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- The most dangerous fire escape I've ever seen
- Out of Place
- Sir Bedevere
- Witch way to the fire?
- Proud to be an old Coot
- That old scale
- Bowled Over
- Cat years?
- 'Why' Wyoming?
- His Master's Voice
- What! No dish under the skewer?
- Only in Hollywood?
- What's Up Doc?
- Destination?
- I'm pretty sure this was a voluntary program
- When I see chicken wire rabbit cages I think of three things
- The War Ears
- Eating the bunnies? Really?
- A love affair with a machine
- Hasenpfeffer
- Back support
- Hot type!
- Can you smell ... the news?
- Looking across the street and Flong
- Memories of my elderly hoarder neighbor
- Linotype in the Twilight Zone
- By Memory?
- Quiet place
- Line Of Type
- And no hearing protection
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Tucker Torpedo: 1947
Los Angeles. July 28, 1947. "Tucker Torpedo (i.e., the Tucker 48) -- Pan Pacific Auditorium." 35mm Kodachrome slide by our West Coast correspondent Don Cox. View full size.
Tucker and Car Seek Plant Here
Preston Tucker, 44-year-old inventor, racing car designer and promoter, and his Tucker automobile arrived by plane yesterday -- Tucker in one and the Tucker car in another. The car -- a handmade rear-engined job which does without such conventional gadgets as transmission, clutch, carburetor, drive shaft and water radiator -- is on display at Pan-Pacific Auditorium at the inventors' exhibit.
Tucker said he is negotiating for a wartime airframe plant here to be used eventually as the Tucker West Coast assembly plant. He said he expects to begin production in the wartime Dodge engine plant in Chicago by October with nearly 1,000 cars a day the goal by Jan. 1. -- Los Angeles Times, July 13, 1947
Tucker Tidbits
I believe the car pictured is the "Tin Goose," which was a prototype made with parts from a 1942 Oldsmobile.
The Coppola film took quite a few liberties based on things I've read in "Preston Tucker: A Biography" by Charles T. Pearson (1960). Also, some more recent books I've seen on Amazon claim to tell a more accurate story. There is also a Tucker '48 Automobile page in Facebook that has plenty of photos and some good stories.
As for "Hold that tiger!" -- I often sing that as my theme song when I am trying to do nearly impossible work in the world's fourth poorest nation.
Cast of the movie TUCKER
Trouble when information is wrong is that it can become an issue years later, so I want to correct a previous comment.
Martin Landau had a major role in TUCKER and was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
Dean Stockwell played the role of Howard Hughes.
I love the style
I wish cars made today looked like the cars made back in the '30s-'50s.
It was a great time
In 1962, I was at a dealership, picking up a new Pontiac Grand Prix, and was invited to go in the back and see an actual Tucker auto. It was light blue, had mohair seat covers, and doors that were cut into the overhead. It was a great thrill, and I have never seen one since. Never knew why they had it, nor to whom it belonged, but it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
Coppola's 'Tucker'
I saw 'Tucker,' GlenJay! I can't say I remember much of it, except that he was always saying, "Hold that tiger!" and that Martin Landau Dean Stockwell had a small part (maybe not much more than a cameo) as Howard Hughes.
One of its many faults --
was to me it looked way too much like a 1950s Studebaker. Or did the Studebaker look too much like a Tucker?
Same As It Ever Was
I was at a car show this past weekend. Shiny cars on rotating turntables with pretty models. Some things are everlasting.
Tuckers always remind me of the first car I can remember my family riding in... my grandfather's 1951 Studebaker Champion.
[No turntable in this photo. - Dave]
Wiki 48
I remember seeing one of these as a child at a gas station in Western Pennsylvania.
For the fascinating story of Preston and his innovative automobile; check it out here.
A dream that bombed?
How many people have seen Francis Ford Coppola's 1988 film "Tucker: The Man and His Dream", starring Jeff Bridges? Amazon Prime tells you you can see it for free, but when you click, you find it's "with interruptions".
That seems ironically appropriate for Tucker's dream, as well as much of Coppola's work (with obvious exceptions). A grand vision, long complicated development, necessary but harmful compromises, a splashy introduction, ultimate loss of money. At least Coppola wasn't tried for mail fraud and conspiracy. (Tucker was acquitted.)
Just Like Being There
Even a little out of focus, it's one of the coolest photos I've ever seen.
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