tractors we stumbled upon 1031 being worked on, if I remember right, in the back of Busker's implement dealership, or one of the out buildings. I think they were working on the transmission's shifting solenoids. My dad was a Tucker nut, and we got the whole story on 1031 first hand from Jay. I got to sit in 1031, and crawl all over it to get a good look at how it was engineered and constructed. Pretty cool for a farm kid!

Time flies by. Both Jay and my dad have passed. 1031 has a new home.

 

No Tuckers in Clinton as far as I know. They might have had someone elses on display for a special event. Right now Missouri is Tuckerless.

 

Last year at Hershey there was a Tucker Convertible for sale. Supposidly it was a prototype that never got finished. It was bought by the people that had it for sale, and completed. I heard it had a thicker reinforced frame, and a few other interesting things. Somewhere I have some pics of it if I look. It was supposed to be the real deal.