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In my last column, I told you of Preston Tucker and his dream after World War II to build the first truly new car in America in 50 years.
He had put together what appeared to be an excellent management team, including former executives from Ford and GM. He hired Alex Tremulis as his stylist who designed a futuristic, 219-inch-long car on a 128-inch wheelbase that looked like no other car ever built, and most agreed it was beautiful. It was a rear-engine car with six exhaust pipes and had safety features before anyone else had considered them. It had a perimeter frame for side collision protection, which also provided for a step-down design, and even a roll bar built into the roof. The Tucker had a “safety chamber” where front-seat passengers could dive “in case of an impending collision.”
Tucker had leased the former Dodge war plant on Chicago’s South Side, reportedly the largest manufacturing building in the country. An impressive number of men had been signed to be Tucker dealers. In August 1948, the Los Angeles Examiner ran a Tucker advertisement listing the names and addresses of 27 dealers in Southern California.
So what happened? The world premier for the Tucker 48 was scheduled for June 19, 1947, at the Chicago factory. It was reported more than 3,000 people attended for a tour of the plant, lunch and the showing of the first prototype Tucker.
But this was not a good day for Preston Tucker. Last-minute problems occurred. Two of the independent suspension arms broke due to the heaver weight of the prototype model. The experimental 589-cubic-inch engine was so loud that Preston Tucker asked the band to play as loud as possible to drown out the sound. The engine needed to use a high-voltage starter from an outside source, so once the engine was running the engineering team kept it running during the whole show so the public wouldn’t see this problem.
One of the nation’s top newspaper columnists, Drew Pearson, wrote that the car was a fraud because it wouldn’t back up and it went “goose-geese” down the road. That car was the prototype, and problems Pearson wrote about were limited to this first vehicle, but damage to the reputation of the car and the company was done, and many more negative articles followed. There was a lot of pressure to get things done quickly, and in doing so time was not allocated for unexpected problems. Naturally, Tucker wanted to get this car to the market before the Big Three could produce new models.
Tucker worked through the problems and in August of 1948, one of the country’s most respected automotive writers, Tom McCahill, drove the Tucker and said it was the most amazing American car he had ever seen. The car could go from 0 to 60 mph in 10 seconds and would get 26.2 mpg at 45 mph — very impressive for that time period.
The Tucker Co. needed cash, and Tucker proceeded to issue $15 million of stock to finance his dream. Unlike any other automobile manufacturer, Tucker raised $6 million by selling the franchises to local business people. This was not a normal practice. Manufacturers require dealers to meet certain requirements to be awarded a franchise, but it is not sold to the dealer. Another unorthodox program was the Tucker Accessory Purchase Order Program, in which a customer could order additional items such as cowhide suitcases and seat covers as well as a radio and heater. A sequence allotment program determined the order of delivery of the vehicles based on the cost of accessories purchased.
His quick moves brought about suspicions of his tactics by the Securities and Exchange Commission. An investigation followed, and Tucker was forced to surrender his corporate records to the SEC. On Oct. 4, 1949, Tucker and seven associates went on trial for 31 counts of conspiracy and mail fraud. On that same day, the Tucker plant closed with just 37 Tuckers built. About 300 loyal employees returned to the plant, some without pay, and finished building 13 more cars for a total of 50 Tuckers, not counting the prototype. Almost four months later, Tucker and all his co-defendants were acquitted, but the time and money spent defending themselves plus the change in the public’s interest and confidence killed Tucker’s dream.
But Tucker was a positive thinker and knew Henry Ford had declared bankruptcy before being successful. He moved to Brazil, planning on building a two-seater sports car called the Carioca, but the one quality we all want and he lacked was good health. He died of lung cancer the day after Christmas in 1956. He was only 53 years old.
This September, the Blackhawk Museum in Danville is planning a Tucker event with a showing of cars, memorabilia, and the 1988 movie, “Tucker: The Man and His Dream,” starring Jeff Bridges as Preston Tucker and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, a Tucker owner.
