Another question 1942 Olds?

[tuckerfan1941]

OK---- according to the movie & apparently the court case the Basis for the Tin Goose was a 42 Olds from a JUNKYARD.
It is an acceppted fact that the Tin goose WAS built from a 1942 Olds (except for a few references on here claiming it to be a Buick) which was restyled with a literal "ton of lead" .
Rebuilding a 42 model car presents no problem, however the claim that it was a junk car bought from a junkyard beggers the mind.
The reason I say this is that in early 1942 all auto production in the US was halted & all car sales from dealer stock were frozen , with many being put into military service or only being released after extensive gov't red tape & then only to those that were deemed essential to obtain an existing new car.
As a result, for the duration of the war extreme actions were often taken to keep a car operating & on the road. It would seem unlikely that just a year after the war ended a 5 year old car would end up in a junk yard short of being hit by a train or some equally horrendous fate, which of course would have rendered it beyond restyling for use as the goose. It would seem more likely that it would have been bought from a used car lot or private owner. So was it really in a junkyard? Seems unlikely to me.

[NailheadRocketman]

I believe that it was alleged that Buick parts were used for the convertible, not the Tin Goose. However, an Olds fastback and a Buick fastback from the same model year shared the same chassis. It does sound odd, but during the late 1940s and 1950s, America was somewhat of a throw away society when it came to cars. 1946-47 were postwar years, so it doesn't seem so far fetched that someone would dispose of a car that they had during the war, in favor of something like a new "modern" Studebaker or Kaiser (and it wouldn't take horribly long to cobble together a crude prototype from some preexisting parts). America had used car lots back then, but not everyone at the time traded their old rides in. I've been to French Lake auto parts near Annandale MN and I have seen long rows of old Kaisers from various years (even up to 1954) that were just tossed away with what appeared to be nothing wrong with them. People get bored of their cars and some people had money to burn and some didn't. The same thing happened until recently when the economy started to go bad, and people started to realize that it was more cost efficient to maintain and preserve the vehicle that they own rather than trade it in, sell it or scrap it. That's just my guess about this whole thing, but it might be an issue better addressed by TACA members. However, from what i've seen from the Tucker film, it does indeed appear that a scrap yard 42 Olds was used to make the Tin Goose.

[Tuckerfan1053]

According to The Indomitable Tin Goose, the Olds was selected because Tremulis felt that it had the strongest frame available. Its entirely possible that the car had been wrecked, and that's why it was in the scrapyard. It must have been handy and cheap for them to use the Olds, rather than building their own frame (Tucker's crew certainly had the necessary skills to build their own).

[NailheadRocketman]

According to The Indomitable Tin Goose, the Olds was selected because Tremulis felt that it had the strongest frame available. Its entirely possible that the car had been wrecked, and that's why it was in the scrapyard. It must have been handy and cheap for them to use the Olds, rather than building their own frame (Tucker's crew certainly had the necessary skills to build their own).

Ah, forgot to mention the frame strength. From what i remember, the Olds was an intact car though. Sometimes cars were scrapped because of blown engines/transmissions, but there were still more that were tossed away for reasons less serious than that. I guess in the case of the many Kaisers I found, it was probably because of their weak 223 Continental inline sixes which were efficient, but were mules when it came to horsepower or torque. they were slow cars and Kaiser owners probably weren't willing to deal with the perceived "hassle" of their trading their cars in or attempting to sell them. In the case of the Olds, it's either the fact that it was a war period car that was probably tired out, or any number of things. It had to be a mostly undamaged car though, atleast concerning the body and the frame because it needed to be in order to be modified into the form that was to be the Tin Goose. The Tucker crew cut the body down and modified many surfaces on the car and added lead where it was difficult for modified surfaces to be filled. It's really amazing what they did, and what Ricardo is doing right now in California reminds me alot of the Tin Goose. Except... he's using a Mopar body if I remember correctly.

[TUCKER]

The Tin Goose also had Kaiser and Mopar parts in it! It would really not be that hard to build the Tin Goose since most of the parts that were used were parts available at the yank yard but the engine was the big main thing to build. If you look at a 1942 Dodge, 1942 Olds, 1946 and 1947 Kaiser and a few other parts here and there you will find most of the parts to build the Tin Goose but you must cut the sections with the shapes you need and weld them all together just like I'm doing with the Tucker I'm putting together. The Tin Goose was not only made from a 1942 Olds! It was anly started with it to make the frame and part of the body was used like the roof and other sheet metal like part of the rear fenders. Once again the Tin Goose is not out of the 42 Olds only but sheet metal from other cars also. Even the taillites from the 42 Dodge were recycled but changed a little. It takes about 4 or 5 cars to put together the Tin Goose. Also one funny thing is that was the rest of the Olds body at the plant after the Tin Goose was finished and some 1942 Dodge bodies that were seen.

[Randy Earle]

The Tin Goose also had Kaiser and Mopar parts in it! It would really not be that hard to build the Tin Goose since most of the parts that were used were parts available at the yank yard but the engine was the big main thing to build. If you look at a 1942 Dodge, 1942 Olds, 1946 and 1947 Kaiser and a few other parts here and there you will find most of the parts to build the Tin Goose but you must cut the sections with the shapes you need and weld them all together just like I'm doing with the Tucker I'm putting together. The Tin Goose was not only made from a 1942 Olds! It was anly started with it to make the frame and part of the body was used like the roof and other sheet metal like part of the rear fenders. Once again the Tin Goose is not out of the 42 Olds only but sheet metal from other cars also. Even the taillites from the 42 Dodge were recycled but changed a little. It takes about 4 or 5 cars to put together the Tin Goose. Also one funny thing is that was the rest of the Olds body at the plant after the Tin Goose was finished and some 1942 Dodge bodies that were seen.

Too bad you can't make us a diagram showing what Dodge, Kaiser, and Olds parts were used and where they went. I would be VERY interested in that.

[TUCKER]

I will see about working on a diagram later. where it show how the Tin Goose was put together. I did not think about that before. Thank you for the idea.

[Randy Earle]

You are welcome Ricardo, I'll be looking forward to it.