They want $4K for it. It is the real deal. Not only do I recognize the shape of it from when I was helping to restore 1003, but the expert at the Tucker Club has verified it as being the one the seller says it is. They’ve also got a door for sale, trunk lid and engine lid for sale! Wish I had the cash.
sends virtual chocolate to tuckerfan
Sorry, don’t think you can use simoleons to buy it…
Nice! Looks like an interesting basis for a hot rod. I’ll bet it can be chopped and lightened, and maybe a space frame added at the ends. Put on a retro custom body and some fat tires and low-profile chrome wheels, and…
Just kidding.
Though you may not be able to buy it yourself, it’s such a unique item that I’m sure it will only go to a collector and over the years will be restored to original. Maybe you can send an email to Leno. So while you won’t have it gleaming in your garage, eventually one more Tucker will be on the road or on display.
Well **Tuckerfan ** would know this better than anyone else. Are there really enough spare Tucker parts floating around out there, not already attached to a car to take something like this frame and build it into a complete working Tucker?
Yup. You might have to do some fabricating of some parts, but the original blueprints have resurfaced recently, so you could have everything match up with other Tuckers. From what I’ve been able to find out, there’s enough parts out there floating around that if someone had the money and the inclination, they could put three more Tuckers on the road.
That’s really interesting, I would have thought that most, if any, spare parts wouldn’t be on the market at all. So again using this frame as a starting point, what would be the approximate cost of acquiring those parts and the fabrication to the point you have a running drivable car?
At a rough guess, you could probably do it for just under what a restored Tucker would go for at auction (which is $750K), depending upon which one you started wtih. The roll over car has resurfaced, and that would be the cheapest one to restore. Getting the club to certify it as a “genuine” would be another matter (but not necessarily difficult).
I visited the F. F. Coppola winery in Napa, CA last fall. They have a Tucker on display-and the attendent told me that 56 were made. the last one found was discovered in a garage in Sao paulo, Brazil. my question; were’nt all of the prototype TUCKERS built on an old model Buick chassis? That was why Tucker was able to build them so quick. the body panels were hand-hammered-most of the other parts were stock-the engine was a helicopter engine. i don’t know who made the transmissions.
I have heard that TUCKERS drove rather strangely-one auto expert called the handling “scarey”-would a TUCKER pass modern crash tests? (imagine the surprise if it did-though blowing $750k on destroying one wouldbe a waste!
Heh, this is quickly turning into an Ask The Tucker Fan thread. My next question relates to Ralph124c’s question as well. Are there any more common makes that share enough qualities with the Tucker to be able to use those in stead of the originals? Say a drive train or motor?
Nope. The original prototype, the Tin Goose, used an Oldsmobile frame, because at tjhe time they weren’t certain what the final form of the car would be, and they needed a strong frame to hold the weight. The Tin Goose outweighs all other Tuckers by a good margin from what I understand.
The body panels weren’t hand hammered, they were stamped steel, Tucker had a subcontrator who made them. The front fenders are made up of about 5 stampings each, that are welded together to make up a fender. The tops of the fenders achieve their final form due to lead.
The first few transmissions were modified Cords, almost all the rest were the Tucker Corporation’s own design, with two of them having automatic transmissions. One of the cars has a Borg Warner transmission installed because the original is gone (and another has a Ford transmission because the owner had the car basically gutted and put on a Mercury frame).
The early models had some weight balance issues, but that was supposed to have been corrected by the time the last ones rolled off the line. No idea if one could pass modern crash tests, but you could do it without destroying a car by using computer simulations. I have to think that the cars would do pretty well in a crash test as a door weighs about 250 lbs.
Nope. They borrowed a few parts from other cars, but these were things like door handles, window cranks, etc. The frame, engine, transmission, and seats were all pretty much unique to the Tucker.
So I guess that makes you plum tuckered out.
I just want to add my
to the rest of the group. Being in love with this type of a car is tough - knowing that the chances of even locating one let alone owning one are so slim.
I’ve always thougth that this was one car whose design was really for the ages, too.
Dude, you know that if this lottery thing works out, I am buying you a Tucker! Seriously.
Unfortunately, I don’t seem to be making much progress towwards my goal…
It’s times like these when a man has to ask himself, “How many kidneys do I really need?”
Sweet! Free rides for Dopers so long as I have the car. Of course, all the hottie Doperettes will have to agree to pose in a two-piece bikini beside the car, first. (Don’t worry, we’ll do it someplace warm But not too warm, cars look best in photos with all headlights on…)
Ya know, if I knew where to sell mine, I’d seriously consider it.