Tucker Documents

[CDB]

I have in my hands two documents which are the yellow copies for the purchaser and customer respectively. Both are dated August 2, 1948. Once I receive permission to post them by the owner, I will do so. These document are between an individual in Arkansas and the Arkansas Tucker Sales Corporation in Little Rock, Arkansas. One document is labeled "Tucker Accessory Purchase Order". In this printed form, the Purchaser is buying "Plastic Group No. 2" which consists of one Woman's Wardrobe Case, one Woman's Companion Case, One Approved Tucker Automobile Radio, and one Approved Set of Tucker "Royal" Rayon Seat Covers. Total price after taxes is $235.62 (of that the radio alone is $96.50). The other groups he could have chosen with different prices depended on whether he wanted men's suitcases or women and men's suitcases and whether plastic or top grain cowhide was to be the fabric of the suitcases. In all there were 6 groups to choose from. This type of document I am sure is what brought on the lawsuit from the Securities Exchange Commission and what helped Tucker raise 2 million dollars for needed funds. The second printed document is labeled "Sequence Allotment" and concerns the fact that the customer will be able to buy the 35th car received by the dealer and the customer will retain ownership of his Tucker for one year with the dealer having the first right to buy back the car back should the customer want to sell during that year. The customer agrees to make reports every 3 months to the dealer on written forms about the maintenance and operation of the car. Bottomline, the individual never got his accessory group or a Tucker. Does the club have copies of these documents or similar ones in their possession? Charles D. Barnette

[Tuckeroo]

I have a set of documents like that and have seen them come up for sale from time to time. The ones I have are blanks, however, as are all the others I've seen.

[CDB]

What would be the approximate value of filled out original documents which is what the customer (customer's copies) retained from the original transactions? Charles

[TuckerCar]

No offense, but I have a box of them from a Tucker Dealership of which I purchased the remains. They're probably worth $30. As I recall I tried to sell some once on eBay and didn't get much interest.

[Tuckeroo]

No offense, but I have a box of them from a Tucker Dealership of which I purchased the remains. They're probably worth $30. As I recall I tried to sell some once on eBay and didn't get much interest.

That's probably about right. I bought mine at a TACA meet spending spree and in the end I can't remember what I paid for those items exactly, but seems they are fairly common. I don't know if they're being filled out would add/subtract value but I can't imagine it would unless it was signed by a famous prospective purchaser or instructions were given to lop the roof and the rear doors off.

[CDB]

Nevertheless it feels strange to hold in my hands the very kind of documents that both helped Tucker to produce the great Tuckers and then caused the ultimate demise of Tucker. From the high of the Tucker Accessory Program to the ruin brought about by the unwarranted lawsuit of The Securities Stock Exchange Commission. I guess this paradox helps give fodder to the attraction to the Tucker Automobile. Charles D. Barnette

[TuckerCar]

Yep, it is cool stuff. That's why many of us collect it!

When I bought that dealership paperwork, the widow didn't look through it all. She basically described it as a 2-inch stack of papers.

Imagine my surprise when I found the original cancelled check used to purchase the dealer franchise, endorsed by none other than Preston Tucker himself! Not a stamp or a reproduction, but a honest to God ink signature. Needless to say, that check sits in a fire-proof safe today.

[CDB]

Do we know if any of the Tuckers was delivered through the dealership of Arkanasas Tucker Sales Corporation of Little Rock, Arkansas? If so what Tucker or Tuckers came through this dealer if any? Thanks. Charles D. Barnette

[TuckerCar]

No dealership ever delivered a Tucker.

[CDB]

In reviewing the copies of the Tucker documents made the subject of this thread more closely, it to me reveals great marketing and fact gathering innovation that would have made Tucker Corporation highly competitive. I am talking about this sentence in the Sequence Allotment form: "The customer also agrees that during the first year of ownership of said motor car he will make reports on forms to be supplied by the dealer for that purpose concerning the operation and maintenance of said car at the end of each period of three (3) months of ownership, or at the end of each three thousand (3,000) miles of operation, whichever is sooner." This is long before "Consumer Reports" and mailout surveys! What other car maker did this in 1948? The two forms I have were filled out. They were signed by a Mr. Rick Short for the Ark.Tucker Sales Corp. as the dealer and by a Mr. Shaw as the buyer. The dealer was in Little Rock, Arkansas; and the seller was in Hot Springs (sort of brings in Arkansas into Tucker history). Again these documents were dated August 2, 1948. Since the car alloted to Mr. Shaw would have been the 35th (indicated in the blank for that purpose-however it looks like number 35 is later crossed out and No.one written up above it with the dealer's initials) received by the dealer, then I take it that the dealer had 35 orders for new Tuckers by said date.The dealership is shown to have been located at 1509 Louisiana Street in Little, Rock. A search on the internet shows a picture of the building that is located at that address which was built in 1911 and started out as a garage but has been an auto painting shop, a bakery, an electrical supply store, an auto glass company, and now is an apartment building. Great Tucker history could have been made here other than just through the Sequence Allotment and Tucker Accessory Purchase Order forms. (There are two Texarkanas-my hometown-back to back with one in Texas and one in Arkansas 120 miles from Little Rock.) But the biggest surprise on these forms was the Franchise Number of Ark. Tucker Sales Corp. The number is handwritten in as 30200 on both forms. Now are we to believe or was it made to look like that there were 30,199 franchises sold before this one or is this some type of coded number? Charles D. Barnette

[CDB]

The building located at 1509 Louisiana Street in Little Rock, Arkansas, wanted to sell at least 35 new Tuckers in early August 1948 and never got to have one come through its doors. In 2010, my legal assistant, Carla Tynes, and I are giving it two Tuckers through the magic of "photoshop". Here is the result! Charles D. Barnette