The 1948 Tucker TorpedoThe Beginnings
Preston Tucker, an automotive engineer who helped to design Miller racing cars before World War II, almost realized his ambition of producing a "completely new" passenger automobile after the war. He and his business associates leased a former Dodge aircraft plant in Chicago for this purpose. Fifty-one nearly identical Tucker automobiles, which were designed by Tucker, Alex Tremulis and J. Gordon Lippincott and Company, were built in 1948 before the Tucker Corporation became embroiled in fraud allegations. Shortly thereafter, the company was forced to go out of business.
|
This is the Henry Miller and Preston Tucker race car.
|
Tucker Draftsman, Jimmy Sakuyama's actual drafting table. 
The design process began in 1946 as shown in these illustrations. 
|
Preston needed to raise capitol for the growing company. The only options at the time were selling stock, and dealerships. Here a couple of examples of the certificate. 
One of the spiffs for a new Tucker dealership was this radio. Everybody who bought a Torpedo got one, installed from the dealer free of charge. 
Another option was luggage as part of a package. Thankfully, there are still examples today. 
In 1947, Joseph Ida saw the photographs of the new Tucker Torpedo and was so taken with the car, the company and the concept, he pooled his savings with his three brothers to invest in a Tucker dealership. It would be Ida Brothers Tucker. He hoped someday his young son Robert might enjoy automobiles and carry on the Tucker dealership. Joseph Ida never opened his Tucker dealership. He never received any cars to sell. He never owned a single Tucker. 
The Ida family did not give up, and now offer an official fibrglass replica of the 1948 Torpedo. The link to their site is on the main page 
|
