How many Tuckers were painted gold?

Years ago (around 1974) I "discovered" a gold Tucker in a body shop on Inglewood Avenue and 132nd Street (Hawthorne, California). It was covered with stuff and all I could see was the rear egg crate grille and the lettered "TUCKER" name stamped in the bumper. I was just wondering what may have happened to the car and/or if anyone knows how many gold Tuckers there were?

The Tucker Club has a page on their web site that with photos and information on all 51 Tuckers, including locations of the remaining 48 Tuckers. The URL is:

:: The Official Tucker Club of America :: See a Tucker

Thanks very much Bruce.

While I cannot vouch for its accuracy,

According to the database on one of the links in the Tucker Convertible discussion.....

Originally.... None

Click on Section #9 at this link:

Wapedia - Wiki: 1948 Tucker Sedan

Gold Tuckers are very rare. Less than 50 were produced!

Thanks for that, Matt. That does answer my question.

Steve,

That was funny.... but let me correct you, 51 (including the prototype Tin Goose)..... + I hear that Preston had another car secretly being produced in some hidden workshop of the factory, with nothing ever written down about it in the factory records.... It was some sort of secret convertible Tucker project.... (Couldn't resist!)

Steve,

That was funny.... but let me correct you, 51 (including the prototype Tin Goose)..... + I hear that Preston had another car secretly being produced in some hidden workshop of the factory, with nothing ever written down about it in the factory records.... It was some sort of secret convertible Tucker project.... (Couldn't resist!)

Matt...THAT was funnier.

Steve,

That was funny.... but let me correct you, 51 (including the prototype Tin Goose)..... + I hear that Preston had another car secretly being produced in some hidden workshop of the factory, with nothing ever written down about it in the factory records.... It was some sort of secret convertible Tucker project.... (Couldn't resist!)

Actually, only 37 Tuckers (plus the prototype) were built by the factory. The remaining 13 were assembled from parts after the plant closed. How many of those 13 were actually already on the assembly line and partially finished, I don't know.

West,

there you go getting all serious and factual on us. The movie version is much better, and with Tuckers it seems that nobody wants to use facts do they anymore? I think that the factory at least did some work on 51 but if you counted accessories built, the number would amaze us.

Every time I see one of those Tucker radios on Ebay, I want to bid on one....

I don't really know enough to totally separate the fact from the fiction, but I wish the SEC had not shut him down. I really wonder what might have been...

I don't really know enough to totally separate the fact from the fiction...

And neither did the movie producers.

And neither did the movie producers.

What parts of the movie are fiction? Just curious, because overall, I think they did a great job.

My good friend Tom Murray said it best:

"The question is whether the real resistance to (and doubt about) the car was generally pervasive across the land, or if powerful forces in the auto business, fearful of a new product packed with ideas they'd never thoughy of, manipulated a government siege of harrassment that Tucker was defenseless against.

"Coppola-inserted fantasies aside, such as Senator Ferguson's call to "Charlie" (Wilson) of GM, and Tucker's meeting with Howard Hughes, I think it is utterly preposterous to suspect that GM or any car company gave more than a passing glance to what Tucker was doing. They were much too busy making cars and money and plans for the period when supply would catch up with demand.

"Coppola knew all too well that the last refuge of scoundrels is not only patriotism, but telling tales of being bullied by big corporations, so he took up that old cry and played on the publics willingness to believe big companies live in terror of little people's ideas, and will do anything to squash them.

"GM was being closely scrutinized by the Justice Department in regard to their size and market domination, and there was political talk of slicing the corporation into smaller pieces. You can imagine that GM public relations must have been working overtime to devise ways for other indications of benevolence and exemplary corporate citizenry. GM's individual contributions to community fund drives of all kinds were closely monitored by supervisors, and heavy pressure was applied where pledges were deemed inadequate. It is highly unlikely that GM wuld allow itself to become embroiled in any move to eliminate competition.

"If GM or any other car company were frightened enough to make such a move, why wouldn't they have bashed Kaiser-Frazer, then leading the independents in sales and much more of a threat in size, substance and potential than Tucker, barely afloat in a weak stock issue with little more than a smile and a shoeshine to get him from one crisis to the next?

"The Tucker was an impractical car. The inevitable high rate of user dissatisfaction and overpowering warranty expense, and the almost total lack of quality service outlets with any degree of competency and training for maintaining a breakdown-prone design. General Motors would only have been afraid of the Tucker if it had been their car... deathly afraid."

That said, Murray didn't believe that Preston Tucker was a confidence man out to defraud investors or car buyers or the government, or all three. Tucker was smart enough to know there were faster, easier, cheaper ways to be a crook.