Advice for handbuilding replicars

[Paul]

Hello everyone,<br>
For the small minority of people who are looking to build Tucker replicas without the expense of the Ida offerings, some helpful hints can be found on www.LamboLounge.com.Here you can find a wealth of knowledge concerning building chassis' and the fabrication of bodyshells from fiberglass.<br>
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Paul <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p206.ezboard.com/btucker.showUserPublicProfile?gid=paul@tucker>Paul</A> at: 1/28/05 1:46 am<br></i>

[tomscord795cscom]

I need information on Tucker replicars.<br>
<br>
Where do I go? <p></p><i></i>

[Paul]

Don't know of any websites other than the one for Ida automotive, and thats just if you want to buy a bodyshell from them. Other than that, Lambolounge is for builders of Lamborghini replicas, but the body fabrication techniques and frame modifications that allow the use of the rear engine will apply to the Tucker also. If you are stuck, I can also give you other hints or info that can help you along. For instance, Donors for parts: An old GM A-Body(77'-96' Caprice) can be very handy for a perimeter frame center section, as well as for the interior. A sectioned 73' Pinto windshield is the perfect back window from what I have been told by a former TACA member. And if you look very carefully at LamboLounge on the section about the 350 car, you will see the use of longitudal rear wheel drive, which is as close as you are going to get to having an original Tucker engine setup.If you having any questions about the best powertrain to use or anything about the car, feel free to contact me at:metalpro_084@hotmail.com <p></p><i></i>

[RobS]

Anyone know how much Ida charges for the bodyshells? I had no idea they were offering the bodies alone, bu I guess they'd have to, with over half a million in development costs and only two cars built. I'd love to get my hands on one of those bodies and just store it till I have the cash to build the car. <br>
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They're bound to be more accurate than what Chick DeLorenzo sells, as his molds are from the movie, and as I understand it, the movie cars had no glass, only one opening door, and large cutouts for the front radiatior. Not exactly the right formula for a daily driver. <p></p><i></i>

[TuckerCar]

About $20k for the body alone. He's already sold a couple on eBay. <p></p><i></i>

[John Dore]

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[TuckerCar]

It was a few years ago.

[NailheadRocketdriver]

Wow, this thread had a reply recently, even though its a few years old. Yes, Im still interested in building a Tucker replicar. I have lost some of my sketches, but I'm going to be working on something a bit different. I will try to post a link to some new drawings when I'm done. I am going to be going to college for Manufacturing design this summer, so that will entail being familiarized with CAD. The next thing i would like to do is sketch out a car, transfer that to computer simulated model and then a real life clay model, perhaps 1/4 scale. I am looking at the original sketches for the Tucker car before they were toned down for the 1948 production model and I think that it would be interesting if the body of the 48' were "tweaked" a little bit by having a one piece wrap around windshield, a larger back window for improved visibility and slightly different rear fender engine vents. I think that had the real Tucker been updated in that way and the legal problems surrounding the car had not occurred, there would have been a Tucker even up to the 1955 model year. Beyond then, maybe it would have ended up like Hudson and would have had it's platform melded with another manufacturer. Who knows how advanced internal combustion engined cars would have gotten had Tucker been allowed to stay.

Paul

[Ganaraska]

Not to be a smartass but if you really want a Tucker you should buy a Corvair.

Tucker was working on a smaller car. If the car had ever been produced it would probably have come on the market around 1960 and resembled the Corvair in size and configuration.

I realize it's not the same thing. But with only 47 Tuckers in existence, it's probably the closest you are going to get.

[JWK]

Not to be a smartass but if you really want a Tucker you should buy a Corvair.

Tucker was working on a smaller car. If the car had ever been produced it would probably have come on the market around 1960 and resembled the Corvair in size and configuration.

I realize it's not the same thing. But with only 47 Tuckers in existence, it's probably the closest you are going to get.

Now there's an idea for a moneymaking cottage industry. Modify Corvairs (Porsches!?) would be better) with 3/4 sized Tucker body panels. Mini-Tuckers.

JWK

[NailheadRocketdriver]

I'm actually still getting a Corvair, lost out on a couple cheapies, but theyre still out there. That's not a Tucker though, not anything close. Vairs came from Tucker's hometown and I suppose it was a way of getting that Tucker individuality back, but then again, it was more of GM's way of taking a stab at the Europeans and at Ford's Mustang at the same time. I'm not planning on getting an original Tucker and I would never attempt at getting one, even if I had the half million to do it. I think it's kind of pointless to spend a chunk of money on a classic car that i can't even drive. Real Tuckers are more like a fine samurai sword or a biblical artifact, you can't look at them in the same way that you look at any car. They are pieces of history and they probably shouldn't even leave the hands of the collectors that own them. What I'm planning on doing is cobbling a custom car out of spare parts and some hand fabricated components the best I can. I know that it's doable because I have seen some pretty interesting customs here in MN when I attended MSRA Back to the 50s at the state fairgrounds on the 20th of this month. Many of the rodders out there have probably make the same or even less cash than I do and what they came up with to drive into the events were amazing. The mini Corvair idea though..... that is kind of interesting. It's been done though. If you look around on this site for a link, you will probably see a Corvair convertible with a fiberglass front grafted on. It's more of a parade car than anything else, but it works. My dad wanted a mini Tucker, but I think that a Corvair four door (even post 1964) with Tucker styling cues would just look ridiculous. I'm rethinking using scrap metal to build the car just as Ricardo did outside under a tree in California, but making everything from scratch by using fiberglass is also tempting. it would take longer, but I would get to use the frame that I want with the powertrain that i choose without a problem. making all those compound curves would be alot easier too. All I would need is complete blueprints and molds,then I'd have a Tucker that was lighter and didnt rust! and like the original car...... parts can be substituted in.