Tucker #1045

[CDB]

Hello Tucker Club members! I am new to this site but am excited to be able to post on same. I have submitted my application for membership. Let me begin my tenure by updating the info listed on this site for the dark blue Tucker car number 1045. It is currently owned by the O'Quinn Classy Classic Cars (a private museum) collection in Houston, Texas. As many of you are aware, Mr. John M. O'Quinn responsible for this collection was killed in a tragic auto accident last year in October. However his wonderful automobile collection remains intact with those in charge seeking to one day display the collection in a permanent public museum-"God Speed" on this endeavor I pray! This Tucker was recently on display at the Houston Space Center last year from the summer through the end of September. Charles D. Barnette

[CDB]

I want to further post that Mr. O'Quinn was probably cut from the same cloth as Preston Tucker. By that I mean both were colorful figures bigger than life! Mr. O'Quinn was a flamboyant trial attorney in Texas who handled the big cases. For example he represented Plaintiffs in the Tobacco Settlement Cases in Texas. He shared a common love with Mr. Tucker in that Mr. O'Quinn loved the automobile. Mr. O'Quinn amassed a collection of collector cars in Houston which by some estimates exceeded 1000 cars. I think it is most appropriate that he left this world owning a Tucker-it is just one more interesting facet of Tucker history! Our local museum (Tex-Ark Antique Auto Museum) in Texarkana, Arkansas, had the privilege of displaying some of the O'Quinn collection. In 2006 we displayed the one of a kind 1956 Motorama Cadillac Eldorado Brougham Town Car. In 2007 we displayed the White House 1962 Lincoln Continental First Ladies car known as the "small bubbletop", and in 2008 we displayed the one of a kind 1954 Motorama Buick Landau-all O'Quinn cars. This year we hope to display the Tucker number 1045. I will post when and give directions to our museum once the details are worked out-we are shooting for some time in May. I have seen 2 Tuckers in my lifetime in person-number 1016 at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, and one which was "rusk" in color at a car museum in Shreveport, Louisiana. I do own a Tucker radio with head that was never installed in a Tucker car-the radio was recently purchased by me in an antique shop in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Charles D. Barnette

[Tucker Fan 48]

#1045 is one of the cars that we haven't heard much about its history. Maybe someone can post where it has been
and who has owned it for the past 62 years.

[CDB]

As soon as I receive permission to post it from the photographer, I will post a picture of 1045 as it appeared last summer on display at the Houston Space Center. It was there as part of a display honoring George Lucas the famous film-maker (of course Lucasfilm produced the 1988 film "Tucker-The Man and His Dream"). The display ended in September of 2009. From that display I learned that Mr. O'Quinn owned this Tucker. This Tucker was displayed by a wall which contains numerous pictures of space crews starting with Project Mercury and continuing up through modern times. I believe this to be an appropriate setting for a Tucker. The photographer is David Temple noted author of "GM's Motorama" and "Full-Size Fords 1955-1970". Charles D. Barnette

[CDB]

Here is the photo of Tucker #1045 taken at the Houston Space Center commented on up above. David Temple, the photographer, has given permission for this photo to be posted here. The engine number of #1045 is 33551. Apparently this Tucker had a history in Ohio before coming to Texas. Charles D. Barnette

Tucker (2).jpg (204.29 KiB) Viewed 2991 times

[plancor 792]

Nick Jenin purchased Tucker 1045 many years ago from ? He sold it to Walter Bellm who displayed it in his museum "Cars and Music Of Yesteryear " in Sarasota, FL for many years. It was then sold to Bob Holland KOB Auto and a Nobuyo Sawayama.
The next owner was Dan Moodie of Moreland Hills, Ohio who sold it to John O'Quinn.
This Tucker has Serial number 1045; Body Number 1045; Style Number 481-19; ( all 4 door Tucker's have this Style Number) Wonder what Style Number they have on that convertible contraption? Tucker 1045 has Color Number 500 (Gray) and Trim Number 920..
There was a story that this Tucker was clocked at Sebring Florida in 1960 as going through the quarter mile at 131.62 MPH and was drivn by Marquis DePortago. Sebring has no record of this event and I am told by USAC that Marquis DePortago was killed in an accident prior to this taking place.
Richard

[plancor 792]

Something else really interesting. When Nick Jenin had what is now Tucker Serial Number 1045 it had Engine Serial Number 33551 and Tucker Serial Number 1037 which he also owned had Engine Number 33547. Nick personally told me that he painted all of his Tucker's, reupholstered them and also switched data plates. At one time Nick owned 12 or more Tucker's.
Richard

[plancor 792]

CDB,
The Tucker you saw in Shreveport, LA was Serial Number 1038. At the time it was owned by Bernard Glieberman. This was a fine running Tucker automobile that I drove several times in the late 70's when previous owner Bill Beard of Albany, GA owned it.
Richard

[tractiondk]

Richard, does that mean that you can't be sure about the serial numbers of the Jenin Tuckers. If so, is it not possible to identify them by the bodynumbers?

Torsten

[plancor 792]

CDB,
Have you physically checked the engine number on Tucker Serial Number 1045 ? I have gone through my records and everything I have says the engine in Tucker Serial Number 1045 is Serial Number 33551. I checked it years ago when it was at Bellm's and also checked Tucker Serial Number 1037 in 1972/73 when I went to Boston with the purchaser and helped drive it back to Columbus, GA. At that time Tucker Serial Number 1037 had Engine Serial Number 33547. If you get the opportunity to check it close up also look next to the data plate and see if the body number is stamped there. It would be two numbers only such as 45. The data plate would say the Body Serial Number is 10 followed by the same number that is stamped next to it. In this case it would say 1045. The engine serial number is difficult to read as it is stamped down next to the distributor. Flashlight comes in handy. On the Data Plate the Engine Serial Number is at the bottom of the plate in smaller size numbers than the ones used for the other numbers.
Richard

[CDB]

So the Tucker I saw in Shreveport was the green Tucker number 1038 that sold for over one million dollars in 2008. I assume it was repainted green to return it to its original color. An interesting incident occurred when it was at the Shreveport museum. Apparently a court ordered attachment was issued by an alleged creditor of the owner of the Tucker. Before the attachment could be made, the attorney for the owner decided to demand the Tucker from the museum and drive it out of the museum. He forgot however to check the Tucker's gas guage and ran out of gas only a few blocks from the museum at which time the attachment was levied and the car returned to the museum until the litigation could be settled. Moral: even attorneys can make mistakes by overlooking details. (I know because I am one!) Charles D. Barnette

[CDB]

I posted that the engine number was 33547 on # 1045 only because that is the information I read on Wikipedia and not from any visual inspection of 1045 which is a 6 hour drive away from me. I did not realize that I was opening up "a can of worms" by doing so. I will email the archivist of the O'Quinn collection to see if he will do a visual inspection. Otherwise I will do it when it comes to Texarkana in May if the estate of Mr. O'Quinn allows same to come. You have got to love the fact that the Tucker can still throw some "curve balls" ever now and then! Charles D. Barnette

[TuckerCar]

"Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject. So you know you are getting the best possible information."

-Michael Scott in The Office

[CDB]

I got you-it is a good place to start your research but not end it there! Charles

[CDB]

My apologies to everyone including Wikipedia. I went back and found my source for the engine number of Tucker 1045. It was from a post on this site that I misread. I read the summary instead of going to the actual post which does indeed list engine number 33551 for Tucker number 1045. See I said lawyers make mistakes too. However I still want to visually inspect 1045 for myself. I truly hope I get that opportunity. Charles D. Barnette-I will correct my earlier post.