New LIFE pix from February 1949

[Tucker Fan 48]

The photos really do prove there was no "convertible". The only cars were the Tin Goose and the 50 that were all
accounted for in the inventory done on 3/3/49. There were 8 bodies which is exactly what is seen in the photos.
I've read in several places that body #1058 was partially completed and the photo above clearly shows that #1058
was not quite complete. Alex Tremulis has been quoted many times as saying that he had pulled #1057 off the line
and he had it in the styling shop working on the fenders and a wrap around rear window. The photo below shows a
body in the styling shop area with exactly what Alex said he had done to #1057. The photo even shows the gap in
the line where #1057 would have been had it not been pulled off.

At the point these pictures were taken the plant operations were suspended, closed, and shutdown. Certainly
nobody was thinking they should work on designing a "convertible". Preston had offered to resign. He was stripped
of all authority. The only thing Preston would have been trying to do would be to figure out a way to get the plant
back in operation somehow. He would not have been worried about a "convertible". At this point, Joe Lencki would
not have taken a car out the back door. There were no workers that could possibly have done it. Everything was on
an inventory list. You can clearly see that every item in the plant including the trash cans has an inventory tag on it.

The only way a "convertible" could have been built after this point is if someone took parts from the original 50
cars and the 8 bodies in these pictures and cobbled something together outside the plant and after the plant auction
in October of 1950. The photos prove there is no way it could have happened prior to that as every body and every
car is accounted for.

q.jpg (221.42 KiB) Viewed 2194 times

[Prototype]

You are correct about the position of the cars on the line. There are inventory tags on just about everything in the plant, but it has been noted that the plant's contents had been inventoried by the WAA prior to Tucker or Lustron were ever considered being awarded the building. It does make perfect sense about the timeline though, about the convertible possibilities..There never was a convertible!

[streamliner]

These photos beg the question: Exactly what frame is Test Chassis #2, since it appears that it is not frame #52?!?

A de-bodied #52, after February 1949? Probably not, but maybe...

A specially built frame for experimental purposes without ever having a body? More likely...

Additionally, there would still be cowl #58 out there somewhere, as that didn't make it onto #58's frame/body by February 1949...

When was the date of this photo, and are those spot welds on the rear of the frame where the body may have been removed?

There must be more information out there...

[Tucker Fan 48]

streamliner, you make some good points.

The test chassis in the photo is probably just that... a test chassis. It probably never had a body.

From notes I've read, Stan Gilliland said when he got body #55 from Ezra the rest of the bodies
there had rusted away. To me this says a couple things. First, there was more than one left.
Second, what was left probably could never be used as a body again, but might be used as parts.

It is possible that there was a cowl for #58 but since it was not on the car would it have been stamped #58?
Would anyone have even known what it was? It may have just ended up in the scrap metal pile. There must
have been a bunch of metal that got sold as scrap.

There were 7 bodies + a partially complete #58

Body #54 is Chick's car. Stan had Body #55. The cowl from #52 seems to be with Lot #684.
That leaves #51, #53, #56, and good old #57.

From what Gilliland said, there were bodies left at Ezras. If you consider that #52 could have been there and
someone salvaged the cowl at a later date then you could assume a minimum of two bodies were at Ezras
and that there could be no more than 3 bodies that are unaccounted for at this time.

After 20 years or more outside with no paint there would not have been much left of them. Someone could
have salvaged a couple cowls and maybe some rear fender wells. The rest was probably just rusty metal.

It appears there were at least two test frames. One is with Lot #684. Where is the other? The photos show
that the test frames were reinforced. They may have even used a heavier gauge steel on them.

If you had a test frame and one of the salvaged cowls I suppose you could build something out of it, though
I just can't imagine what.

[Tommy]

Don't forget Mr.Cammacks test chassis.

[Natalie]

Prototype on Mon Mar 22, 2010 5:06 pm

I can't say for sure, but these photos could very well have been taken before or after a shift, owing to the lack of people in the shots.

November 23, 1948: Plant operations were suspended.

November 26, 1948: 300 employees were released. Plant Closed.

January 7, 1949: Plant ordered shutdown and salaries stopped.

February 1949: These photos were taken (probably) at the dealers meeting on February 3, 1949.

February 18, 1949: Preston Tucker offers to resign.

March 3, 1949: Preston Tucker stripped of all authority.

At the time of these photos, there were no shifts, no lunch whistle, no end-of-shift traffic jams... only the few remaining volunteers working on their own time. I would think that these bodies were most likely sitting in this spot for several weeks, at least since the earlier shutdown(s). I would also have to think that the volunteers were more concentrated on finishing the other cars (#'s 38 through 50(?)), before welding up new bodies. But I don't know for sure...

That's why the meeting looks more like a wake than a sales meeting. Even Preston Tucker, the eternal optimist, couldn't conjure up a smile. It's a sad group of photos that captured the spirit of the meeting and the very last of the end-of-the-line for Tucker, both the Corporation and the Man.

I would have never looked at the photos that way without this information. What great insight -- gives a whole new meaning to the pictures. Very sad. Thanks so much for sharing what you know!

[streamliner]

Re: Tucker Frames
by john on Mon Feb 22, 2010 7:07 pm

Body parts seemed to have been stamped with the number when all panel beating was done and it was fitted ON THAT car.

john,

Maybe this is what you meant: Since these bodies were never fitted with their hoods, fenders or doors, there would not have been any numbers stamped into them, and therfore there shouldn't be any other parts stamped with the numbers 51 through 58 (other than the frames, bodies, and cowls on #'s 51 through 57). Does that accurately reflect your thoughts?

And from other posts... The 10XX prefix (the car's serial number) was only assigned on the final assembly line, so #'s 51 through 58 should not have had #'s 1051 through 1058, since these serial numbers were not assigned and the data plates were never made at the factory for these bodies/frames. Is that correct?

Re: New LIFE pix from February 1949
by Natalie on Wed Mar 24, 2010 7:25 pm

Thanks so much for sharing what you know!

I still don't think I know much at all. I'm just trying to learn as much as possible...

[john]

Guys,
Streamliner, yes to the above questions posed.
Just like a Cobra, until the part was installed, it was not stamped>>>
You are all doing a great job with your history work.
We would agree that the pictures are the last cars.

We surmised a long time ago that (lots/groups) of parts were sold at the auction and others were scraped literally and sold as such.
Remember, some were literally bulldozed with a bldg guys.

In our firm opinion, Thats where the roof and other parts from #57 went, some were perhaps sold "as" parts and ended up in collections.
Thusly a few parts/frames/cowls/incomplete bodies with serial numbers 51-58?

Might this be asked, has any one part ever turned up that was stamped #57, besides the ones on the conv, which is in question herein the clubs topic area's ?

Here is something you guys should know, thats if you do not:
In our research, 100's of hours, we were told that>>"ONE" of Lencki's shops was located in a adjoining building to the Tucker plant, check it out !
We were told that it actually was in a large building, sectioned off naturally, from Tucker's plant.
If you want some new archive records, find out where lencki's archives are, perhaps, ( Im smiling) some of Tuckers records are there guys !!!
Digging further, you might find someone that worked with him, did he ever see a Tucker chassis there !!
Hope this helps a little, keep up the goooood work.
Easter Eggs? or scrambled Eggs?
John

[Natalie]

Guys,
Streamliner, yes to the above questions posed.
Just like a Cobra, until the part was installed, it was not stamped>>>
You are all doing a great job with your history work.
We would agree that the pictures are the last cars.

We surmised a long time ago that (lots/groups) of parts were sold at the auction and others were scraped literally and sold as such.
Remember, some were literally bulldozed with a bldg guys.

In our firm opinion, Thats where the roof and other parts from #57 went, some were perhaps sold "as" parts and ended up in collections.
Thusly a few parts/frames/cowls/incomplete bodies with serial numbers 51-58?

Might this be asked, has any one part ever turned up that was stamped #57, besides the ones on the conv, which is in question herein the clubs topic area's ?

Here is something you guys should know, thats if you do not:
In our research, 100's of hours, we were told that>>"ONE" of Lencki's shops was located in a adjoining building to the Tucker plant, check it out !
We were told that it actually was in a large building, sectioned off naturally, from Tucker's plant.
If you want some new archive records, find out where lencki's archives are, perhaps, ( Im smiling) some of Tuckers records are there guys !!!
Digging further, you might find someone that worked with him, did he ever see a Tucker chassis there !!
Hope this helps a little, keep up the goooood work.
Easter Eggs? or scrambled Eggs?
John

John -- who is the "we"/"us"/"our" that you refer to in your posts? Are you part of an organization (other than TACA) or something? Forgive me for not going through the million other posts to figure this out

[Tucker Fan 48]

Here is something you guys should know, thats if you do not:
In our research, 100's of hours, we were told that>>"ONE" of Lencki's shops was located in a adjoining building to the Tucker plant, check it out !
We were told that it actually was in a large building, sectioned off naturally, from Tucker's plant.
If you want some new archive records, find out where lencki's archives are, perhaps, ( Im smiling) some of Tuckers records are there guys !!!
Digging further, you might find someone that worked with him, did he ever see a Tucker chassis there !!

Here is some background on this. When Dodge built its Chicago assembly plant for production of Wright Cyclone aircraft engines that were used
in the B-29 Superfortress Bomber during World War II, one of their plant managers was Joe Lencki. When Tucker took over the building it wasn't
some old building. The building and equipment were only a couple years old. Construction started on the plant in 1942 and the building was
completed in 1944. World War II ended in 1945 so it was in operation for less than 2 years.

The contractor, George A. Fuller Company, broke ground in June, 1942 and proceeded day and night, resulting in 6,300,000 square feet of floor
space in a 19- building complex. Sixteen of the buildings were finished in by March, 1943, ready to receive more than 9,000 metal-working and
fabrication machines plus complete support tooling (seven months before such machines and tools would be available). The main machining and
assembly building was 82 acres in size, with 22 acres fully air-conditioned--necessary to the precision assembly processes required. Dodge-Chicago
was the only aircraft engine factory that took in "raw" pigs of aluminum and magnesium at one end and pushed out finished engines at the other.
Occupying an area of 30 city blocks, the buildings and related infrastructure cost $173,000,000 of 1942 money.

In January of 1944, manufacturing was at last able to get underway, with 60 engines promised by the end of January and a target of 1,000 engines
per month by December, 1944. Already in process, was the additional tooling needed to raise production to a newly-requested, increased rate of
1,600 per month. Preparation paid off. In June, 344 engines were delivered versus a schedule of 225. On July 13th, the 1,000th engine was shipped.
In October, 957 engines were delivered, nicely exceeding the schedule of 850. Momentum was building and engine storage became a problem. In
eleven months, Dodge-Chicago completed 5,000 engines. By the end of January 1945 more than 7,500 engines had been delivered. By July 15,1945, Dodge-Chicago output passed 16,000 engines, finishing with Japan's surrender at a total of 18,413 engines.

The plant was built and equipped with Federal dollars so Dodge walked away after the war as they didn't need a plant of that size. Enter Preston
Tucker who had no plant or equipment. The Cicero Ave plant was new and fully equipped. The Federal Government had lots of plants it built during
the war and with wartime jobs now gone, it wanted to get these excess plants into the hands of people that could create jobs. Preston Tucker got
one heck of a deal on the facility that cost $173,000,000 to build just a couple years earlier.

Preston and Joe Lencki had a long history at this point and Lencki having been a plant manager for Dodge would have known what this facility
could do for Tucker. Lencki was a big part of the start up of the company. We see his name as being present at many high level early meetings.
Maybe Larry Clark will know if Lencki was a full time employee at this time. It seems as though many of Preston's inner circle were more concerned
about building the car than if they got paid so Lencki may not have been on the payroll. Lencki did have a shop on the site. Now if it was his
personal shop or part of the Tucker Corporation it may be hard to tell. Again, a lot of the deals made between Preston and his close friends may
not have a paper trail because they trusted each other.

As far as what happened to Lencki's files, etc., Lencki reportedly offered his papers and cars to the Smithsonian and Indianapolis Motor Speedway
towards the end of his life, but never delivered them. Joseph Lencki was born on February 22nd 1903 and when Joe died in May of 1994 at the age
of 91, his longtime aide, Adam J. Wuchitech took care of the estate. Wuchitech of Palos Heights, IL. died September 9th, 2002. I believe Joe lived
on S Claremont Ave. in Chicago and had no immeadiate family.

Ed Rachanski Sr. took over Lencki's company, Lenckite, which made an oil additive. He has since sold the company but runs The Nevada Vintage Race
Car Museum in Henderson NV. The museum has a lot of Lencki related items and if anything survives from Lencki's Tucker days it would most likely
be there. If nothing else it would be a good excuse to go to Vegas to look for Lencki's records.

Here are a couple pictures of the plant during the Dodge days:

dodge plant.jpg (92.86 KiB) Viewed 1984 times

dodge plant 2.jpg (85.78 KiB) Viewed 1981 times

[john]

Steamliner,
Needed to add this, I surmise that serial number plates were more than likely made by a firm, they possibly could have been made at the Tucker plant.

To our best knowledge and reading, the serial number plates were affixed to the coul of the Tucker after it was assembled.
That is also why stamped body and part numbers do not always match the 10XX number.
Some cars were apparently pulled or held from the line, for whatever reasoning, thusly again, certain car body and parts numbers not having the same identical numbers on the affixed plate,

Natalie, we are here to assist the fine work that many are doing, this is to form a Tucker Club Historical Registry Book for the benefit of all.
I enjoy research, you might stop by the Tremulis and designers topic area Natalie, you may also want to visit AutoPuzzles as more discussion is on the harris front drive special there.
We are the others, as refered to in numerous newspapers and magazines articles on #57.
Hope this helps with your question.
John

[streamliner]

john,

I don't think that the data plate was being represented as original. After revisiting the description of the car from 7 or 8 years ago, at that time the data plate was "yet to be filled in". So a much bigger issue would be if the current stamping on the data plate was done by the same dies as the stamping on other parts of the car.

The first time around, the work that Tremulis had done on #57 was not specifically known, or Tremulis' description from "The Indomitable Tin Goose" was being disputed. However, the connection between Tremulis and #57 was memorialized. No one expected those September 9, 1950 LIFE photos to be published, documenting the actual work that Tremulis had done on #57, identical to his 1960 description in the book.

The first time around, it was also confirmed that only 58 factory bodies were made. So the convertible body has to be one of the ones we're looking at in the February 1949 LIFE photos - unless a new argument is made: The missing body off the welding line is #57 and the same one that was sent to Lencki. And Tremulis got a different body (one of #'s 51 through 56, but not 54 (Chick's car), not 55 (seen later), not 57 (at Lencki's), and not 58 (documented as being only partially completed)), and modified that body with the big back window after February (3) 1949.

The first time around, I had also missed the part about Herman Rigling doing the bodywork on the doors and the extended quarter panels.

It's probably worth a new look at the old description:

Convertible write up by owner!!!
by Tom on Fri Dec 23, 2005 12:31 pm
TUCKER CONVERTIBLE # 57

In 1973 Richard Jones had verified that there wer 58 Tucker bodies manufactured by the factory. In the owners directory he correctly stated that Tremulis had worked on #57. The extent of what was done to this car was only known to the few who had been involved in this experimental ,off the books and off the site project at Lencki Engineering. #57 was indeed a sedan when first made. Preston knew that Lenki could handle the unique requirements of a convertible. So over to the Lenki shops it went. Herman Ringling did the body work making 52" long doors, installing a new windsheild frame and header and extending the quarter panels. Joe lenki supervised the box frame change from 18 ga to 10 ga steel. He also designed the tublar reinforcment for the car.

When funds dried up after the SEC did its thing to Tucker the project was abandoned and moved off Lencki's premises .One of his staff was given posession and other than another change of ownership to another Lencki employee in the 70's the partially completed car was in storage, under canvass. In 1985 this was verified by Joe Lencki and Tuckers Experimental division cheif, Robert McLellan. Lencki's set of original working sketches were viewed at that time, but not available for purchase.

Lencki and Tucker worked together before on the Tin Goose and earlier on a Ford project for Indy race cars in the 30's. Although the tin goose had alot of lead, all production cars did as they were all hand built and each car was unique in its fit and finish. The convertible windshield is 4" lower than the sedan and was being fitted to use a large GM convertible top. 57 is stamped into the firewall and the data plate is yet to be filled in.

The convertble and sedan 1043 are being sold together. There are thousands of new factory parts, drawings,literature, and one of a kind items included. To finish the convertible the new buyer may consider several options, one is to resell #43 to finance the completion of the convertible.Another is to trade 43 for the completion of 57. The parts and memrobilia can be sold outright or auctioned. With this much value many cash or trade options can be designed to finance the completion of 57. Call me at 262-363-4892 for an on site inspection prior to any offers or escrows.Thanks for your time and consideration.

[streamliner]

From Larry Clark's Chronology, I had missed an earlier inventory that was done on September 30, 1948. On that date car #1033 was completed and sent to the ongoing road tests at Indianapolis, and there were "22 more cars 1/2 completed". Although the math doesn't quite add up, that would mean that all of the first 50 cars were at least being partially completed at that time. Therefore the February 1949 photo of the bodies being welded must only be bodies 51 through 58 (minus 1)...

[Tucker Fan 48]

No one expected those September 9, 1950 LIFE photos to be published, documenting the actual work that Tremulis had done on #57, identical to his 1960 description in the book.

The first time around, it was also confirmed that only 58 factory bodies were made. So the convertible body has to be one of the ones we're looking at in the February 1949 LIFE photos

the description of the car from 7 or 8 years ago said the data plate was "yet to be filled in".

These photos prove without a doubt that the convertible was never started at the factory. Al Reinert himself confirms only 58 bodies were made. If Cole
tries in anyway to say that Reinert was wrong about the 58 bodies then he'd have to admit that Reinert could be wrong about other things as well. The
photo of #1057 exactly as Alex Tremulis described it seals the deal.

Their argument has always been the the big back window car in the photo was not #1057 and was one of the other unfinished bodies and that their #1057
was already at Lencki's when the plant was closed. So even if Alex was wrong about which number body he put the big back window into how do they
explain the other 7 bodies all in row sitting in the plant after it closed? Al Reinert comfirmed there are only 8 bodies total so it is impossible for their
body to be already at Lencki's. The photos do not lie.

The other thing Reinert confirmed was the data plate was "yet to be filled in". Now it suddenly has numbers on it. How can that happen? Aren't there laws
against tampering with data plates on vehicles? There was a Bonham's auction that was held up by state officials a couple years back because they found
cars that the data plates had been removed and reattached during restoration. In this case, the former owner confirmed it was blank and somehow it has
numbers on it now. What numbers could they have put on it? Did they make up a new style number? It is also in the wrong place for a 1948 Tucker.

It looks like their own story has now come back to trip them up. There was no Tucker Convertible until someone cobbled one together. End of story!

convertible data plate.JPG (15.49 KiB) Viewed 1865 times

[streamliner]

There is a much more rational explanation. One so deviously clever that it could only be masterminded by none other than Preston Tucker himself:

It has always been known that Tucker was a bit of a showman and wasn’t afraid to exaggerate the truth. It’s known that he would even paint cars a different color to make it appear as if there were more completed cars than there actually were. He would even go so far as to sell radios and luggage for cars that didn’t even exist! He has a history of deception against the investors and the motoring public in order to line his own pockets with cash.

He knew that the Feds were onto him through Otto Kerner as well as the bankruptcy court’s efforts to expose him. It was only a matter of time before his house of cards would tumble. There was sufficient evidence to suggest that Tucker may have to spend a considerable amount of time in prison. Tucker knew that no legal case is a slam-dunk for either the prosecution or the defendant. Tucker also knew that there would soon be a grand jury convened against him. He was already advised by his attorneys as to what they would have to prove to a future courtroom jury:




He decided that the best way to make it appear as if his intentions were good was to use others as future witnesses in his case.

Tucker called for a sales meeting with the last remaining dealers (suckers) on February 3, 1949, even though he knew there could be no sales as the plant had already been shut down and the remaining employees let go months earlier. So why have a sales meeting? Only to use them as witnesses to the state-of-affairs at the plant at that time. No doubt there were tours given at the plant to show where the cars were being made. Even Jim Gaylord was allowed into the super-secret styling studio for a few photos of future proposals in rendering form. One of the photographic stops was at the welding assembly line where bodies are attached to the frames. Tucker made sure that “his” photographer got several photos specifically of this location. You’ll see that there are very few photos, just token pics, of other areas of the plant.


Tucker’s Payoff Man

However, the photographer was a bit nervous about the deal they had made and wanted to ensure his safety following the meeting, so he secretly photographed Tucker’s payoff man in the men’s restroom where the payoff of an undisclosed amount of cash “or other services rendered” was made. The photographer, then going by the code name of “automan”, hid these negatives in a safe deposit box to be used only in the event that if Tucker threatened him, he could use these negatives of proof of the payoff. Luckily for him, Kirby didn’t need to present a defense, and these photos were never used, until they were found and published by LIFE some 60 years later. Even today, these photos deceive, as evidenced by the confusion that the production line was still active at the time.

Immediately following the meeting, on or about the week of February 7, 1949, Tucker ordered Alex Tremulis to remove one of those bodies from the welding line and take it over to the styling department and make it look as if a future 1949 model was in the works. Also, he made sure that Lencki cut up body #57, given to him before the dealers meeting, to make it appear as if a convertible model was also in the works. With not one, but two new models in the prototype stage, surely he could show a stronger defense that he intended to produce a full line of cars. A week later, Preston Tucker would offer to resign to give himself an alibi. He wouldn't even be at the plant while these cars were being worked on, so how could he have possibly been behind their last-minute manufacture?

On February 15, Otto Kerner announced that a grand Jury was to be convened to look into the fraud committed by Tucker. By that time Tucker’s plan for self-survival had already been carried out by those closest to him.

Since no defense was required at the trial, the convertible and the modified ’49 model just sat there, waiting to be disposed of. The last-minute theatrics of bringing those cars into the courtroom wasn’t required. That’s why nobody knew or would admit to knowing anything about their existence until their true value increased enough to warrant restorations, and the true intentions of their origins would be long-forgotten. Even Tremulis, with his knack for quoting numbers, eventually confused the convertible with the car that he had redirected over to the styling studio.

It all adds up to one of the greatest deceptions of all time...

The characters and events depicted in this reply are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.