Don’t you just love the story of an underdog? The little guy that takes on the far larger foe and forges ahead with just shear guts and determination? Such is the real life story of the Tucker automobile.

Preston Tucker was born on September 21, 1903, on a peppermint farm near Capac, Michigan. He was obsessed with automobiles from an early age and at 16 began purchasing late model automobiles, repairing them and selling the cars for a profit. He was quite successful and by the 1930s, Tucker formed several ventures with some of the early greats in the automotive World. Names like Harry Miller, The Chevrolet Brothers and Henry Ford were among his business associates.

In 1941, when the United States was dragged into WWII, the production of automobiles all but stopped in North America and the car companies dedicated themselves to the manufacturing of war machinery. By the end of the war in 1945, the American public had been denied new car models for almost 5 years and a tremendous amount of demand had been built up. Knowing this was an unusually good time, Preston Tucker founded the Tucker Motor Corporation to make the world’s most advanced car.

The first order of business was to obtain financing but Tucker soon discovered that securing the support from investors meant he would to give up a fair amount of control in his new company. To Tucker, this was not an option, so he began selling dealer franchises to raise cash. This attracted the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and in September, of 1946, they began an investigation into this unusual practice. Meanwhile, Tucker forged ahead with the design of his car at a frenetic pace.

During Christmas 1946, he commissioned Alex Tremulis to design his first car, the “Tucker Torpedo”, and ordered that the prototype be ready in just 100 days. A time-frame like this was unheard of in the car business but unfortunately necessary in this case. The first car, which was completely hand-made, was affectionately dubbed the “Tin Goose” by Tucker employees and, indeed, was delivered on time.

By the spring of 1948, Tucker had a pilot production line for new Torpedos just starting when it was realized that he was out of money. He needed some $5 million immediately. So what did he do? He began a deeply discounted pre-purchase plan for Tucker automobile accessories such as radios and seat covers! This, of course, was before any cars were actually built! Although he raised $2 million in advanced payments for these accessories, this was the final straw for the SEC. On May 28, 1948, they launched a full-scale investigation and Tucker Motors was forced to stop production immediately and lay-off 1600 workers. Receivership and bankruptcy suits soon piled up and by January 1949, company was gone. The remaining assets were sold for 18 cents on the dollar.

Incredibly, Preston Tucker tried again. In 1951, he went to Brazil to seek backing for another new car; a car even more advanced that the Tucker Torpedo. With the new project almost underway this time, he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and production never went forward. He died December 26, 1956, the day after Christmas, and with him went the dreams of a fourth car company to challenge General Motors, Chrysler and Ford.

Courtesy of Lynch Family of Dealerships