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A story about Preston Tucker?s struggles ran in the Pittsburgh Press on June 12, 1949. It was reprinted as part of a story on Tucker and his Tucker 48 in the March edition of Hemmings Classic Car magazine.
This is a model of a Tucker car that?s nearly 11 inches long, just over 4 inches wide and about 3 1/2 inches tall. Photos by Dave Chapman
Even in cruise-crazed collectors? panoramas, one automobile continues to draw admirers for its ingenuity: Preston Tucker?s revolutionary 1948 Tucker Torpedo.
Still fascinating 60-plus years after its introduction, the advanced vehicle reflected the genius of the man himself, a Prohibition-era motorcycle cop in his early days in Lincoln Park.
Even automotive wizards of that era stood in awe of Tucker?s innovations: seat belts, a pop-out windshield, a padded dashboard, reinforced frames, a cyclops headlight and a powerful engine and drivetrain. Almost all of them have since been incorporated into vehicles.
Tucker himself was an extraordinary man. A Lincoln Park High School graduate, he had no college education, no formal training except classes at Detroit?s Cass Technical High School, and tinkering on cars while working at Cadillac, Chrysler, Studebaker and Ford.
Not all of his patents were automotive related. He built Indianapolis 500 racers at one time, and also designed and built a gun turret used on World War II aircraft.
Born in Capac in Michigan?s Thumb region, Tucker moved with his family to a Warwick Street home in Lincoln Park, long ago demolished and now the site of a parking lot.
He always considered Lincoln Park his home, and was active in civic events. He worked as a motorcycle policeman during the Prohibition era and even entered politics as an unsuccessful mayoral candidate in 1935. Tucker died at age 53 in Brazil, where he was forming an auto manufacturing company. His body was returned home for burial at Michigan Memorial Park in Huron Township.
Besides its molded lines and sleek appearance, the ?48 Tucker Torpedo sported a third headlight that rotated in any steering direction to illuminate the path of a turn. This ?cyclops eye? was featured in ?Tucker: The Man and His Dream,? a movie by a former Detroiter, Francis Ford Coppola.
The directional headlight was copied from Tucker?s stint as a Lincoln Park motorcycle cop with Floyd Crichton, later to become police chief. Prohibition was an unpopular law of the Roaring ?20s, and plenty of Canadian whiskey was being smuggled from Detroit River hideouts north up Southfield Road through Ecorse and Lincoln Park.
The duty of Crichton and Tucker, swift on their Indian Zundapp motorcycles (forerunner of Harley-Davidsons), was to pursue and chase the bootleggers out of town. That?s when a headlight turning with the motorcycle?s handlebars became an idea for a feature of the ?48 Tucker Torpedo. Continued...
Tucker was not timid in power for his automobile. He used a helicopter engine rated over 100 mph at 2,000 rpms, and a zero-to-60 mph time of 10 seconds. At least one Tucker had 200,000 odometer miles before needing major repair.
Unlike other cars of its era, the Tucker featured several safety measures. A unibody was welded to an automotive frame to eliminate body rattles and provide a safety cage. Bumpers were mounted on springs to absorb shock. The steering wheel was a breakaway design so it wouldn?t ?spear? the driver in a crash.
The 1948 Tucker Torpedo is not likely to be seen in the cruises that attract hordes of viewers. Of the 51 made, 47 survive, with only three in Tucker?s home state.
(Leslie Lynch-Wilson and published information contributed to this report.)
Source: http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2012/07/28/news/doc500d815a3993e668021009.txt
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