Here is some more car info on the LeMay Family Tucker located in Tacoma,WA.
1948 Tucker 48
"The Most Completely New Car in Fifty Years" was the slogan Preston Tucker decided to use to promote his fastback, four-door sedan. Styled by Alex S. Tremulis, the car was truly ahead of its time. While other auto designers of the time were using an aerodynamic theme, Tremulis used a nautical theme such as the submarine hood ornament and Chris*Craft boat-like taillights and exhausts.
The exterior featured a cyclops headlight that turned with the steering wheel[3], a windshield that popped out on impact, a cut-away roof line above the doors for easier access (aircraft style doors), and a step-down interior. The interior had push-button door releases, a padded dash that wrapped around the doors, and interchangeable front and rear seat upholstery.
The dashboard is centered around the driver, leaving an open "safety chamber" on the passenger side. The concept was that in case of an accident, the passenger and driver would slide down into the safety chamber. Seat belts at the time were thought by the American public to imply that a car was less safe.
This "car of the future" was unique even beneath its futuristic exterior. The Tucker featured an all-independent suspension and a rear-mounted Franklin air-cooled helicopter flat 6 (H6 - horizontally opposed) engine converted to water-cooled, and utilized the first fully sealed water-cooling system (not vented to open air). The transmission was adapted from a Cord 810 transaxle (similar to the 1937 Cord in LeMay Hall). It was a four-speed manual with a Bendix vacuum-electric preselect shift (a fully automatic "Tuckermatic" was in development). The all-alloy engine weighed only 320 lbs, but produced 166 hp, (0-60 mph about 10 seconds, estimated top speed 120 mph).
Despite all this, the company produced just 51 cars (including the "Tin Goose" prototype) before its collapse. All were hand-built prototypes, so a production-standard Tucker cannot be defined. Forty-seven of these cars still exist. The original (projected) 1948 price was to have been $2,450, equivalent to a 1948 Buick Roadmaster. In recent values, Tucker number 1043 sold in 2005 for $750,000, and Tucker number 1038 sold for $1,017,500 in August 2008 (see Tucker Club web site listed in references).
Harold LeMay had always wanted a Tucker to add to his collection not for its dollar value, but for its eye appeal and uniqueness. It was the one car he did not realize would become so popular. Before the 1988 Hollywood movie, "Tucker: The Man and His Dream", was released, Harold had the opportunity to purchase a Tucker for $45,000, but thought that was too expensive. The release of the Tucker movie brought more attention to those special vehicles, and Harold was unable to find another one to purchase.
It was Nancy LeMay who obtained this specific car through the Barrett-Jackson Auction from The Petersen Automotive Museum in 2002. The PetersenMuseum mentioned to Nancy that they had good news and bad news about this Tucker. The good news was that this Tucker was restored to fairly original condition[1]; the bad news was that because it is fairly original, this vehicle does not handle very well, due to the original suspension system[2] used on early Tuckers. It is also prone to overheating since the radiator is in the rear and the vehicle needs to be moving to channel air up from the frame to the engine and radiator. Plus, the coolant circulates around the engine, not within the engine block.
This vehicle is Tucker number 1007 (frame number 7, body number 9; Tucker did not match frame and body numbers). The vehicle started out in the Mid-West, Ohio area as a dealer show room car. There is no information about this car from 1950 to 1985. In 1985 it was acquired by a Japanese businessman involved in American real estate and shipped to Japan. He went bankrupt in the 1990s and as part of the settlement, the car was acquired by a Texas owner in the Dallas-Fort Worth area (hence the Texas license plate on this car). The Texas owner went bankrupt in the oil industry and it was sold to The Petersen Museum.
The color of this Tucker is called Waltz Blue[1] and is a metallic paint. When Tuckers wife gave her blessing to proceed with building the car, Tucker said he would name a color after the blue sequined evening dress she was wearing that night, thus the metallic in the paint.
References:
Tucker Club Website, http://www.tuckerclub.org/index.php
[1] Original Condition: The wheel covers are incorrect for this Tucker, but are what was on the Tucker when the PetersonMuseum received it from original owner. They are said to be Oldsmobile Toronado wheel covers with the Tucker crest.
The paint color of this car has been changed from its original Green to Waltz Blue.
[2] Original Suspension System: The original suspension systems used on early Tuckers did not handle well for several reasons; a) The "Torsioelastic" rubber suspension would tend to degrade after time; b) Weight distribution made for a rear-end heavy (rear engine) car unless later suspension upgrades were made such as front expansion springs and rear load levelers. Many restored Tuckers have these upgrades.
[3] Cyclops headlight:
The original design drawings of the Tucker showed front fenders that were separate from the body and turned with the wheels. This meant the headlights, which were mounted on the fenders, turned with the wheels and illuminated the direction the car was going on corners. This feature proved impractical, and the production Tucker had conventional fenders and headlights. But they mounted a third headlight in the middle of the hood and connected it to the steering so it steered with the wheels, illuminating corners the same way as the original design.
So as not to confuse oncoming traffic, the center headlight turns on when high beams are selected and the steering wheel was turned 10 degrees off center. On the first 25 cars, that is Serial No. 1001 through 1025 the light was turned by mechanical linkage from the left front wheel. On 1026 through 1050 the mechanical linkage was replaced by a cable. Cable was not nearly as good as the mechanical rod linkage setup.
I love these cars. What a load of crap that the big three killed it. They should have hired him, maybe this mess could have been avoided! Ah well, what did they say A man and his dream. Sigh.
rarer than a 67 SD396 beaumont convertible and more surviving (we think) I'll check back after everyone is done e-mailing David with their multiple collections
