Whenever I think I’ve finally gotten a grip on everything there is to know about Tuckers, something surfaces which is totally out of left field. While Tucker was working on getting his car built, he had his design teams coming up with the next versions of the Tucker. This is a sketch of what the two door 1950 model would have looked like. I’d known about that, as well as this proposal for a Tucker Talisman, which Tucker had started talking about building as his trial was winding down. What I didn’t know, is that there was a four door version planned as well. (You can see the full size drawing of it in the background of that photo, as well as a small model on the table being studied by Alex Tremulis and others in the foreground.)
Amazingly enough, photos have recently been discovered which show that the four door had made it to metal at the time of Tucker’s trial. This photo, taken by Life magazine during the time of the trial, shows a bare metal body, notice the rear window of the car, now, compare it to this photo of Tucker 1003, stripped down to the metal. The window of 1003 is significantly smaller than the one taken by Life.
Furthermore, Tucker was looking at a couple Italian car prototypes to modify and rebadge as a smaller Tucker. Whie renderings of what that car would have looked like haven’t surfaced, we do know what the Italian versions would havelooked like. (Only a handful of these were ever produced.) Some of the folks involved with those designs went on to produce a prototype car in 1952. Clearly, it seems that this design was heavily influenced by Tucker, if not a minor retweaking of what Tucker was going to do with the Italian cars.
You missed a couple in California. There’s one in San Diego, Coppola’s winery, and for a while, the Smithsonian was shipping theirs between the Peterson and Blackhawk museums in California. No idea if its there or back in storage in DC.
I’ve always thought that the Buick was cribbed from Tucker’s design, but I never noticed the similarities to the Vette until now. IIRC, Larry Shinoda was the driving force behind the 'Vette, but I can’t recall who was the designer of the Riviera (somebody here knows who it is, because they mentioned it in a thread, but damned if I can find it). One of Studebaker’s lead designers admitted that they cribbed ideas from Tucker for their “bulletnose” design.
Not intending to hijack, but I thought readers and posters here might appreciate this.
A few weeks ago, my father recommended I watch a sweet little 1938 film called The Young in Heart. It features a truly remarkable car, known in the film as the “Flying Wombat,” but which was actually the Phantom Corsair. It was a prototype commissioned by a scion of the famous Heinz family. Only one was built, and it’s still in existence at the National Automobile Museum in Reno.
Meaning no disrespect to Mr. Tucker, Tuckerfan, or any other automobile designer who’s ever lived, I think this is one of the most fabulously gorgeous cars I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s spectacular!
Yeah, the Phantom Corsair’s a nifty car (I’ve got a MicroMachine version of it around here, somewhere). IIRC, it was reworked in some unspecified manner for the film (I’ve never seen “before” pictures to be able to tell how much it had been modified). Apparently, it tended to overheat a lot, as the airflow to the radiator wasn’t that good. Easily correctable today with an airdam, pressurized cooling system, and electric fans.
Its too bad it didn’t inspire more designers, then we wouldn’t have the bar of soap looking cars we’ve got today.
I just stumbled across this story about a prototype tank built in 1932 which could do 60 MPH (even more amazing, if you removed the tracks, it could do over 100 MPH)! I have to wonder if Tucker didn’t see the article or a newsreel on the tank and get the idea for his combat car (which could do 60 MPH). Tucker might have been living in New Jersey at the time, as well.
