Which car was it?

[MrsBeck]

Forgive me if this seems like a silly question, but I've been going through the pictures on the site trying to figure out which matches a family photo and I'm coming up empty. The car in my picture is black and has an Illinois license plate # 1 19. My grandfather used to drive it home on weekends sometimes. I'd love to know which car it was so I can learn more about that particular car. Can anyone figure which one it is?

[TuckerCar]

Who was your grandfather? Can you post a copy of the picture?

[plancor 792]

The Tucker with licence tag 1-19 was possibly Tucker Serial Number 1019. I have photos showing this vehicle at B & B Auto Sales, Inc on the 24th. of August 1948 with photos of the Mayor of Wadesboro, N. C. B. J. Hill. Also other photos of same vehicle with Alton A. Cox, President of B. & B., J. M. Farlow, Vice President and C. M Bunting, Sec. & Treasurer all of B. & B. Also have a photo of Mrs. W. D. Covington sitting in the car.
Mrs. Beck, who was your grandfather, and what part of the country did he live in? Could you post a photo of the car? It would help us determine the exact idenity of the car your grandfather drove home.
Most of these cars were driven around the country to dealer showings and as far as I know, no real records were kept as to the location of each vehicle on a specific date. On the 24th. of August 1948 this car was in Wadesboro, N. C. How long it stayed there and where it came from and went to is unknown.

Richard

[MrsBeck]

My grandfather's name is Emil Moreno. He worked with Tucker in Chicago. It stands to reason the car he drove would have been one of the earlier ones made since he has pictures of the exhibition (where everything went wrong) in his photo albums back home. He was an automotive and aeronautical engineer and from what I understand had some part in the design process (suspension maybe?).

He used to tell us about interviewing with Preston Tucker - it was apparently quite the experience. Preston was shaving when he entered the room and the interview lasted exactly as long as it took him to finish. I can post the pictures I have as soon as I can find a way to scan it in. I also have some neat pictures from a parade when they were trying to keep the plant open. My mom is sitting on a float with a giant engine and the side of the float says "We like our jobs, keep the Tucker plant operating."

He also like to tell us about a cop that pulled him over to give him a speeding ticket in the Tucker - and then promptly asked if he could take it for a spin himself. He wanted to see how fast it would go!

Anyway, I appreciate the help. It's hard piecing all this together now and I'm grateful for whatever I can find out.

[Larry Clark]

Your grandfather was indeed involved with suspension design. He is listed as being the Project Engineer for Front Suspension in the 5/6/48 organization chart for the Engineering Department. L. Beckman worked with your grandfather as a layout draftsman. In another listing of the same date, J. Shimkus is listed as being a layout draftsman working with your grandfather. I would guess that his boss at this time was R. Grover, Chief Project Engineer for Suspension. N. Snyder and L. Beckman are listed as working on the rear suspension.

Larry Clark

[TuckerCar]

That is so interesting. We'd love to see the photos here and certainly the club would like to have copies for historical purposes. If you can manage to get them scanned, you can email them to me and I can host them on the club's server.

webmaster@tuckerclub.org

[MrsBeck]

Wow! Thank you! That is so cool. Where do you find all of this information?

I have been working on scanning the pictures in and will also email you some pictures I took of 1033 just recently here in Maine when it was shown at a car show. The next time I go home I'll see about scanning in more of my grandfather's photos. I only have these three small ones here with me because my Mom is in them.

[Preston]

This is a good example of this site having a scrap book area
where we can view rare images of the Tucker car...
Not shots from car shows and museums, but truely rare
photos of the cars.
Thank you MrsBeck for sharing your photos and memories to this club/site.

[MrsBeck]

You're welcome. I appreciate the information! It's great to know this site exists and I can fill in some of the gaps - so to speak. Not to mention that you won't think I'm silly for getting all sentimental over a car I've never even owned (like most folks do).

I emailed him the old pics this morning and I will work on the car show pics tonight. Hopefully, he can find a way to share them. I no longer host a website, so the "usual" way I would have done it is not an option anymore.

Enjoy!

[TuckerCar]

[Preston]

You're helping to “Keep the Legend Alive”... great photos
Is that a Tucker engine on the float?... how cool...
Keep them coming!
Thanks Again...

[Larry Clark]

You asked where I found the information involving your grandfather. I initially found the Engineering Department roster back in mid-1980s when going through court records associated with the Tucker criminal trial that are yet stored at the National Archives in Chicago. Today the crimina, bankruptcy and civill records associated with Tucker yet at the Archives are without much order which makes things hard to find. However, at least many copies of original Tucker company things remain there. I subsequently received a copy from a family of a former Tucker employee who would have been at the plant when your grandfather worked there. It is pretty amazing how many copies of company documents are around, and of course many, many company originals are in Dave Cammack's collection.

Larry

[Tuckerfan1053]

Great photos!

[MrsBeck]

Larry,

Thanks for the info. I'll have to try and plan a visit there next time I'm home and see what I can find. Don't ask me why I never thought about court records (my other grandfather is a judge), but I didn't. A little slow on the uptake, I guess!


So does anyone have any ideas on which car it might be? Or is it impossible to tell with just this picture?

[Larry Clark]

I had a little time this afternoon to go back through some of my papers to try to help you learn which Tucker car is in the picture. For reasons that I will share with you, I believe it was #1030.

The employee parade was on Thursday, July 8. However, the picture shows your grandmother with a coat on- not a common occurrence in Chicago in July. There are still leaves on the tree and grass in bloom in the picture so I would guess the picture is in early fall.

Only three black cars had been built by October 6, 1948, the day the company made an inventory list of all cars built to that day. The cars and locations were as follow:

1016- New York metropolitan area.
(1019 that was Grey was in the Seattle area)
1021- in Salt Lake City area.
1030- was assigned to Engineering where your grandfather worked.

Again, there were no other black Tucker cars as of this date.

I will put my bet on the picture being of Tucker car 1030. This car is sometimes said to have been Preston Tucker's personal car. Perhaps. It was sold at the bankruptcy auction on October 18, 1950.

You can see the car today at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. The TACA web site has a picture of the car (can get to it by this link:
http://www.tuckerclub.org/html/display_ ... mber=1030&.

Larry