Intro and Newbie Question

[toolguybak]

Hello All. Long time lurker of the website and fan of the Legend. Congrats on a wonderful site! I dedicated the first 17 years of my work career in the automotive industry (Chrysler) and always wondered what it would be like if Tucker succeded in mass producing the 48.

Newbie question: I'm a member of The Henry Ford Museum/Greenfield Village in Dearborn Michigan, which is the current home of #1016. IIRC the tires on that vehicle are B.F. Goodrich wide white walls. Was that the OEM tire? If not, what was the OEM for the Tuckers? Thanks in advance!

[Tuckerfan1053]

Welcome to the boards, toolguybak.

I don't think that they'd established an OEM for tires as the cars that were built were simply pilot production cars and every one of them has subtle differences from the others. It's entirely possible that the car was originally equipped with that brand of tires, but that doesn't necessarily mean that any of the others were.

Now, given that you're a member of the HFM, and that you worked for Chrysler, I've got a couple of questions for you. One is that at roughly the same time he was employed by Preston Tucker, Charles T. Pearson wrote an article for Popular Science about an engineer who worked for Ford named Ray Russell who had built a prototype car that had the same kind of hydraulic drivetrain that Tucker originally intended to use in his car. I'm assuming that there must have been some kind of technical documentation on his work. Do you think that you could do myself (and, heck, everyone in the club) a favor and poke around there and see what you can turn up? Given that Pearson was working for Tucker at the time, it's highly likely that he gave some of the information to Tucker, and it's a bit odd, to me at least, that he doesn't mention anything about this in his biography of Tucker.

The other thing is that I'm presently (admittedly very slowly) restoring a 1969 Chrysler Newport, and I'd be interesting in knowing if there's any way (assuming you might know) I could get my mitts on copies of blueprints for the car. (I'd also be interested in any other tips you could give me about the car. I've got a factory service manual for her, but pointers from someone who worked for the company, even if it was years after she rolled off the assembly line) would be much appreciated (especially since I might have to do a rebuild on the transmission).

[toolguybak]

Thanks! I'll poke around the HFM and see what I can find on the hydraulic drive.

I'm no longer at Chrysler, so I don't have direct access. However, it is sad but true that when Chrysler Center left Highland Park for Auburn Hills, almost everything ended up in the dumpster. A lot of historical info was trashed. Anything that survived ended up at the Chrysler Heritage Museum, adjacent to the HQ in Auburn Hills Michigan. Three of us engineers restored and supplied the engines for the museum archives, in the late 1980s. The "museum" used to reside in a chamber connected to an emission test cell in Plant 4 of the Highland Park facility. It may be a long shot but try contacting the folks at the new museum. They might be able to help with historical research.
http://www.chryslerheritage.com/

I had a 71 Newport (the old family car) in my college days and my uncle had a 69 (note, I was a kid when these cars were built). I'll try to answer any specific questions. I did a fair bit of work on the 71. Which engine (I'm guessing 383) do you have? The TorqueFlite transmissions are very good and following the service manual is your best bet. Do you have the
A727 TorqueFlite? The A727 was standard on the big block engines (383 & 440) and optional on the 318.

[Tuckerfan1053]

Thanks for the info.

My first car was my grandmother's '71 Newport 4 door (Sandalwood with a black vinyl top). The 69 I have has the 383 with the A727 transmission. For some reason, the transmission fluid just disappears out of the car. I can top her up, and then drive her for about 5 miles, and then I'll have to add fluid to her if I want to keep her moving. I can't tell where it's all disappearing as there's an engine oil leak that I haven't been able to pin down. All I can tell you is that the engine compartment is basically coated with oil.

I've noticed that the 727 transmission shows up on eBay fairly cheap, but I haven't seen one for my year (there's one on there right now for next to nothing that came out of an 80s model Jeep), and I don't know if I could buy one of those and slap it in the car and have it work or not (without a lot of serious modifications). Drives me batty, however, that I can't drive the old gal. Absolutely nothing that I've ever driven or rode in handles or rides as well as those old Chrysler boats.

[TuckerCar]

Better get some Fel-Pro Gaskets!

[Tuckerfan1053]

Better get some Fel-Pro Gaskets!

What's sad, is I could have gotten everything I needed to rebuild the engine (gaskets, pistons, rings, bearings, etc.), transmission (full rebuild kit), plus new alternator, ball joints, tie-rod ends, wheel bearings, and nearly every other mechanical part for the drive train for next to nothing, but I held off, waiting until I could find a decent mechanic to redo the tranny for me, and now it's too late for me to get all that stuff at that price! If I ever manage to run up on that kind of collection again, I'm buying all of it on the spot. (Naturally, this means I'll never have such an opportunity.)

[toolguybak]

Hopefully this is not too OT for this forum. If it is, let me know and we can take it off-line. I'm not an expert on automatics, but it sounds like you are leaking trans fluid from any of the following: cooler lines to radiator, a casing vent or the dip-stick tube. Get the trans rebuilt and upgrade it with the part-throttle kick-down set-up, which came in around 1970/71 IIRC. Do you have the 2-bbl or 4-bbl 383?

TuckerCar: at this time, I am not a member of the TACA. If that is a requirement for this discussion forum, I apologize for the intrusion.

[TuckerCar]

TuckerCar: at this time, I am not a member of the TACA. If that is a requirement for this discussion forum, I apologize for the intrusion.

It's not a requirement, but we certainly want to promote new membership through this site.

[Tuckerfan1053]

Hopefully this is not too OT for this forum. If it is, let me know and we can take it off-line. I'm not an expert on automatics, but it sounds like you are leaking trans fluid from any of the following: cooler lines to radiator, a casing vent or the dip-stick tube. Get the trans rebuilt and upgrade it with the part-throttle kick-down set-up, which came in around 1970/71 IIRC. Do you have the 2-bbl or 4-bbl 383?

2 barrel. I'd hate to see what kind of mileage she'd get with a 4 barrel. What's the part-throttle kick-down set-up that you mention?

[toolguybak]

The four barrel is really no different, until you put your foot into it. It's like flushing the toilet. The hotter cam that came with the high performance four barrel would have traded fuel economy.
With the older TorqueFlites, you could only get an automatic down shift when you pressed the accelerator to WOT (Wide Open Throttle). The part throttle kick-down feature would down shift the trans at moderate to WOT accelerator positions. This led to better driveability and improved fuel economy.