To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION at RM Sothebys' Arizona event, 17 - 18
January 2019.
Estimate:
$1,500,000 - $1,700,000
- Icon of American film and culture
- Revolutionary post-war design; one of 51 built
- Researched and documented by Tucker historian Jay Follis
- The freshest restored Tucker extant
- An exceptional piece of American automotive history
PRESTON TUCKER'S DREAM
Preston Tucker had automobiles in his blood. First employed as an
office boy in Cadillac Engineering, he later worked on the Ford
assembly line. It was in auto sales, however, that he finally made
his mark, eventually appointing a regional sales manager for
Pierce-Arrow. Tucker befriended race car engineer-designer Harry
Miller, and teamed with him as Miller and Tucker, Inc., to build
the front-wheel drive Indianapolis cars for Ford Motor Company in
1935.
As war loomed in Europe in the late 1930s, Tucker envisaged a
light, maneuverable scout car for the services, with a swiveling
gun turret. He built a prototype and had talks with the Dutch, but
before he could complete the deal their country was overrun by the
Germans. He marketed the vehicle to the U.S. forces,
unsuccessfully, although the turret was eventually used on PT
boats, landing craft, and bombers. It was during the war, however,
that Tucker resolved to build his own automobile.
The concept was revolutionary. He intended to use a Miller-designed
engine, mounted in the rear. Suspension was to be all-independent,
with disc brakes behind each wheel. A wide, one-piece windshield
would be designed to pop out in case of accident. Sketches
appearing in Science Digest in 1946 were titled "Torpedo on
Wheels," and the name "Torpedo" was briefly allocated to the car.
Tucker soon changed it to simply "Tucker 48" to escape any military
connotations. His genius was hiring Alex Tremulis to complete the
design. Tremulis, who had come from Auburn and Cord, finished the
drawings in five days, and a full-page ad was running in March
1947.
The initial prototype, built at the Tucker family's Ypsilanti
Machine and Tool Company in Michigan, was completed in 100 days. It
had a version of Miller's horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine,
with hemispherical combustion chambers and overhead valves operated
by oil pressure, rather than a camshaft, pushrods, and rockers. It
displaced a whopping 589 cu. in. Drive was to be by twin torque
converters, one at each rear wheel, and suspension would be a
"Torsilastic" affair, independent with rubber springing.
The Miller engine proved impractical, as did the direct torque
converter drive. Instead, Tucker bought Air Cooled Motors, a
Syracuse, New York, company making air-cooled helicopter engines
for the Bell Aircraft Corporation. Reworking the 334-cu. in.
helicopter engine, which was a Franklin derivative, for water
cooling, he installed it in the Tucker 48 with a four-speed
transaxle from the Cord 810 and 812. Disc brakes were dropped for
economy reasons, and the one-piece windshield became a more
conventional split design.
Because the Tucker engines produced more power and torque than the
Cord V-8, the transmissions were modified by Ypsilanti Machine and
Tool with stronger gears and a lengthened case. These were
designated Y-1 (Ypsilanti-1) units and used the same
vacuum-electric shift as the Cord. Because of limited supplies and
the short run of Tucker production, not enough Y-1s were completed,
so some cars were built with unmodified Cord transmissions.
Eventually, 51 cars were built, in a former B-29 bomber plant in
Chicago. By the time they appeared in public, the Tucker
Corporation had come under the scrutiny of the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, some say brought on by Big Three automakers
and Senator Homer Ferguson from Michigan. The gears of government
ground slowly, and it was January 1950 before Tucker and his
executives were eventually declared "not guilty" of fraud on all
counts. But by that time the Tucker 48 had effectively been
torpedoed and its inventor left indelibly in debt.
TUCKER NUMBER 1040
The 40th of the 51 cars originally built, Tucker no. 1040 was sold
at the factory bankruptcy auction in October 1950. It was one of 25
cars sold, of which just eight, including 1040, had been completed.
Detailed records do not survive regarding the disposition of the
cars, but more recent research by Tucker historian Jay Follis
reveals that at least five of them went to Minneapolis, Minnesota.
It is believed that 1040 is one of two cars purchased by a Mr. John
Hansen. By 1955, it was advertised for sale by R.J. Turner of
Minneapolis, with an asking price of $3,900.
Follis' research has further shown that Edward Bates of Minneapolis
purchased 1040 in 1957, possibly from Turner. By April 1959 it was
on display at an "Auto-Rama" organized by the Northern Ohio Timing
Association, courtesy of owner Russell Strauch. Strauch, a
well-known Toledo collector of Full Classics and other cars.
Strauch painted the car white, from the original beige, and did
some mechanical work. It reportedly had been driven just 7,000
miles. After Strauch's passing in 1976, his estate sold the car.
The next owner was Thomas E. Storms of Los Angeles.
In 1984, Tucker 1040 was acquired by the current owner, and in 1985
it was given a complete restoration by Russ Brownell, a noted
Tucker expert and owner of several cars himself. Brownell was the
official steward of the 22 original Tuckers that appeared in the
1988 film Tucker: The Man and His Dream. The restoration involved
the sourcing of hard-to-find parts and fabricating others where no
longer available. Several problems were discovered with the
original engine, no. 33543, so it was replaced by no. 33579, an
unused factory spare acquired from the Harrah Collection. The car
was repainted in the same white hue used by Russell Strauch.
Most recently restored once more, it is now finished in attractive
Waltz Blue, a factory color named by Preston Tucker after his wife
Vera's favorite dress. It has the strengthened Y-1 transmission, as
well as the version 2 rubber torsion tube front suspension, and has
the distinction of having the freshest concours-quality restoration
of any Tucker extant. The result is without a doubt one of the most
accurate and beautifully detailed restorations of any Tucker and
has produced a car which is most certainly the finest restored
example available today at any price.
In sum, it is an exceptional example of one of America's most
innovative automobiles.
"Don't Let [this] Tucker Pass You By."
To view this car and others currently consigned to this auction,
please visit the RM website at rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/az19.
