Hello there,<br>
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My name is Jack Hamlett. I am currently doing an automotive history project as a 3-credit individual independent study (History 399) for Dr. Tatarewicz at the University of Maryland (UMBC). My paper focuses on American engine history and includes the contributions from various makes including Tucker. Mr. Jay Follis of the Tucker Historical Collection and Library at the Gilmore Car Museum sent me a great article on Tucker that Mr. Richard Jones wrote. I also have corresponded some with Mr. Dave Cammack, the owner of that beautiful collection of Tucker cars in Virginia. I plan on visiting this collection within a few months. What a fabolous collection! By May, I will have completed a paper that will consist of 15 pages of Acknowledgements, 40 pages of text, 20 pages of photos/illustrations, and about 20 to 25 pages of bibliograpy. Although I am doing this in depth history project, I am a chemistry major who is equally interested in both automotive history and the future of the auto industry. One of my favorite cars of all-time is definitely the Tucker. Wow! What an automobile. If Tucker had succeeded, the Big Three would have had to step aside, indeed. Deeply inspired by men like Henry Ford and Preston Tucker, I am interested in building a modern-day Tucker or Tucker-like automobile. In fact, with this in mind, I am in the process of setting up an automotive project at the University of Maryland which will probably end up as a joint project between (1) the Chemistry Department, (2) the Engineering Department, and (3) UMBC's chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers. The plan is to obtain a typical American V8 from the 1960's or 1970's and strip all emissions equipment off the motor. Then, various known fuels/fuel additives will be tested in the engine, with efficieny and emissions being tested. Then, we will synthesize a new fuel additive/new fuel and test it in the engine. The goal is to develop a new fuel/new fuel additive that will (1) be more efficient than current gasoline, (2) put out far less emissions than current gasoline, and (3) work in the V8 with hopefully a minimal amount of modifications to the engine.<br>
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With the development of this new fuel/fuel additive, work on building an actual modern-day Tucker will begin. The use of titanium, made cheap by the FFC process used by the British Titanium Co. (see their website at <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.britishtitanium.co.uk/">www.britishtitanium.co.uk/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> ), would help set this car apart from other vehicles.<br>
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Anyone interested in helping to fund this fuel project at the University of Maryland and the construction of a modern-day Tucker out of titanium may contact me at h16@umbc.edu or my advisor, Dr. Lisa Kelly, at lkelly@umbc.edu<br>
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Sincerely,<br>
Jack Hamlett<br>
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