Tucker pictures in the Life Image Search Archive

[plancor 792]

In my conversations with Alex Tremulis he never mentioned the rear window as such. However he did say there were to be changes in the area of the "opra" windows. Would this include the rear window? I do not know. Alex also mentioned the problems with the front end that Larry Clark has addressed above. One of the other pictures in this group shows several bodies on a line. These are probably the unfinished bodies as this photo was taken in 1949. The photo of the one with the large rear window was taken on Sept. 9, 1950.
Richard

[john]

Ace,
Very good legitimate question; does the body exist?
If not, why?
It would have stood out like a sore thumb, as it does in the attached pictures.

Would love to read explanations and replies on this ourselves.
It took us hundreds of hours and a lot of historical research to figure it out Ace.
John

[Larry Clark]

John and Ace- The body should have been sold with company assets at one of the bankruptcy sales. I have reviewed the remains of the actual bankruptcy court records in the federal archives in Chicago four or five times over the past 25 years. The records are a mess, they were never fully accurate and reliable when made. Nothing sticks out in my recollection of a specific mention of a unique body being sold at one of the auction sales- albeit I have tried to find one since I have long been familiar with what Alex Tremulis has said about working on a body for ideas for a future Tucker model. Having seen the posted picture, I am going to go back through copies of some of the records that I have to see if something sticks out now that I know what we are now seeing is not dramatically different. I will probably not get time to do this until after the holidays and do not expect to be able to report success. However, I will report back on the topic. (Unfortunately, although I have a copy of the list of all registered bidders, who won things at auction is often hard to know because if the auction reporter knew someone he sometimes put down a knickname for the bidder or some other name other than the registered name or had a name but an incomplete topic/subject listing.)

Larry

[john]

Larry,
Good of you to take your time to unravel some of the mysteries, we commend you.

We truly doubt that anything will come up in the paperwork you are researching to document the prototype "49" tucker body and frame shown in the new photographs that were posted.
Remember and quote; it was posted forever that no special cars were ever developed.
Pictures are sometimes worth a Thousand words.

One might check company receipts for parts that were bought, some may stand out as special or unique, we are skeptical about this also though.

Other non Tucker Corporate paperwork may exist though, please keep this in mind in your research efforts Larry.

It has been posted in the Clubs Forums that 57 was visually seen at Ezra's place, we do believe this to be true, BUT, the story changes in dramatic fashion from there.

Seems, to our best knowledge in research, that Ezra eventually bull dozed and or buried some Tucker bodies, thats a huge shame. Even at that, the story does not end !

We have tried to personally speak with two Tucker authorities regarding clearing up these very mysteries, alas, no success and so be it.
Sooooo, the mysteries continue, we do hope that some of our tid bit questions we have posted helps with the cause.

Do look forward to reading your further research Larry, good job buddy !
JOHN

[tatraman]

That's amazing! Well, there it is. Pictures of a (partial) body with a wrap-around cut for the rear window. I think GM's Bill Mitchell could have been a secret admirer of the Tucker. The 1963-1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Coupe (retroactively dubbed "C2") had a tapered fastback roof with doors curving into it, ditto the generation of Buick Riviera that was introduced in 1971 (though with conventional doors).

I doubt that Bill Mitchell ever saw this particular Tucker shell with the wrap-around rear window to be inspired by it. However, Mitchell's designs for the '63 Corvette fastback and '71 Buick Riviera could have been inspired by George Lawson's Tucker Torpedo design which was widely published in 1946 and 1947. The tapered roof line with deeply cut doors and the wrap-around rear window glass (as seen on this particular Tucker) are all features that Lawson proposed for the Tucker's styling. Tremulis' obviously liked these Lawson features as he included them in his Tucker design proposals. The '63 split-window Corvette has a very similar feel to the Lawson Torpedo if you shave off Lawson's little fin. Lawson's design could have also inspired the roof line of the 1956 Oldsmobile Golden Rocket 88 concept car designed by Art Ross. The Golden Rocket is the car usually quoted as being Mitchell's inspiration for the '63 Corvette roof. Maybe it's a coincidence, but Lawson worked at GM at the time the Golden Rocket show car was designed and built.

Both Ross and Mitchell worked with Lawson in the 1930s and 1950s. Mitchell was quoted in Special Interest Autos as saying Lawson made him look like an amateur. Chuck Jordan, former VP of Design for GM, has told me a number of times how Mitchell often ranted and raved about how amazing George Lawson was as a car designer. So, perhaps Mitchell really was a fan of the Tucker automobile - Lawson's version of it.

[Tuckeroo]

That's amazing! Well, there it is. Pictures of a (partial) body with a wrap-around cut for the rear window. I think GM's Bill Mitchell could have been a secret admirer of the Tucker. The 1963-1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Coupe (retroactively dubbed "C2") had a tapered fastback roof with doors curving into it, ditto the generation of Buick Riviera that was introduced in 1971 (though with conventional doors).

I doubt that Bill Mitchell ever saw this particular Tucker shell with the wrap-around rear window to be inspired by it. However, Mitchell's designs for the '63 Corvette fastback and '71 Buick Riviera could have been inspired by George Lawson's Tucker Torpedo design which was widely published in 1946 and 1947. The tapered roof line with deeply cut doors and the wrap-around rear window glass (as seen on this particular Tucker) are all features that Lawson proposed for the Tucker's styling. Tremulis' obviously liked these Lawson features as he included them in his Tucker design proposals. The '63 split-window Corvette has a very similar feel to the Lawson Torpedo if you shave off Lawson's little fin. Lawson's design could have also inspired the roof line of the 1956 Oldsmobile Golden Rocket 88 concept car designed by Art Ross. The Golden Rocket is the car usually quoted as being Mitchell's inspiration for the '63 Corvette roof. Maybe it's a coincidence, but Lawson worked at GM at the time the Golden Rocket show car was designed and built. Both Ross and Mitchell worked with Lawson in the 1930s and 1950s. Mitchell was quoted in Special Interest Autos as saying Lawson made him look like an amateur. Chuck Jordan, former VP of Design for GM, has told me a number of times how Mitchell often ranted and raved about how amazing George Lawson was as a car designer. So, perhaps Mitchell really was a fan of the Tucker automobile - Lawson's version of it.

I doubt that he saw it either...you caught me losing a grip on my usual specificity. When I said secret admirer of "the Tucker" I meant the design in general, in any/all of its evolutionary stages.