History National Roadster Show 1957

I'm hoping maybe someone here can help me solve some ownership questions regarding Al Slonaker and a 1948 Tucker. I have undocumented information that Al Slonaker owned a Tucker in the early 50s. This Tucker was supposed to have been painted by Joe "Candy Apple Joe" Bailon. I also had the name Red Morgan as a person that may have been associated with the car or with Slonaker.

I believe there was a Tucker present at the 1950 and the 1953 Oakland Roadster Shows. I am told it belonged to Richleigh Z. Fischer of Las Vegas.

Here is a picture of a Tucker at one of the early shows. It may have been from the 1950 or 1953 shows. You can see a Frank Rose with Rod Roadster #107 and a Paul Dallmeier with Competition Roadster #156. Maybe someone can tell which year this was and if someone has a program can give me the owners name for the Tucker.

This very same Tucker was said to have been earlier owned by Robert Kelly of Colton, CA. and that he drove the car on the Bonneville Salt Flats around 1950 for 3 runs at an average speed of 131.64 MPH. I noticed photos from that period of Bonneville on this thread as well. Maybe someone has a document or photo that can confirm this information.

The car ended up on several car lots in the Berkeley area in the mid 50s and was finally sold in 1956.

Any information someone can lend on Slonaker, Fischer, Kelly, Bonneville, or the Oakland Show would be helpful. Of course additional photos of either the Oakland Show or Bonneville would be incredible!

 

Tucker Fan, Rik sent me a larger scan of the Oakland Roadster Show photos, and on that photo I can see the Ron Dunn 1950 Ford, the Monte Carlo. That car made it's debut at the 1952 Los Angeles Autorama where it won First in Class. February 17-22, 1953 the Monte Carlo was exhibited at the 4th annual National Roadster Show in Oakland! So the photo has to be from 1953

 

FANTASTIC PHOTOS>>>.... Fantastic photos. Do you have more you can share?

I see Pete Brock's 1947 Ford in the background of two of them... and many others. hmmmmm....

Thanks for sharing

 

What he said ^^^^^^

 

Does anyone have this program? I have not been able to locate one. It should have the ownership information in it.

 

Man is this a great post, the nostalgia of these years is really special to me as I was reading Hot Rod and dreaming of all the cool hot rod activities in sunny California. Thanx to all that contributed to the post. Awesome ~Sololobo~

 

the program for the 1953 show lists the Tucker as a special exhibit and gives specs and other info but lists no owners name.

Mick

 

Thanks for the info. Any chance you could scan what is there and post it? I might be able to find some clue in what is there. Does your program list any information on Frank Rose with Rod Roadster #107 or Paul Dallmeier with Competition Roadster #156? If I can find someone that had a car near the Tucker and locate them (if they are still with us 60 years later) I might be able to get some clues from them as you usually get to know the guy with the car next to you after a few days at a show together.

Also there was supposed to be a Tucker at the first show in 1950
if anyone has the program below and could check it.

Thanks for all the help everyone !

 

Here's the scan of what is in the 53 program. I doubt it will help much, but ya never know.

There is a listing for Frank Rose (#107) but just describes his roadster and mentions he was from Oakland, no street address or anything. Frank won "America's Most Beautiful Roadster" in 1954.

There is only 2 cars listed in the Comp Roadster class (series#150) no listing for Paul Dallmier's roadster, so I assume he didn't enter in time to be listed in the program.

Mick

 

Thank you for the scan. Every bit of information is helpful. I've been doing this a few years now and it is almost like a giant jig saw puzzle. One little piece is sometimes the key to an entire section. The Tucker ownership puzzle is very complex as early on no one thought the cars were anything special. There was always some confusion as to how many were built (50) as the scan you posted said there were only 7 ever made. Also since there were so few when anyone saw one they always assumed it had to be the same car they maybe saw a few years before. This put the wrong owners with the wrong cars in what records were kept. Over the years a few Tucker Club members sorted some of that out but there are still questions on cars like this one.

Of course if it was all figured out what fun would it be for us now?

 

this is a cool 2009 thread. it needs to be bumped to the top.

 

Three thumbs up on this thread .... I was hitting "the grand-daddy of them all" in the final years ... saw and jawed with Winfield and Roth on a slow nite when the ORS moved across the bay. Friend had his 64 2dr 300 wagon at that one ... loved the show! Thanks for bringing it up.

 

Fuck yeah!
It's a shame the protagonists and purveyors and proponents of these sort of things probably won't ever read a classy thread like this.
Paul