The 1948 Tucker Torpedo. A one year only vehicle that caused huge problems in Detroit! This could have been a really great car if they had left Preston Tucker alone and just let him make his cars. It was way ahead o the times with an aluminum flat six engine, four wheel disc brakes, rear engine and transaxle, and four wheel independent suspension. Only fifty one of these iconic cars were ever made. Sad.
In my former life, I had a vendor that did high end car restorations. They did the exterior restoration mentioned (plus some mechanical) in this article...they’re the “shop in nearby Sun Valley”.
Rare Tucker 48 formerly owned by George Lucas headed to auction
Rare Tucker 48 formerly owned by George Lucas headed to auction
www.latimes.com
The owners of the car were into the exterior/mechanical restoration for nearly $300k ...it was an incomplete early prototype and they had to fabricate nearly everything.
Funny story and I’ll keep it brief:
My dad is an “embellisher” and tells tall tales.
My vendor had an invite-only open house, the Tucker restoration was a focal point.
The president of the Tucker owners club was there, he had written a book documenting every known example. Knows literally everything about every single car.
So I’m talking to him, and my dad blurts-our “my buddy just found one of these in a barn about a month ago!”
The president of the Tucker club got a confused look on his face, I whisk my dad away, and that’s the last time I was able to take my dad to an industrial-insider car show
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