Tucker

I'm sure you have all seen the Tucker in Hot Rod. Very cool and it sounds like he will be building a few more.
Which brought to my rememberance that some guy on FTE swore there was one in a junkyard somewhere in south Texas. Are there any of the originals unaccounted for?

 

There's a Tucker website that pretty much shows the whereabouts of every Tucker car built. There are a couple that aren't completely accounted for (some pieces of some cars floating around) but most of them are accounted for.

There was an article in Old Cars Weekly about a guy who had a Tucker engine that he pulled from a rolled-over Tucker. I always wondered what happened to the rolled one?

 

I would think that if someone saw a Tucker in a junkyard, and knew what it was, he would have bought it.

 

The guy that posted on the HAMB that he saw a car with a center headlight ended up being a Studebaker with an aftermarket center headlight kit. Not sure if that's the one you're thinking of?

 

I think there is only one missing Tucker.

They are incredibly easy to restore as there are enough NOS parts to ... well, to start an assembly line.

I've seen several NOS Tucker engines, still in crates. Body panels too. Remember the scene at the end of the movie, where all the cars are going down the line to be finished? And all the parts in the assembly area? Well those were genuine, real-deal Tucker parts.

 

i had a radio push button remote dial face ..spelled tucker across verticaly the buttons .. cable on back..
sold it with a calandar pic of a tucker .$12.00...1983
be fore i knew they were so odd
shees the stuff i wish i should have saved ..
early on in my swapper daze

but gas money and eating seemed important at the time..

paperdog

 

Tucker soild radios and other accessories before the car was in production just to raise funds and get some advertizing out of the sale. Reminds me of the Chevy Fleetline I looked at a few years ago, it had a Tucker radio in it.

 

I seem to remember my freind telling me that one was found in NV a year or two ago. Story he gave me was the guy that found it paid less than 50k for it and he was offered 20 folds of that. I could be wrong. Anyone?

 

I seen one on display years ago at RM Classic Restorations in Ontario, Canada. Considering it was just a gutted, bare body sitting on jackstands, it was an impressive sight, regardless. It reportably sold in 2002 for $32,000 US. I believe someplace now makes glass repro-bodies of Tuckers.

 

I have seen two. One in San Diego at an auto museum, and the other is owned by a guy a few miles from me in Tucker, GA. He brings the car out for the Tucker day festival. It is funny to hear the things people say when they see it. "Was that built here?"

 

There was one at The Blackhawk Museum last year too.....

 

At the end of the movie, they say 47 of the 51 are accounted for.


I CANT remember which magazine (Custom Rodder? Drive?), but I definitely saw an article on a guy who bought a Tucker that was gone to shit and ended up making a custom out of it.

Heres a photo of a repro body.

 

I think the "gutted" one that sold at auction a few years ago was part of a decent stash of Tucker stuff I remember reading about back 5-6 years ago or so. I think there was a mostly complete, but unrestored example, a cowl from a pre-produduction or prototype car(I think it had serial number 000 or soemthing), and a new in the crate motor, and the whole deal was auctioned-off as one lot?!

 

This one?




It wasn't a "real" Tucker. Here's a small article. http://info.detnews.com/joyrides/story/index.cfm?id=144

 

My buddy took me for a ride in his....it is kind of a weird feeling cruising down the highway in a half million dollar car.

It is funny because he never really even talks about his Tucker. He drove his "other" car to the pileup. Ha Ha Ha

 

No, Ive seen the repros. I remember seeing a pic of a guy standing next to his Tucker "Custom" that he bought off an original owner after it turned into a basket case. The only way he could save it was to customize it ( or so he says)....

It was an original color like a Moss Green or Khaki....

Plowboy,

That is COOL as hell..... I wish I had pics of me driving a Deusenburg a buddy of mine owned... I just have a few pics of our cars parked next to each other in his parking lot.

 

I also had a Tucker radio, bought at swap meet. Paid $10, in unopened box. The guy had about 20 of them. He told me they made thousands of them......OLDBEET

 

Like riding in a new Enzo?

 

Aaron you lucky bastard!

 

Is the green visor a factory option?

 

You know what? I love his "other" car just as much.

 

There's a guy in the car club I belong to used to own two of them. He mentions every now and then that he sorry he sold them. He got in the neighborhood of $400k for them, but he only paid $15k for them. At one time they were selling for $1million plus, since the hype of the movie has died down they are selling for quite a bit less, if I remember in the $800k range. He is in his late 70's and used to own a Chevrolet dealership. Through the years he has built an impressive collection. My favorite of his is his Auburn boattail speedster. He has a couple original Cords and at one time was building a 2/3 scale cords, he has a few of those left too.
It is not unusual to see a Tucker parked at Speedway Motors, Lincoln Nebraska, I think it is an original owned by Bill Smith.

 

I'd have to wear a diaper to ride in one of them because I'd probably pee my pants !

 

My stepdaughter was good friends with the great grand daughter of the guy that designed the Tucker like mr. tucker himself.. I talked to the family a few times .. Nice people. they werent really car people though.. Seems tucker himself was the car guy.. Kinda got lost later down the road
Dave

 

Any word on Repro bodies?
The green custom gives me a funny tingle in that special place.

 

http://www.tuckerclub.org/html/see_a_tucker.php

Here's just about all of them and their whereabouts. Interestingly one has front mounted Ford 390 and a '64 Mercury dash in it! Stu

 

Was that Alex Tremulis or Preston Tucker she was related to? Stu

 

There is one at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI...Just saw it last weekend.

http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/showroom/1948/tucker.html

There is also a HAMBer from overseas who has one of the fiberglass ones used from the movie...maybe he'll chome in.

 

There's also one (fiberglass replica) at the Ypsi Auto Heritage Museum/ Miller Motors Hudson in Ypsilanti, MI. I believe the fiberglass bodies are laid over a Torino chassis...

Also, as an aside, about 5 years ago Preston Tuckers house was for sale. My parents looked at it to buy, but it's turned into "apartments" and needed alot of work. It woulda been pretty cool if they'da bought it though... And contrary to what the movie showed, there are NO mountains in Ypsi... this I know.

Jay

 

Wasn't there a company in Jersey that was going to make 50 composite bodys. With a chassis' for a rear engine caddy northstar engine. I think I saw it on that street rodder TV on espn2 a couple years ago.