Tucker Radio

[PhiliptheThird]

Hello All. This is my first posting. I have a general tucker question about the radios. I see these for sale sometimes, but how common are they? I know only 51 Tucker's were made, but how many radios are there out there?!

[Tuckerfan1053]

There's a lot more of them than there are cars. One of Tucker's efforts to raise money was to sell many of the options first, since the SEC wouldn't allow him to sell cars before they went into production. Lots of folks have radios, heaters, and suitcases.

[PhiliptheThird]

Thanks Tuckerfan...I appreciate the response. I certainly do see a fair amount of these posted to ebay, and sometimes at trade shows (less frequently). I guess it is a nice piece to have for a collection, but not a super rare or expensive item.

[prestonT]

I would also be interested to know how many. Does anyone have info. Were there hundreds? thousands? tens of thousands?

[Guest]

There were thousands. I am told it was somewhere around 3500.
Richard (Plancor 702)

[prestonT]

Thanks, that gives me a much better idea. Thank you for the quick post.

[Tuckerfan1053]

There were thousands. I am told it was somewhere around 3500.
Richard (Plancor 702)

I wonder if there were that many heaters produced. I've seen more of the radio units for sale on eBay than I have of the heaters.

[TuckerCar]

Probably no way to tell because I think the B&B Heaters were just generic units. There would be no way to tell whether they were headed for Tucker or elsewhere other than the shipping label.

The radios of course had Tucker buttons and Tucker packaging, so Motorola would make special runs for Tucker.

[Larry Clark]

What ever the number (and at least 3,500 seems likely to me), for many dealers, they never got what they ordered and paid for. A dealer in Kansas City, Wi-Nor Motor Company, paid for 329 radios and 329 sets of seat covers for a total figure of just over $40K. Supposedly the company had these in inventory for them (inventory list of 3/2/49). Did they ever get them? Possible (but doubtful).

On 6/5/51 the Bankruptcy Court approved the sale of the final piles of dealer stuff still around the plant for what seems to be a pretty high price: $3,450. For this, the buyer, Jerry Cohen, d.b.a. J&C Supply Company, got 249 radios (without control knobs), 250 auto antennas, 232 seat covers, and 173 pieces of luggage, all except 10 of which were of plastic material.
Larry