Tucker #1031

[ebres63081]

The Breslow Collection is proud to announce the acquisition of Tucker #1031!

I've been after a car for many years and after my disappointing run in Monterey on 1045 I had almost given up! But with a little help from some friends I started the old school letter writing campaign and received a response from Elk Point, South Dakota.

So off I went from Los Angeles to Omaha, Nebraska. Drove to Sioux City, Iowa spent the night and the following morning met Mr. Bill Busker (Jay Busker's son.) Bill is a great guy who helped his father with the Tucker over the years. I believe the Busker families goal was to see this car treated with the same enthusiasm as their dad did for some 45+ years.

There's hundreds of letters of documentation that were still going through but the basics are: Preston Tucker kept this car after the factory closed. He is reported as showing up in his "powder blue" Tucker at various events. After his death Vera kept the car. Charles Pearson was good friends with Jay Busker and the Tucker family. In 1961-63 Charles helped broker a deal between Jay Busker and Vera Tucker for 1031. Charles never owned the car. There is a clear bill of sale between Vera Tucker and Jay Busker. The car was then transported to South Dakota where it remained until last week!

I will post regular updates on our progress but the car will be sympathetically refreshed under the technical direction of Martyn Donaldson. Our first problem was "Vera" wouldn't roll. Drums were frozen! So all four corners have been dismantled. We believe these are the original brake linings that stopped the car on Indy in late 48'. Gas tank is out for cleaning and cooling system will be addressed too. One surprise was that Martyn was able to hand feed the carb some gas and 31 turned right over!

We are also busy constructing a Tucker gallery where rare and never before seen documents and factory artifacts will be preserved and displayed. There are several original documents from Ypsilanti Tool, Aircooled Motors and Tucker Corp. along with engine 33595 that came from the Busker collection. (Can we say Commack WEST!!??) Once ready any Tucker club member can request an appointment and stop by!

Ill post pics as we go also!

Regards,
Eric
Los Angeles, California

[Larry Clark]

Eric- This is great news that you have acquired the car. It will be exciting for us TACA members who so love the car but cannot afford one to vicariously experience what owning a Tucker car, especially such a noted car, might be like from your sharing with us. Thank you. Martyn will do a great job with the car. Best wishes. As others, I look forward to your next postings on #1031.

Larry

[Tucker Fan 48]

Eric,

Best of luck with Vera. It's a beautiful car and I'm so glad it won't be sailing off like
many other Tuckers have done recently.

#1031 is one of the most historical Tuckers as it was owned by Preston and Vera Tucker.
It remained in the Tucker family longer than the other car and it is painted in Vera's very
own Waltz Blue. Jay and Eva Busker were two of the original group of 14 people that met
on July 15th, 1973 and formed TACA. Not many Tuckers have so few owners and none has
the elite group that yours has.

Tucker #1031 was also one of seven Tuckers that were tested by the Tucker Corporation
at the Indianapolis Speedway between September 16th and October 5th, 1948.

Since I'm not there to personally tip my hat to you on your success, I'll let Preston Tucker
do it for me in a photo of him driving the very car you now own !

Preston Tucker in 1031.jpg (82.02 KiB) Viewed 1141 times

[ebres63081]

Tucker1031.JPG (99.11 KiB) Viewed 1183 times

Then and now....

[Tucker Fan 48]

Best Wishes signed personally by Jeff Bridges

Jeff Bridges.jpg (60.37 KiB) Viewed 1152 times

[Phantomrig]

Congrats on an amazing purchase, I patiently wait to see more pics of your progress with 1031.

[TuckerCar]

Always good to see a car go into the hands of a TACA friend. Congratulations. And I know from first-hand experience that Martyn is very good with locked-up Tucker brakes...

1038 brakes lock-up in Ypsilanti 2008

0621081529a.jpg (103.71 KiB) Viewed 1113 times

Martyn's squatting in the middle and eventually got the car moving. The guy under the car was Ken Wallace and Terri Lobzun (sp?) on the right from RM.

[plancor 792]

Eric,
Good to hear Tucker 1031 has a new home and that work will start on it. When it came to Richmond for the movie it was in sad condition. Jay had really not done much with it so Russ Brownell and I spent hours correcting problems so it would be in the lineup for the movie. Personally, I have never liked the Tucker's brakes. First off they are too hard to adjust properly and then when you have brakes and go down the road at 60-70 miles an hour they just don't have the braking power needed to stop this big automobile in a reasonable distance. That is my personal opinion after driving many Tucker's through the years. Disc brakes would have been a big improvement.
Richard