Tucker Transmission Discussion at A.C.D. Club

[P.J.]

I was out searching the internet for a gear selector to use in my planned mock up of a Tucker dash when I stumbled across a discussion about Tucker transmissions at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg club.

http://forums.acdclub.org/phpbb2/viewto ... ght=tucker

I thought everyone here might find it as interesting as I did.

As long as I'm on the subject of transmissions I was wondering if the Tuckers that had the Tuckermatic used the same gear selector as the ones that used the Cord transmissions or if it was different.

[Tucker Fan 48]

The only surviving automatic transmission car is Dave Cammacks #1026. I don't have any interior photos of it in
my collection. My understanding is that in order to shift #1026 you need to shut off the engine to shift it. This
was an automatic built by Warren Rice and sometimes is referred to as the R-1. With the R-1 you could not engage
the transmission when the car engine was running. It had to be put into either forward or reverse then start the engine.
The automatic transmission was never perfected in the Tucker. They were working on it as the plant closed.

The only other automatic transmission Tucker was #1042 which was sold at the plant auction with no engine and was
parted out in Illinois during the mid-50s.

[P.J.]

Wow. I can't imagine having to shut off the engine to shift gears. It's too bad the Tuckermatic was never fully developed, if only there had been more time.

[Tuckerfan1053]

That's okay, the Tuckermatic transmission would do 50 MPH in reverse, so it sort of made up for the fact that you had to shut the engine off to change directions!

[MD]

Here's a couple pics of the interior of #1026 showing the unique shifter "gate".... Certainly nothing like the Cord or Y-1 selector!!

[Tucker Fan 48]

Thanks MD for the pictures !

I notice in the photos that #1026 has an early dash plate with holes for the radio controls.
Just another area where every car is different as they were all really just prototypes.

[P.J.]

Those are some interesting pics. I think it's safe to assume the shifter positions would be up for forward, middle for Park and down for reverse.