1948 Tucker Convertible: A Real Car or an Urban Legend?

Sep 19, 2011
Laure Justice

1948 Tucker Convertible - Tucker Convertible

Controversy remains (over 60 years later) about the authenticity of the only 1948 Tucker Convertible in existence.

The 1948 Tucker convertible is similar to the mythical Big Foot in that some people claim it's real, others claim it's just a legend, while still others have pictures of the elusive beauty. You have only to look at a picture of this unique vehicle to see that it is, indeed, a real car. The question remains, however; is this an original factory design or a skillfully crafted customization job?

Preston Tucker, His Designs, and His Company

Preston Thomas Tucker is described by his fans at The Tucker Club as "a car crazy kid who hung around speedways." Tucker went on to design not only the futuristic "Car of Tomorrow," the 1948 Tucker, but also the Tucker Turret WWII gun turret. A total of 51 1948 Tuckers had been built when the company closed. As of 2011, only 47 Tuckers remain.

Facts About the 1948 Tucker

While many of the features found in Tucker's original plans did not make it to the finished cars, the Tucker was designed with safety in mind, and many of its safety features were groundbreaking at the time, state of the art details that are still in use today. This car, for example, was the first car on the road to feature seat belts. Also unique to the Tucker, at the time, was the safety glass windshield and the Cyclops headlight that shifted directions to increase visibility for night driving.

Why Debate About the Authenticity of the 1948 Tucker Convertible Continues

This leads us to the debate about Tucker Convertible.

Alex Tremulis, the designer hired by Preston Tucker, claimed that the Tucker convertible was not a factory project, either official or unofficial.
Legend holds that the convertible was a secret, off-the-books prototype known as "Project Vera"; developed by Preston Tucker and named for his wife when the company was faltering.
The unfinished convertible is said to have later been sold to a Wisconsin car collector who completed the prototype.
No documentation has ever been produced by interested parties on either side of the debate; to prove or to disprove the authenticity of this visually stunning car.

While Tucker enthusiasts will probably never know for certain if the Tucker convertible was a factory car or simply a well-crafted customization project, it is certain that the Tucker was a car ahead of its time, created by a visionary designer who easily could have designed the convertible model, with safety features that are still valued over sixty years after its inception.

Laure Justice - Laure is a Topic Editor for Suite101, covering three topics. View her full profile for details and contact information.

Comments

Oct 13, 2011 11:47 AM

Guest :

Well, it is a real Tucker convertible because Preston Tucker's son John said he remember's a roof being cut off a Tucker at the factory. That's all he knew. I'm sure they didn't cut it off for just something to do. There had to be a reason. That reason is why #1057 exists today as a convertible.

Oct 13, 2011 4:16 PM

Guest :

It's a well known fact that Preston Tucker and Alex Tremulis had their ups and downs with each other. Tremulis was even let go of his employ at one time while working for Preston. Preston may have not let him in on everything because he may not have trusted him fully. I mean the car's design was already there to the credit of tremulis It wouldn't take any more designing to cut the roof off, just mechanical rehabing.

Oct 13, 2011 5:09 PM

Laure Justice :

Thank you for reading and for taking the time to leave comments. I really appreciate your input, and I can tell you know the Tucker story very well from the comments.

Oct 31, 2011 12:18 PM

Guest :

The Tucker Club has it's own problems, without dealing with their comments on the convertible. The convertible is the least of their problems looks like. I just read it on their own website called Tucker Topics. I went down the headings to " I learned everything I needed to know in kindergarden", dated Sept. 25, 2011. Maybe they should get their own act together before they opine on the convertible. Maybe they should comtemplate their navel first!

Nov 9, 2011 10:22 AM

Guest :

Could be the Tucker Club focused so much on the convertible, so nobody would be looking in the club's own backyard. Great diversion!

Nov 10, 2011 12:42 PM

Guest :

Don't know about the Tucker convertible being similar Big Foot, but it certainly has made a Big Impression in the collector car world!!! Sure is a significant...maybe even as great a the Bugatti they found a few years ago in England by the realtives of an eccentic doctor who had stored it away for decades before being rediscovered.

Dec 28, 2011 7:17 PM

Guest :

Yo, tucker club! just chill and let the tucker convertibel be what it is! A tucker convertibel, man!

Jan 4, 2012 8:54 PM

Guest :

The club just made the convertible more valuable than it should have probably been. I'm sure they didn't intend for that to happen! Just like Jesse James collectables are more valuable than Abe Lincoln collectables. Go figure! Notoriety sells!

Feb 6, 2012 10:59 AM

Guest :

The convertible story has since been proven to be a hoax. Since the story was fabricated, vintage documents, photos, letters and eyewitness accounts on the fate of #57 have come forward from numerous sources. The complete provenance of #57 is now known, and it doesn't include it ever being considered a convertible until the 1990's.

#57's body was a rusted hulk that was cut up to show the inner workings for the Tucker as part of the "Fabulous Tuckers" road show. The frame was strengthened at that time.

It sounds like the new owners are looking to pull the original frame and cowl out from under the convertible and put it back to its configuration that was documented in the LIFE magazine Tucker photos taken in 1950...

More complete answers can be found on the H.A.M.B. website.

Feb 12, 2012 12:38 PM

Guest :

Sorta like the Tin Goose that was a rusted hulk with 40 gallons of nut shells and debri left by the sqirrels back in 1970 in Pennsylvania. Someone said it was painted a rust color, but the rust on the car exceeded the rust color.

Feb 12, 2012 3:25 PM

Guest :

Curius question? If Tucker #57 was a "rusted hulk that was cut up" to show the inner workings for the Tucker for Fabulous Tuckers road show, then why would they take the time and spend all the money to strenghthen a "rusted hulk" just to show off the inner workings? Doesn't quite make sense. Not for a class act road show anyway! Then what inner workings would they show, since it was just a body with no mechanicals (inner workings again) to show. Sounds like a personal vendetta of some sort. Your're not connected in some way to the "past" Tucker club. I say past since they have been shut down since Oct., 2011 to any new blogging and their board disbanded.

Feb 13, 2012 9:15 AM

Guest :

To cut up a rusted hulk and then reinforce the frame to put in the road show called the Fabulous Tuckers" seems to silly to be true. Why spend all that money to fix up a rusted hulk to showcase in a "quality show" like Nick Jennin had, simply doesn't play out by the mere aspect of reason. And why would you do a cut away in the first place, when it was already a stripped down body to begin with no engine, no wheels, no interior, no glass, no gauges, no steering wheel or column,no fenders, no nothing. What more would you be able to see? If something seems to good to be true, it is to good to be true. The reverse works the same way, if something is to unreal to be true, then it is to unreal to be true. Let reason be the guide. Sounds like someone who connected to the club. Just a unfounded vendetta trying to revive itself.

Feb 13, 2012 11:41 PM

Guest :

Could be the rusty #57 hulk theory is being made by a person with a rusty memory. They never seem to be able to produce pictures of their claims or they use pictures of other cars that have rusted and apply to another car. I read the H.A.M.B. suggested by the theorist and the only photo is one #54 model Tucker. The picture of #57 seems mysteriously absent. Am I missing something here? No picture, no proof, as they say. Second, would be a notorized statement of some sort. Didn't see that either.

Feb 14, 2012 12:07 AM

Guest :

If the new owners are trying to put the convertible back to some version it was in some Life magazine photo, as some poster stated on here, then I'd say don't do it! Leave it like it is, for it is unique and a one and only. Don't convert the convertible! Who cares if it was a convertible from the factory or not!

Feb 14, 2012 1:04 PM

Guest :

Sure do agree! Yes sir! All that matters is that it is a Tucker, that somewhere somehow, it became a convertible! Who cares about anything else!

Feb 14, 2012 1:34 PM

Guest :

That hulk idea is just to hard to believe! To far-fetched and incredible! He must be the "Incredible Hulk"!

Feb 14, 2012 3:01 PM

Guest :

Rust is next to impossible to weld. And if you don't have enough metal there to weld, it won't hold or to thin to even weld in the first place. So don't know how you would strengthen the frame. He can't be a car guy or he would know that. Must be just a story!

Feb 22, 2012 9:53 AM

Guest :

Da Nile ain't just a river in Egypt!

What Sybil Dorsett in her multi-posts is suggesting is the same as finding a long-lost Ferrari GTO "Breadvan" prototype, building it into a "GTO convertible", and saying that people would want to see it because they made a convertible out of it, and then suggesting that it's what Enzo would have eventually done anyway.

Had just a little more research been done before they came up with the bright idea of developing a "get rich quick" story, they could have properly brought it back to something historically significant. Instead, it's now just the leftover of a hoax. It's the equivalent of buying one of Madoff's Mercedes. Sure, it's technically a nice car, but it's got seriously bad karma from all those deceived out of their life's savings. In the same way, the convertible fabricator had absolutely zero respect for Preston Tucker's survivors who had to endure almost a year's worth of lies about their family and the Tucker legacy. No amount of Meguiare's can clean that history from its sheetmetal...

Feb 22, 2012 9:55 AM

Guest :

Feb 22, 2012 10:44 PM

Guest :

Word is out on the street that Mr. T. Fan is about be visited from the legal begals.Skip Maui, go past go to Portland. Hope have doe. Will need it.

Feb 22, 2012 11:37 PM

Guest :

What's wrong with Madoff's Mercedes. I think in the future it will be worth alot. Unusual histories bring big dollars, especially as time passes. What would Billie the Kid's rifle be worth today? Not much back then, but now, priceless!

Feb 23, 2012 12:04 AM

Guest :

Is Da Nile ok? Is it da nile or just denile or just dah? Long lost GTO Breadvan prototype into GTO convertible.Left of a hoax, bad karma, life savings, Madoff's Mercedes, Meguiares. Rambling! Hard to follow, man! Is you ok? I want what your smoking!

Feb 23, 2012 12:24 AM

Guest :

I dated a girl once. Her name was Karma. And she was bad (but she was good), now that I think about it. I guess you could call that 'Bad Karma".

Feb 23, 2012 12:54 AM

Guest :

Love the Tucker banter! Not to get away from the main theme, but over charging for shipping on ebay is another get rich quick story, but you know some people have the audacity to do that ! They ship small priced items and then way over charge for shipping to make up for it in the most unscrupulous ways. Not to ethical! Talk about life savings disappearing! Now that's bad karma!

Feb 24, 2012 8:49 AM

Guest :

I think Preston Tucker's survivors suffered more from lact of respect by the association with the Tucker club that went down in flames, with accusations by their own members, than the so called Tucker convertible fabricator ever did. If one is found dirty, the other looks dirty also. Just a fact of life. The folks at the club picked that fight with the "fabricator", not vice versa. If you had a point, then state in a reasonable manner with all the professionalism and decorum that a site like yours should require. But they chose, as a club, to turn it into an all out brawl. They blew alot of stuff out of proportion, but that's what happens when you're dealing with people whose pride exceeds their reason. Have you ever heard of the the term, "getting ahead of yourself". Something to contemplate. Maybe looking for a scape goat would be better served at the door where it belongs My observation from the sidelines.

Feb 24, 2012 8:50 AM

Guest :

Feb 25, 2012 11:24 AM

Guest :

Maybe a bit to presumptous. If you had the only Ferrari Breadvan GTO Prototype (the one and only ever made by Ferrari) and you turned it into a GTO Convertible, I would like to see that! From the mere fact of the unusual anyway. Can't say, as a blanket statement, what most people would do. That would be a little to rash.

Feb 25, 2012 9:39 PM

Guest :

Ferrari GTO Breadvan prototyper has some rather odd analogies. Seems to be a little jealous that someone may make some money on that convertible. I don't particularly like Tuckers, but I suppose alot of people do, probably as a result of their unusual history. But whatever the convertible is, it will find it's own price on it's own without someone trying to pre-guess what it should be. Seems to be some kind of hidden agenda or internal conflict going on there.

28 Comments