Preston Tucker was a charismatic and colourful man whose attempt to launch a revolutionary new car following the Second World War is a fascinating chapter in automotive history. He envisioned a car that would make all others obsolete, an endeavour that has prompted articles, books and even a movie.
Opinions vary on Tucker's sincerity. True believers say he was a genuine entrepreneur in the mould of General Motors founder Billy Durant, and that his car was so good it was killed by the Big Three (GM, Ford and Chrysler). Others saw nothing more than a classic flimflam artist.
Tucker was born in 1901 in Capac, Michigan, and raised in Lincoln Park, Michigan. At six-foot-two and 200 pounds, his easy manner made him a natural salesman. He served as a police officer, sold cars and became a Pierce-Arrow representative.
A racing enthusiast, Tucker regularly attended the Indianapolis 500 race, where he became acquainted with race-car builder Harry Miller. They formed a partnership to develop a team of Ford Motor Co.-sponsored V-8powered front-wheel-drive racers for the 1935 Indianapolis 500. The cars suffered steering seizure but showed good promise.
Tucker would try Indy again after the war with a Miller-designed rear-engined Gulf Oil-sponsored car, but success eluded them.
During the 1930s, Tucker had developed a fast combat car with a rotary gun turret. The army didn't need the 188-km/h speed but wanted the turret. During the Second World War, his Ypsilanti, Michigan-based Tucker Aviation Corp. prospered by manufacturing gun turrets. When peace came, Tucker turned to his longtime dream of building his own car.
In December 1945, Tucker announced his futuristic "Car of Tomorrow," the Tucker Torpedo, later renamed the Tucker 48. It would be a large, low, six-passenger sedan with a big, horizontally opposed (flat), six-cylinder, aluminum engine in the rear.
While the established manufacturers offered warmed-over pre-war designs, Tucker promised a car-starved nation aerodynamic efficiency, 160-km/h cruising and an affordable price. Safety features included a padded dash, "pop-out" windshield and disc brakes. The fully independent suspension used "Torsilastic" rubber and torsion-bar springs.
Tucker wanted the engine laterally positioned in the rear, driving the wheels through a torque converter on each end of the crankshaft. This probably led to later rumours that the car wouldn't reverse. The low-r.p.m. engine promised good fuel economy and easy high-speed cruising.
By the end of 1946, Tucker knew that to obtain financial backing he needed more than drawings and illustrations. He commissioned noted aircraft designer Alex Tremulus to design and build a prototype in an incredibly short 100 days, a feat accomplished by Tremulus and a crew of skilled Indianapolis racing mechanics.
The prototype was built on an Oldsmobile chassis and they affectionately dubbed it the "Tin Goose," a term later used against Tucker and his car in court. Although quite low, the styling was more conservative than originally envisioned.
The transverse engine and torque converters proved unworkable. The safety windshield and padded dash stayed, but front fenders that steered with the wheels were gone, as were the disc brakes. A centre-mounted "cyclops eye" headlamp steered with the wheels, and the 5.5-litre rear-mounted aluminum helicopter engine converted from air to water cooling drove through a Cord pre-selector transmission.
Tucker financed his operation by pre-selling dealer franchises and a successful $20-million stock offering. After acquiring a war-surplus bomber-engine plant in Chicago on favourable terms from the War Assets Administration, Tucker thought he was in the car business.
But shortly after, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating Tucker's dealer franchise sales. That, and unfavourable magazine articles, collapsed Tucker Corp. stock, and he stayed afloat only by pre-selling accessories like radios and seat covers.
Through all the charges and countercharges, the plant turned out 51 cars in 1948. The end finally came in 1949, and although Tucker was cleared of all charges, it was too late. The damage was done, and there would be no more Tuckers.
Car tester Tom McCabill said the cars were surprisingly good. In Mechanix Illustrated in September 1948, he reported zero to 96 km/h in 10 seconds and "the quickest 105 mph I have ever reached."
He called it "roomy and extraordinarily comfortable," and said it "steers and handles better than any American car I have driven." He called its "road-ability ... in a class by itself."
Tucker's brave attempt to crack Detroit's establishment failed. There is a Tucker owner's club dedicated to keeping the faith, and keeping the surprisingly large number of surviving Tuckers running.
Preston Tucker always claimed he was the victim of dark conspiratorial Detroit interests afraid of his advanced new car, a belief he carried to his grave when he died of cancer at age 55 in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on Dec. 26, 1956.
