Preston Thomas Tucker (September 21, 1903 – December 26, 1956) was an American automobile designer and entrepreneur. Events 1217 - The Estonian tribal leader Lembitu of Lehola was killed in a battle against Teutonic Knights. Year 1903 ( MCMIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar or a Common year starting Events 1481 - Battle of Westbrook - Holland defeats troops of Utrecht. Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the
He is most remembered for his 1948 Tucker Torpedo, an automobile which introduced many features that have since become widely used in modern cars. Year 1948 ( MCMXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The 1948 Tucker Sedan or Tucker '48 Sedan (also nicknamed the Tucker Torpedo) was an advanced Automobile conceived by Preston Tucker and briefly Production of the torpedo was shut down amidst scandal and accusations of stock fraud on March 3, 1949. The 1988 movie, Tucker: The Man and His Dream is based around the car's production. Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) Tucker The Man and His Dream is a 1988 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Jeff Bridges which tells the story of Preston
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Entrepreneur
With his new financial success, Tucker began an annual journey to the Indianapolis 500. The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, often shortened to Indianapolis 500 or Indy 500, and historically known simply as "The 500" is an American His enthusiasm for automobiles again getting the better of him, Tucker convinced Harry Miller, maker of more Indy 500-winning engines than any other in those years, to join him in building race cars, and Miller and Tucker, Inc was formed in 1935. Harry Arminius Miller ( December 9, 1875 – May 3, 1943) was an influential and famous American Race car builder most The company's first job was building 10 souped-up Ford V-8 racers for Henry Ford. The time to develop and test the cars was insufficient, however, and the steering boxes on all entrants overheated and locked up, causing them to drop out of the race. The design was later perfected by privateers, with examples running at Indy through 1948. Miller and Tucker, Inc moved to Indianapolis and continued race car development and construction until Miller's death in 1943.
Tucker moved back to Michigan intending to start his own auto company. He soon began designing a narrow-wheelbase armored combat car for the U. A military armored (or armoured) car (see spelling differences) is a wheeled armored vehicle lighter than other armored fighting vehicles primarily S. government. The car could reach over 115 mph (185 km/h), far in excess of the design specifications. It was rejected; however, the highly-mobile, power-operated gun turret the combat car featured earned the interest of the U. A gun turret is a device that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions S. Navy. The Tucker Turret was soon in production (initially at Tucker's Ypsilanti, MI shop); it was used in PT boats, landing craft, and B-17 and B-29 bombers. PT Boats were a variety of motor Torpedo boat ( Hull classification symbol "PT" for "Patrol Torpedo" a small fast vessel used by the Landing craft are Boats and seagoing vehicles used to convey a Landing force ( Infantry and Vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout During World War II, Tucker became associated with Andrew Jackson Higgins, builder of Liberty ships, PT boats and landing craft. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Andrew Jackson Higgins ( 28 August 1886 &ndash 1 August 1952) was the founder and owner of Higgins Industries, the New Orleans Higgins acquired Tucker Aviation Corporation (formed in 1940) in March of 1942, and Tucker served as a vice-president of Higgins Industries, specifically in charge of the Higgins-Tucker Aviation division. This entity was to produce gun turrets, armament and engines for Higgin's torpedo boats. Tucker severed his association with Higgins in 1943. (See: Andrew Jackson Higgins and The Boats That Won World War II, Strahan, LSU Press, 1994)
The 1948 Tucker Sedan
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A Tucker '48 Sedan patent illustration. The 1948 Tucker Sedan or Tucker '48 Sedan (also nicknamed the Tucker Torpedo) was an advanced Automobile conceived by Preston Tucker and briefly A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an
Studebaker was the first automobile company with an all-new post-war model. The 1948 Tucker Sedan or Tucker '48 Sedan (also nicknamed the Tucker Torpedo) was an advanced Automobile conceived by Preston Tucker and briefly Studebaker Corporation, or simply Studebaker, was a United States Wagon and Automobile manufacturer based in But Tucker, with his newly founded Tucker Corporation, took a different tack, designing a safety car with innovative features (some taken from aircraft) and futuristic, aerodynamic styling. In Motorsport, a safety car or pace car is a car which limits the speed of competing cars on a racetrack in the case of a caution period such His specifications called for a rear engine, disc brakes, fuel injection, the location of all instruments within the diameter of the steering wheel, and a padded dashboard. In Automotive design, a RR, or Rear-engine, Rear-wheel drive layout is one which places both the engine and drive wheels at the rear The disc brake or disk brake is a device for slowing or stopping the rotation of a Wheel. Fuel injection is a system for mixing fuel with air in an Internal combustion engine.
However, what looked visionary on paper was less successful in practice. Two examples: the mechanical fuel injection on the helicopter engines that Tucker used required frequent maintenance by skilled mechanics, and the disc brakes were hard to engage due to high pedal pressure.
Famed stylist Alex Tremulis, previously of Auburn/Cord/Duesenberg, was hired on December 24, 1946 and given just six days to finalize the design. Alexander Sarantos Tremulis (January 23 1914 in Chicago, United States - December 29, 1991 in Ventura California) was an industrial Auburn was a Brand name of American Automobiles produced from 1900 through 1936 Cord was the Brand name of a United States Automobile, manufactured by the Auburn Automobile Company from 1929 through 1932 and again Duesenberg was an Auburn Indiana based luxury Automobile company active in various forms from 1913 to 1937 and is most famous for their high-quality record-breaking Events 563 - The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by Earthquakes Year 1946 ( MCMXLVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. On December 31, 1946, Tucker approved the design, which would come to be popularly known as the "Tucker Torpedo". Events 406 – Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gallia. Year 1946 ( MCMXLVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. He had also hired another firm to create an alternate body, but only the horizontal taillight bar from that model appeared on the final car.
Demise of Tucker Corporation
One of Tucker's most innovative business ideas caused trouble for the company, however. His Accessories Program raised funds by selling accessories before the car was even in production. The son of the patent attorney to the Wright Brothers, Harry Aubrey Toulmin, Jr., and the then-chairman of the board of the Tucker Corporation, blew the whistle in a September 26, 1947 letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Harry Aubrey Toulmin Sr (1858 &ndash May 17, 1942) was the American Lawyer located in Springfield Ohio, who wrote the The US Securities and Exchange Commission (commonly known as the SEC) is an independent agency of the United States government which holds primary responsibility In the letter, Toulmin Jr. indicated that he quit "because of the manner in which Preston Tucker is using the funds obtained from the public through sale of stock. " He went on to say that President Tucker had ignored persistent requests that the $15 million "be spent and administered under… controls normal to legitimate business. " Described as "a tall, dark, delightful, but inexperienced boy," by Toulmin Jr. to news personnel, Toulmin Jr. added that [1] the Tucker 48 machine does not actually run, it just goes "goose-geese" and "I don't know if it can back up. "
In reply, Tucker stated that he had asked Toulmin to resign "to make way for a prominent man now active in the automobile industry. " The "prominent man" turned out to be Preston Tucker himself.
Tucker's innovative business idea was investigated by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the liberal Democratic United States Attorney Otto Kerner, and led to an indictment of Tucker and six other Tucker Corporation executives for fraud on June 10, 1949. United States Attorneys (also known as federal prosecutors) represent the United States federal government in United States district court and Otto Kerner is the name of two political figures from Illinois Otto Kerner Sr In the Common law legal system an indictment (ɪnˈdaɪtmənt (in-DITE-mint is a formal accusation of having committed a criminal offense Events 1190 - Third Crusade: Frederick I Barbarossa drowns in the Sally River while leading an army to Jerusalem Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
The trial began on October 4, 1949; coincidentally, Tucker Corporation's factory was shuttered on the very same day. Events 610 - Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. All told 37 Tucker '48s had been built; 13 were later finished from parts stores for a total production of 50 cars (not including the prototype). At trial the government contended that Tucker never intended to produce a car.
A former Tucker employee, engineer Frank Millender Kincaid, agreed with this allegation. He later said that the company never bought production machinery, leading to his suspicion that Tucker never intended to build the car, or at least was so over his head in the project that Tucker could not handle the massive undertaking and simply gave up. This, despite the fact that Tucker had the largest factory building under one roof (the former Chicago Dodge Plant that had been used for manufacture of aircraft engines during the war and leased to Tucker by the US government). The Dodge Chicago Aircraft Engine Plant was a World War II defense plant that built the majority of the B-29 bomber aircraft engines used in World War II The suspicion that the Tucker enterprise was a flimflam sham and headed for inevitable disaster led Mr. Kincaid, by his own statement, to quit the company. Tucker had 50 cars that he called "prototypes", each one hand built. Unlike production vehicles, these cars featured numerous running engineering changes, resulting in many detail differences.
After the Christmas recess, the trial turned in Tucker's favor. It went to the jury on January 22, 1950, and Tucker and the other executives were acquitted on all charges just seventeen hours later. Events 565 - Eutychius is deposed as Patriarch of Constantinople by John Scholasticus. Year 1950 ( MCML) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. However, Tucker Corporation, now without a factory, was no more.
Tucker's defense attorney William T. Kirby later became Chairman of the Board of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. William T Kirby (1911-1990 was a founding member of the board of directors and Chairman of the Board of the John D The John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation is a major private grant -making Private foundation based in Chicago that has awarded more than US$4 billion
The location of the former Tucker Corporation at 7401 S Cicero Ave, Chicago, IL 60629-5818, is now the corporate headquarters of Tootsie Roll Industries and the Ford City shopping mall (the name owing to ownership of the building for a time by Ford Motor Company). The building is so large that it was split in two, and even with a large open area between the two resulting buildings, each structure is still substantial.
Today, remaining original stock certificates for Tucker Corporation common stock, circa 1947, are valuable to collectors, and are worth more than when originally issued at their then share prices. (Source: Catalogued with an estimated value of between $ 2000 -$ 3000 by W. M. Smythe & Co. in New York City in 2003. The City of New York Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. )
Later life
Preston Tucker's reputation rebounded after the acquittal. Investors from Brazil even approached him about building a sports car, the "Carioca". A sports car is a term used to describe a class of Automobile. But he died from cancer before the project saw fruition. Otto Kerner, the US Attorney who had aggressively investigated Tucker for fraud, intriguingly became the first Federal appellate judge in history to be jailed — for stock fraud. Otto Kerner Jr ( August 15, 1908 – May 9, 1976) was Democratic Governor of Illinois from 1961 to 1968 United States Attorneys (also known as federal prosecutors) represent the United States federal government in United States district court and The United States courts of appeals (or circuit courts) are the intermediate appellate courts A judge, or justice, is an Official who presides over a Court of law
External links
- Tucker History and Photos - The Man and his Dream.
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