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Here are some pictures I took at Hershey. I have my doubts about the car.

John F. Shireman

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Thanks for the pics John. Did u ever actualy see the car move under its own power???? Has ANYONE ever seen a Tucker move under its own power???? Faster than 15 mph???

The late Bev Ferreira brought his Tucker down to Fresno many years ago when there was a very active concours crowd and season. Tuckers do move and drive under their own power quite nicely.

I don't see where the argument that "it's not a Tucker" has any base. Except for a couple of recently made panels behind the door and behind the top -- and the top itself -- everything else is Tucker.
I have not seen any evidence that the convertible is a "factory design."
In my opinion, it is a modified Tucker that is being hyped as something other than what it really is.
I would bet that most people are unaware that only the first 37 Tuckers -- plus the prototype -- were completed by the factory. The remaining 13 -- now 14 -- were completed after the factory was shut down. These cars were built from what was already started, or built up from parts bought during the auction.

In the book Design and Destiny: the making of the Tucker Automobile by Philip S. Egan. Egan states the following in the Epilogue of the book. ( Thirty seven Tuckers had been complete by the time the plant closed in the summer of 1948.
Volunteer workers and later aficionados ultimately assembled another fourteen. All but three or four Tuckers
have survived to date.)

This book written by Egan was first published in 1989. Egan was one of the persons who helped design the Tucker.

John F. Shireman

The Tucker convertible was slightly damaged at the Russo & Steele Auction due to the storm damage.

Link

"Following the severe storm that hit Scottsdale on Thursday night, the 1948 Tucker Convertible was extremely fortunate that it only sustained minor damages. However, Justin Cole, President of Benchmark Classic Restoration, the original restorer of the Tucker Convertible is providing the new owner with a guarantee that they will restore 100 percent of the minor damages caused by the storm."

It is reported that the Tucker was a No Sale. The bidding ended at $1.4 Million dollars. Rumors were that the reserve was $1.5 Million.

Quote:

Tom McCahill tested the Tucker in 1948. The test was published in Mechanix Illustrated magazine that year. He said it made every other car in America look like Harrigan's hack with the wheels off. Performance, ride, handling were sensational.

In 1956 he recalled:"When I tested this car, and I tested several of them in the spring of '48, it was the best-performing automobile in America, by far."

In the years since, I have read several articles in old car magazines regarding various Tuckers. One theme comes up over and over. The owner bought the car planning on keeping it for shows and maybe parades. But once they drove the car, they liked it so well they found themselves driving it all the time.

Several Tuckers have between 100,000 and 200,000 miles to their credit.

For McCahill's views, as of 1971, look here:

http://www.oldride.com/library/1948_tucker.html

Note that McCahill drove Mr. Hamlin's Tucker 105 MPH on the California freeway.

It would have gone faster but that was as fast as he felt like driving the then 23 year old car with 150,000 miles on it.

Considerably more than 15 MPH.

The replica Tucker convertible was a NO SALE. Bidding reached $1.4 million but bidding went no higher. Seems the owner or owners wouldn't lift the reserve which was rumored to be $1.5 million.

John F. Shireman

Rusty,

That's very interesting. It would be hard to believe that so many of the Tuckers that had been manufactured would be preserved and cherished if they weren't admirable machines mechanically as well as aesthetically. They would have faded into obscurity long ago as just a few remaining curiosities... I don't care how much "hype" they received, it wouldn't have kept them on the road.

Don't know about anyone else, but I've had some old timers tell me that there was a sign in the window on one of these that said "You have just been passed by a Tucker".

Seems like a vehicle that couldn't do more than 15mph wouldn't need it, unless it was racing an Executive from Kentucky!