Archive - Work in Progress

[SuperFleye]

If you knew how much interest that auction generated across the nation you would have posted it too....

Exactly! A cheap marketing stunt. You could have posted a press release, and done it the traditional way, or you could just go ahead and offer it for sale on ebay for an insane price.

[John Dore]

.

[plancor 792]

I have Original Tucker Corporation listings of Employees in Engineering Department dated November 12, 1947 In the Experimental Assembly & Test there are listed 8 persons. Eugene Haustein is the Supervisor and R. McLelland is also there along with Dan Leabu and others. I also have an original listing of the Plan Of Organization Engineering Department and in that listing are 18 employees in the Experimental Garage among them R. McClelland Badge C1-36 and listed as Factory Clerk elsewhere he is listed a Secretary-Experimental Garage.
Doesn't sound correct when Reinert said that "No 57 went into expermental department under the direction of Robert McClelland".I knew, corresponded with and visited some of those persons who worked in the Experimental Garage and all say they knew nothing about a convertible. Even correspondence I have from Mr. McLelland (correct spelling of his name) says nothing about the convertible.
So my opinion is that this is an accumulation of parts dreamed up by Alan Reinert and over the years he obtained pieces and attempted to put his dream into reality.

Richard E. Jones

[Tuckerfan1053]

Wisconsin newspaper article on the car: http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/column/439338

[Preston]

It'll be good for the club for a while... Get Tucker's name back out there... spark some interest like Ida's cars...
But do you think it'll really bring the money they are hoping for... Who would spend millions for a car with no evidence that this is true. Early pics that were posted show different colors parts in different conditions (rust) if this was built in the factory wouldn't/shouldn't it have been a one color car pulled from the line moved to the secret spot instead of grabbing different colors of parts and a rusted back end... What's the age of the Buick convertible kit on it?... If it's from the early 50's how could they have been using it if it was 1948?
I can't see it bringing more than a real Tucker...

just my opinion.

[TUCKER]

I see the Tucker is back on ebay and still for $5,000,000.

[Preston]

Probably should start a new topic but here goes...
I like to see what other would do... If you had all these parts (say 65% of a Tucker, I know interior parts
are obviously missing as the back and top, etc) what would you do?
You have the shop, supplies and talent to finish a car would you build a convertible, a 2-door or complete
the four door as the others AND which would you think would bring more money and why?

[TuckerCar]

I think you would have a much easier time convincing people that a sedan was made from actual Tucker parts and could be considered a legacy car than building a completely different car (ie a two door convertible) with no documentation to prove that such a thing ever existed. They might as well make it into a pickup truck or a station wagon. Oh wait, the engine would get in the way.

[Tuckerfan1053]

Probably should start a new topic but here goes...
I like to see what other would do... If you had all these parts (say 65% of a Tucker, I know interior parts
are obviously missing as the back and top, etc) what would you do?
You have the shop, supplies and talent to finish a car would you build a convertible, a 2-door or complete
the four door as the others AND which would you think would bring more money and why?

The problem is that no matter what "variant" you build, it won't bring as much as a real Tucker. Odds are, you'd get the most money for a sedan, but it'd still fall well short of what one produced by the company would bring.

Personally, I'd go for the Talisman design: http://usera.imagecave.com/tuckerfan/tremtalisman.jpg

I have to wonder, however, if the relisting of the 'vert on eBay is going to do more harm to the current owners, than good. The first listing attracted some attention, but the second listing is going to make people wonder why it didn't sell to begin with. They keep listing it, and not selling it, is going to cause more folks to wonder why it won't sell.

[Preston]

Look at #51... it's gorgeous! I would think it'd bring as much as any other Tucker and it was
finally completed in the 80s?...
I had asked this before and still don't know... Where ALL the 50 “Real” Tuckers complete, drive off the line
ready when the sale took place?
To me, I wouldn't care if it was completed in the factory or not... as long as it was complete... Heck, the factory
was closed, so does it really matter? I think it would be awesome to scrape enough parts together to make one more.
Isn't there another scraped together? the gentleman that owns the Tingoose and 2 more... doesn't he have enough
body parts to make another... Thought I heard he had...

Ricardo... post some pics of your Tucker your building! This group has got to see how far you are!Unbelievable you
are knocking that thing out of a old Dodge! And I thought a Dodge wasn't worth doing anything with!HA

[Tuckerfan1053]

Richard, can, and I believe, has, posted which Tuckers were actually driveable when they were sold off. Many, though not all of them, were. At least one of them did not have a transmission installed, as I recall.

Some years ago when I talked to Chick, he said that he had a standing offer for his car which was slightly below the going rate for a Tucker in good condition. I would think that a Tucker which was made of mostly original parts (say 70% or better), even if it was assembled well after the company folded would go for decent money.

I wish I could find the Leno article that he wrote for Popular Mechanics where he talked about an Italian sports car which the company had built only 5 cars, but 7 were known to exist (the others having been cobbled together out of parts). Its a very illuminating piece on such things.

[SuperFleye]

Easy peacy

I would have built a stock 4 door.... and hey, there is no big question about which one that would bring in most money.... in most cases ofcourse! You know it is sellers market, suddenly you find some dude with too much money that would really pay up to own a convertible.... like a sheik in Dubai or Jordan...

[tin goose]

I recall that in a 1994 issue of Tucker Topics there was mention that #57 [Alan's] was a convertible.... not to mention both books on the Tucker mentioning it as well. So when do you guys suspects that this "cobbling" "desecration" whatever you want to call it happened?

[TuckerCar]

Look at #51... it's gorgeous! I would think it'd bring as much as any other Tucker and it was
finally completed in the 80s?...
I had asked this before and still don't know... Where ALL the 50 “Real” Tuckers complete, drive off the line
ready when the sale took place?
To me, I wouldn't care if it was completed in the factory or not... as long as it was complete... Heck, the factory
was closed, so does it really matter? I think it would be awesome to scrape enough parts together to make one more.
Isn't there another scraped together? the gentleman that owns the Tingoose and 2 more... doesn't he have enough
body parts to make another... Thought I heard he had...

Ricardo... post some pics of your Tucker your building! This group has got to see how far you are!Unbelievable you
are knocking that thing out of a old Dodge! And I thought a Dodge wasn't worth doing anything with!HA

1051 has a fiberglass front clip. That's part of the problem with the value (and considering it a factory car).

[Tuckerfan1053]

I recall that in a 1994 issue of Tucker Topics there was mention that #57 [Alan's] was a convertible.... not to mention both books on the Tucker mentioning it as well. So when do you guys suspects that this "cobbling" "desecration" whatever you want to call it happened?

Which "books" are those? The Indomitable Tin Goose by Pearson, and Design and Destiny by Egan make no mention of the 'vert.