7401 S. Cicero Ave.

[Ohio AMX]

Googling the Tucker street address now brings up Tootsie Roll Industries, and checking the aerial view shows the south end of the building apparently converted into stores which border a shopping mall. Still an imposing building, does anyone have a circa 1948 view handy for comparison?

http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?w ... UzNjA0MTI=

[John K.]

Hi! I don't have such a photo, but there's one in the "Indomitable Tin Goose" book by Charles Pearson. The reason that the Tootsie Roll is called the official candy of the Tucker Club of America is that it's being produced in the same building that the 1948 Tucker sedan was built in. Maybe the same area of the building too, I don't know. Part of the old Tucker factory area is now Ford City Mall, part of it is numerous small companies, and part of it is torn down.

[Tuckerfan1053]

A quick google flail turned up this image of the plant from roughly that era:



It also turned up (and I'd have never thought to look for it if you hadn't asked Ohio AMX) this piece on Hemmings showing inside the plant during the war years:

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009 ... ght-stuff/

It claims to show them pouring magnesium in one of the photos, but I find that a little hard to believe. I've poured magnesium and you do not want it exposed to air (it has the annoying habit of bursting into flames when it gets hot, you see, and there's a whole lotta nothing you can do to stop it once this happens), so generally you have an inert gas being pumped into the pouring area and while I see what appears to be a compressed gas tank nearby, I don't see any gas lines running to the ladle or the mold, like one would expect if they were pouring magnesium.

[Ohio AMX]

It appears to be only a couple of miles from 294, I may have to drive by on our next trip to Kenosha.

[TuckerCar]

It appears to be only a couple of miles from 294, I may have to drive by on our next trip to Kenosha.

It's right by Midway Airport. Lock your doors.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=676&p=2581#p2581

[John K.]

Just follow your nose as you drive about a mile up Cicero Avenue from Midway Airport. If the wind is blowing the right way, you'll smell the unmistakable aroma of Tootsie Rolls! Mmmm!

[Tuckeroo]

Just been puzzling over the Google satellite imagery of 7401 Cicero Ave (present day). Looks like the "machine shop and assembly plant" (the largest of the buildings) is there but sort-of bisected by a parking lot. It appears the #1 administration building, the foyer structure attached to the main building, is gone. This is the part of the factory that once sported the word "TUCKER" on the face of it. It looks like what was once the #4 building, the aluminum foundry, is still intact (or perhaps replaced by a similar structure.) According to one report I read, this is where the actually assembly line was...

(I'm making at least two claims here that would need to be verified. 1: that the #4 building is where the assembly line was and 2: that building is still there.)

PS: Thanks for the tip on pouring magnesium...boy, would my face have been red! (literally)

[john kudia]

I've worked R&D tootsie roll for three year. Yes, as of 2001 the floor was still of wood block and rail could be found on the Northern side of the plant even going into the plant!. As you cruise down Cicero avenue notice that right before the belt railroad traveling North, or right after it traveling South, there are huge 5 story towers. These are where the Wright engines were tested to replicate various environmental climes. The Gortons ie Geldsteins as mentioned in my book "Kilo-Quad Tucker treasure" are still active and quite alive! The kilometer long underground tunnels do connect both Ford City shopping Mall and Tootsie roll. AS mentioned in "Recovering the Treasure"
respectfully
John Kudia
aka Jack Kay author Kilo-Quad Tucker Treasure