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Don
1948 TUCKER # 10 Drager's International Classic Sales
Video link...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGxIvLFpnSE
This is the "barn find" of the year. The Tucker has been sitting in the garage for over 40 years. Last Licensed in California in 1965. As you look at the photos you will see front end damage. Seems the Tucker rolled down the driveway through the garage door. This was in California. The Tucker was bought in Aug 1956 in Cal from a Motor Trend ad! Was last driven in 1957, only 603 miles & parked. Now has 9,819 miles. Flat towed to Auburn down the grapevine in California. The Tucker was heavier than the vehicle towing it! Historical data from Alex Tremelis, tucker designer, claims the car #1010, went 134 mph at Bonneville in 1952, also has a special 431 gear ratio. The bumpers were off the car, I do not know why. Maybe to repair the Tucker? It is a very solid car. The mice, as you would think, made a home in the Tucker. It was crusty on the underside. The owner would run off anyone trying to see the Tucker. Harold LaMay, the largest collector car owner in the world, tried to buy it but was not even allowed to see it. I'm not sure how he found out about it. A photo of the rear end made it out, not sure who took the photo. So how did this Tucker come out of hiding? Very interesting story. Now you know the Tucker has been sitting for 40 years and people tried to see it, but the owner would chase them away. The whole family was sworn to secrecy. No one was allowed to talk about it. Brian Pain grew up in Auburn, Washington. When he was a kid he saw it. But again, the owner chased him away. His sister was and still is friends with the owner's daughter. The owner died 2 years ago. Brian made contact with the family. Brian and his friend Gary Savage came out from Colorado and put together the sale of the Tucker. I have to tell you they did a great job for the family and new owner. The new owner wanted the bumpers installed. I think every part was found except the left front turn signal. How did I get involved? The owners accountant wanted an appraisal. Brian and Gary called me to do the appraisal. They prepared the car for shipment. Now this was a family affair, 4 generations were on hand to see the Tucker rolled out. Charlie, the owner of Classic Car Courier, came with his roll back to pick up the Tucker. He took it for shipping to the east coast and the new owner. It will be neat to see it when it's finished. This is one of the fun parts of being in classic cars. Jeri Drager, Drager's International Classic Sales 206-533-9600
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Garage Find: Tucker Automobile Company Car Number 10
Video link...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0smeJdtKdCE
1948 Tucker Automobile Number 10. Hidden away in a damp, musty old garage in Auburn, WA, unfairly sentenced to nearly 60 years of deplorable solitude, painfully decomposing...
A Look at the 1948 Tucker (Torpedo) 48
Video link...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfw14Zf3RdU#t=139.895833
Ever since I saw the movie about Preston Tucker in 1988, then saw my first Tucker in the early 1990s, I've maintained an interest in this classic automobile. My concern has always been, for such a historically significant vehicle, it continues to be shrouded in mystery. Even the official website (www.tuckerclub.org) is not very forthcoming with information and the pictures there are low resolution. There are very few high resolution pictures out there, and what is out there often doesn't even convey the true color of the car. For example, a particular car can look like it's 3 different colors in pictures taken by 3 different people. It's also hard to find in-depth information. Many websites just glean some of the major information to give you, and even then the accuracy differs. Many websites say that the Tucker was the first car to offer seatbelts. Even though it is something he wanted to do, the are other websites which say that the car did not have seat belts in it because the executives thought that it would make the car appear to be unsafe. Who's right? Then there is a discrepancy in what Preston Tucker wanted for his car, and what was actually produced; and some websites are not accurately differentiating what the true features are.
Because there really isn't a website out there where you can really get a good feel for the car, especially if you've never seen in person; I wanted to put something together that conveyed how special this car truly is, and why it needs to be preserved.
My hope is that one day, there will be a website that will authoritatively give a complete breakdown of the mechanics and appearance of the car, with high quality and high resolution close-up pictures of everything. In addition there needs to be professional (color-corrected) high resolution pictures taken of each Tucker: without people in the picture, museum ropes and barricades, signs, and other cars. It seems that you only get something like this when a car is put up for auction and they want to put it in the best light possible.
Some of the Tuckers are readily accessible in museums and collections, and some of those in personal collections are taken to frequent Car Shows; and these get photographed often. But there are others that are not seen, and don't get photographed. Because of how spread out these cars are, many people will never, ever have a chance to see one up close, and I think it would great if someone, possibly the Tucker Automobile Club of America (TACA), would establish a showcase website to share to the world the attributes of this magnificent car. Nevertheless, the TACA website is the best place right now to get credible information, though you have to spend a lot of time reading and digging to get to it.
That being said, this video is my way of paying tribute to the 1948 Tucker, so that people can have a concise picture of what this car represents and why it is important to automotive history for it to be documented.
UPDATE (10/25/15): YouTube threatened to take down my video if I didn't remove the copyrighted background music- which I fully identified and gave credit for. So I removed all the music.
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