AUCTION: 3 Hours Left - Tucker Convertible - $2,375,000.00 (Rowlett, Texas)

[Reynard]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/226100814291

 

Very controversial car --- "1 of none"

Click the link for pages and pages of "information". Too much to copy. Also tons of pictures in the ad.

 

 

 

[Bruce W]

It does say "Or best offer". 😄

[edinmass]

On 4/23/2024 at 10:29 PM, Bruce W said:

It does say "Or best offer". 😄

 

Crap.....I would pay 10 bucks if I never hear about this car again........thats my best offer!

[58L-Y8]

Tucker convertible: the answer to a question no one asked...

[barry22]

Tucker was one of a multitude of car manufacturers that were started in the late 1940s and early 1950s and the only reason Tucker rose to its present day prominence is due only to the Tucker movie released in 1988.

[JamesR]

14 hours ago, Bruce W said:

It does say "Or best offer". 😄

And it doesn't say, "NO TRADES":

[marty14]

A new Tucker 4 wheeler....cool!

[Twisted Shifter]

Aaaahhhh...   Sour grapes (gripes) from those of us who only dream of driving this marvelous creation, or having the $$$ to afford it.  🦨

 

 

[DrumBob]

Well, I'm not going to be buying THAT anytime soon. 

[edinmass]

1 hour ago, Twisted Shifter said:

Aaaahhhh...   Sour grapes (gripes) from those of us who only dream of driving this marvelous creation, or having the $$$ to afford it.  🦨

 

 

 

Hardly...........ever serviced or restored one? Absolute junk............my father passed on one in 1975 for 3500 bucks. While I like money, I wouldn't own a Tucker. I'll take a Model J, DV-32, Speed Six, and a hundred other things.......never, ever a tucker. 

 

Here is a 37k mile Model J. Fantastic driver.......then again, today it's 3 or more Tuckers. I don't own one......but service them all the time.

 

 

[alsancle]

They are mechanically interesting and cosmetically hideous.  My biggest issue is the amount of money they bring and the fact that almost none them run, or run well.

 

The subject of this thread is a whole other kettle of fish which I will refrain from commenting on.

[m-mman]

1 hour ago, Twisted Shifter said:

Aaaahhhh...   Sour grapes (gripes) from those of us who only dream of driving this marvelous creation, or having the $$$ to afford it.  🦨

It gets no respect because it is a complete fraud. 
It IS a very interesting fantasy custom car. Absolutely it took a significant effort to bring it to reality. 
 

The unpardonable sin was when the creator rolled it out he told lies. 
If he had properly identified it as a one of none “I wish they had made it” car the collectors AND HISTORIANS would have been supportive. 

But when you try to puff up the value with lies about how it was a prototype and discovered in warehouse and a bunch of other nonsense the legitimate knowledgeable car people will turn their backs on you. 

$2 million dollars and what would you do with it? If the builder had been honest then it might have been allowed participation and display at the major big money shows AS A FANTASY CAR, but his lies did nothing but cloud the narrative and destroyed any interest in it. 
 

Drive it or enter it into a weekend cruise night event is all you would ever be able to do with it. And for $2 million dollars you definitely want to show it at something bigger than a cruise night. 

 

This is why legitimate car people decide this full custom car. 

[prewarnut]

Wait, it has to be real, the panel gaps are horrible!  😁

[edinmass]

14 hours ago, prewarnut said:

Wait, it has to be real, the panel gaps are horrible!  😁

If you ever get a chance, look at the welding on the frame of a Tucker. Most have been done over……..looks like a fifth grade shop class stick welded them from a rusty scrap pile. Tucker NEVER made it into production……they were all hand assembled from piles of parts……….Tucker was a barely a footnote in history. A poorly done movie that made the cars into something they were not. 

Edited April 25 by edinmass (see edit history)

[John_S_in_Penna]

2 hours ago, edinmass said:

Tucker was a barely a footnote in history. A poorly done movie that made the cars into something they were not. 

That's a good point, Ed, which today's market

doesn't realize.  We can see, from the back portion

of Krause's "Standard Catalog of American Cars,"

that there were quite a few companies that barely

got started or who made just a handful of cars.

(Typically in the post-war era they were sporty cars.)

 

For some reason, people like the Tucker story and

have made Tucker into something extraordinary,

with prices to match.

 

Edited April 25 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[wayne sheldon]

You know, I love this hobby. The best, and maybe only thing I did good for me was get into this hobby and play with the historic cars I feel such a connection to.

Once in a while, not often, I get this notion that "maybe I have been in this too long?" First opening this thread two days ago was one such moment. First, for me. the Tucker is way too modern to really interest me. However, I do appreciate the history even into the modern eras. And the Tucker, no matter how bad they really were (and forty years ago I did know the owner of one, and on a couple occasions even saw it being driven!), was a significant footnote in automotive history. The man was interesting (some worthwhile reading?). The car was an overhyped flop, and a flop for good reasons.

Anyhow, two nights ago, I peruse the forum "Not Mine" list (a part of my nightly routine), and see the "Tucker-Auction" listing. I am curious, so I click in, and in less than a full second I see the first photo and utter the words aloud "Oh not that stupid thing again!"

 

I can appreciate some "fantasy creations", cars that "should have been". I even have considered building one a few times (a certain 1912 model T body style that I have most of the parts for comes to mind?). 

I think mm-man is correct, that had the "builder" been upfront and honest from the beginning, instead of lying about it, that the car would get some respect today. Even then, I doubt seriously that they would get even half what they are asking for it. Even people that can afford it want to be liked. And given the car's sordid past, nobody today is going to be liked for having it or showing up anywhere with it.

[edinmass]

 

It's a little known fact......George Washington was the original owner of the Tucker Convertible. Or was it George Washington Carver? Anyways......one of them is true. Unless you decide to invent a new story. With AI, we will soon see a video of some long dead celebrity driving the car around NYC in the late 40's. 

[Tph479]

Seeing a Tucker from the front with the three headlights reminds me of the chick from the movie Total Recall.

Edited April 26 by Tph479 (see edit history)

[JFranklin]

4 hours ago, edinmass said:

 

It's a little known fact......George Washington was the original owner of the Tucker Convertible. Or was it George Washington Carver? Anyways......one of them is true. Unless you decide to invent a new story. With AI, we will soon see a video of some long dead celebrity driving the car around NYC in the late 40's. 

Didn't Woody Allen make a movie of just that?

[John_S_in_Penna]

 

20 hours ago, alsancle said:

My biggest issue is the amount of money they bring and the fact that almost none them run, or run well.

21 hours ago, edinmass said:

Hardly...........ever serviced or restored one? Absolute junk............my father passed on one in 1975 for 3500 bucks.

Who's to say that Tuckers aren't $50,000 cars--or a bit less,

or a bit more--instead of million-dollar cars?  What's the

inherent value in a low-production experimental car that's

maybe not particularly road-worthy?

 

A point to ponder:

Wouldn't a fine-running Buick or Oldsmobile be MORE

desirable for enjoyment, reliability, and actual use?

I think a Tucker could be priced in that realm instead.

Years ago, they evidently were!

 

[alsancle]

1 hour ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

 

Who's to say that Tuckers aren't $50,000 cars--or a bit less,

or a bit more--instead of million-dollar cars?  What's the

inherent value in a low-production experimental car that's

maybe not particularly road-worthy?

 

A point to ponder:

Wouldn't a fine-running Buick or Oldsmobile be MORE

desirable for enjoyment, reliability, and actual use?

I think a Tucker could be priced in that realm instead.

Years ago, they evidently were!

 

Supply and demand John. If they had made 5000 instead of 50, then they would be 100 K.  But if you are a basic billionaire with your own private collection, a Tucker is dir rigor.

 

by the way, aren’t these running cord 810/812 transmissions? Those transmissions are barely adequate for a car half as big. I just can’t imagine them holding up at all.

[69merc]

Fascinating.

[JACK M]

11 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

"Oh not that stupid thing again!"

My thoughts exactly.

[DrumBob]

OK, if this car is forgery, how was it assembled and from what parts? Wouldn't the builder have to start with Tucker parts? Or, were Tucker-like parts fabricated? 

 

I've seen this car for sale before. I had a feeling it was bogus from the start. 

[Tph479]

The land behind these homes is where they built the engines for the B29 Superfortress , and after the war Tucker used the factory to build his cars. This is on the southwest side of Chicago. Some of the buildings still exist and a portion of the property is currently a shopping mall.

[Fossil]

17 hours ago, edinmass said:

Unless you decide to invent a new story.

Wasn't it Elon Musk's grandpa the creator of the Tucker? Or is that just a rumor?

 

 

[wayne sheldon]

8 hours ago, DrumBob said:

OK, if this car is forgery, how was it assembled and from what parts? Wouldn't the builder have to start with Tucker parts?

 

When I was a kid in high school, and just getting into this hobby, somewhat over fifty years ago, I subscribed to Hemmings Motor News magazine, which in those days was about the size of a "Reader's Digest" if you are old enough to remember those (from about thirty years ago?). In study hall, I would read it from cover to cover almost every month! I was also reading almost every book on antique automobiles and automotive history that I could get my hands onto. So, even then, I was somewhat familiar with the Tucker and its history.

One of the things that struck me then was how many Tucker parts were for sale! Several collectors had gotten ahold of a bunch of the leftover Tucker parts and were trying to make a few bucks selling them off to people with dreams of building one. Legend has it that the engine was used for some early helicopters? I won't claim to know about that, but I do know that a bunch of those engines were floating around the country, some still in their factory crates! I actually saw a couple of them myself at a couple of shows, "Tucker" name on the engines and all! Occasionally, at major swap meets, one could see doors and hoods, sometimes a grill or other distinctive pieces, being offered or just displayed. Clearly, that stuff was out there.

Slowly, that stuff seemed to quietly drift away. I always figured a few people thought they could collect enough pieces to assemble another car. When this car first showed up about a decade or so ago, I figured that it was likely assembled from some hidden collection of some real pieces along with deep pockets fabricating whatever else they needed.

 

I don't wish to disparage the man too much. Preston Tucker was a brilliant engineer, with an eye to the future. He was also a huckster, a bit of a conman, and often putting together shaky deals. I "believe" he was truly hoping to throw the automotive industry on its ear with his groundbreaking designs. But even with government grants and loans, use of aircraft manufacturing plants left empty by the end of the war, he couldn't quite pull that rabbit out of his hat. I suspect that he ordered a lot of pieces to construct not just the first fifty cars, but a good start on the next fifty. How many pieces are still out there? We'll probably never know.

 

While a few pieces might make a nice addition to display in a private collection? I do hope nobody else foolishly tries to build another one.

[DrumBob]

This thread reminds me of the Gibson Moderne guitar. The Gibson guitar company designed three radical-shaped guitars to be released in 1958. One was the Flying V, another was the Explorer, and the third was the Moderne. The V and the Explorer were actually produced, but in very small quantities, and are extremely rare today, and very expensive, like a quarter million dollars and up. The Moderne was never put into production, but some ex-Gibson employees swear there were at least three prototypes made that wound up in the "morgue," the room where they stashed failed designs in their Kalamazoo factory. At one point, they were supposedly cut up on a band saw and discarded. The story goes that two employees went dumpster diving and retrieved all the pieces and reassembled the guitars. But, no one has actually ever seen them. Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top claims to have one, but he won't let anybody see it, and he's probably the biggest BS artist in rock 'n roll history. Someone wrote an entire book on the Moderne. I wrote an article on the search for the Moderne for Premier Guitar magazine.

 

It's the Tucker convertible of the guitar world, El Dorado, the Arc Of The Covenant. Did it really exist? We just don't know.

 

Gibson has issued the Moderne several times in new form over the years, and it has never sold well. It's just a very odd design. I like it, but the guitar buying crowd never did. 

[wayne sheldon]

Drum Bob, I always find it enjoyable to read similar stories of legends and unanswered histories in other areas of collecting or quests for knowledge! Very interesting.

[DrumBob]

9 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

Drum Bob, I always find it enjoyable to read similar stories of legends and unanswered histories in other areas of collecting or quests for knowledge! Very interesting.

Thank you. My area of expertise has always been drums and guitars. Much appreciated.