A question for Jay

[Tucker Fan 48]

Hi Jay,
Two quick questions. First, you posted at www.automotiveforums.com on 06-10-2003, 08:51 PM, information about Tucker #1046. In your post you said the following" The famed Harrah's collection in Reno thought it was, "far too much for a bunch of cars that will never amount to anything". They apparently changed their opinion because they have owned 3 Tuckers over the years."

I would like to know what three cars TACA has records (or knowledge) of Bill Harrah owning? Tucker #1032 has been part of the Harrah collection since 1961. I have information on two other Tuckers but no hard documents. I have been in contact with more than one Tucker Authority and cannot confirm three. Harrahs confirms owning two. Do you have information that can be shared?

My second question is the e-mail address for you on the website not correct? I've sent you probably 10 e-mails over the last six months but have never got a response. Several officers of TACA have assured me that you really do exist. What is the best way to contact you? I know you probably don't have time to answer every question but a few easy ones like this would be helpful. I'd rather spend my research time on things that TACA doesn't already have in the Library. Ultimately that will benefit everyone.

[TuckerHCL]

Tucker Fan 48

Thank you for posting your question and for your PM. I apologize for the difficulties you have had in attempting to reach me.

All replies to anything I've posted on the message board automatically produce an email notice sent to two different TACA accounts. The emails shown this website and on page two of each monthly club newsletter, TUCKER TOPICS, are correct (I have replaced @ with (at) here hoping to avoid robot spam):

HCL(at)TuckerClub.org
President (at)TuckerClub.org
Tribune (at)TuckerClub.org

Each of these emails are sent to two locations thus I get duplicates of each. I often get emails that are sent to me via Webmaster, info and others that fellow TACA officers / directors forwarded to me. This posting did not produce an email notice but our TACA VP let me know it was here.

You can also reach me at:

jfollis (at) GilmoreCarMuseum.org
info (at) GilmoreCarMuseum.org

I also check my spam filter often and do catch some that get trapped there. I apologize but I do not recall getting any emails in regard to TACA or Tucker that I have not responded to. Please PM again or email any of the above with your email address and I will search for them or if you still have them please forward them on.

Now to the question in regards to the Harrah's collection...

TACA and the Tucker Historical Collection and Library (HCL) does not have one comprehensive listing of car and their owner history. The HCL was established in 2000 after Frank Tucker wanted to retire from collecting the archives. At that time about 60 cases of material was sent to me from Frank. Since that time we have had at least that amount of material donated and then last summer Frank’s personal collection was donated. Thus the HCL holds thousands of documents of all types.

We have several car owner lists and “histories” that were prepared by different people. Most provide no sources for the information and many are simply repeating the work of someone else as their own. Beginning in the late 1950s, a few Tucker owners attempted to track down all of the Tuckers produced. Guys like Russ Brownell, Bill Hamlin and even Ralph Dunwoodie of the Harrah Collection were able to come up with incomplete owner lists. By 1973, a group of owners and enthusiasts met at Stan Gilliland’s shop in Kansas and the Tucker Automobile Club of America was born. The first comprehensive record of these cars — and most of what has been learned about their earlier ownership — is due to the lifelong research conducted by Richard Jones, TACA co-founder and senior Tucker historian, and, more recently, the work of college dean and legal scholar Larry Clark.

In recent years it has become increasing difficult for TACA to keep up to date when ownership changes take place and there are several recent sales we have little or no information on.

We do have a July 1963 letter from the Harrah Collection indicating that they then had Tuckers 1032 and 1038 in the collection. One of the many owner list indicated another unidentifed car was owned for a short period but there is no source listed and may well have been an error.

Hope this helps some,

Jay

[Tucker Fan 48]

Thanks for the information. I sent you a PM at your Gilmore e-mail. Hopefully that will work.