When was preston tucker born

Preston Tucker, his family and many of his staff returned to Ypsilanti. World War II was finally over and the combination of a robust economy, troops coming back along with the public clamoring for something different in the family sedan, made the timing perfect.

The concept for the tucker Torpedo was being born, right in our own backyard. A few years back, long time Ypsilanti resident Nick Stamos shared a memory of when, as a kid, he and Johnny Tucker, the youngest of Preston and Vera's 5 children, were sneaking a peak at some futuristic renderings of a car right out of a Buck Rogers movie.

A number of renderings were done and even some scale models while Tucker tried to find investors at the local Masonic Lodge, which is the building currently housing The Riverside Arts Center.

Some meetings were also held at the Detroit Athletic Club but things weren't quite gelling yet. A magazine article appeared in PIC magazine in late with drawings and talk about Tucker's Torpedo On Wheels and the public clamored for more.

The wheels were in motion but Detroit wasn't the area to compete with the Big 3 it seemed. Bolstered by the public interest and more magazine articles Preston and his growing entourage of automobile folks set their sights on a Dodge Plant in Chicago, where B engines were produced during WW II.

Many plants were in the hands of the War Assets Administration and they needed to be re-purposed for peace time usage. Obtaining this plant was no small task as there were others who wanted it and then as now, politics and business often overlapped and special interests sometimes got in the way. With the plant finally secured, Tucker teamed with those he thought could help him sell stock while the actual work of producing a car to sell was yet to begin.

On June 19th, over stock-holders, potential dealers, politicians and media attended the debut of the Tucker 48 sedan. The name Torpedo had since been discarded for reasons of image The band played, the curtain raised and his daughter, Mary Lee Tucker christened the car with a bottle of champagne as the onlookers cheered. I remember talking to Mary Lee a few years ago about the experience and she had been away at college and flew in for the event. The first time she actually saw her dad's dream was when the curtain opened and she was speechless.

I've since seen some vintage film footage of this event and you can see the wonder in the then 20 year old, Mary Lee's eyes when the curtain raises. The public' interest was high and although far from being out of the woods, things were looking good for Ypsilanti's, Preston Tucker.

Then, the Security and Exchange Commission started an investigation, word was leaked to the national press that all was not right at Tucker Corporation and the government came in, seized all the companies records and essentially ran them out of business. The bad press hurt and the enemies in government and industry that Preston had made went out of their way to make it worse. Friends, prospective dealers and impartial experts rallied but the damage was done.

When the trial came about in the prosecution had such a weak case that Tucker's lawyer, Bill Kirby chose to offer no defense and in less than a half hour the jury found Preston and his associates not guilty. In , he announced the details of his car, which he called the Tucker Torpedo later renamed the Tucker hired Alex Tremulis to style the body of the 48, and the first prototype was unveiled to the public in Unfortunately, only 51 cars were built before Tucker became mired in a legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Tucker and his company were eventually found not guilty, but the company had lost is factory and had accumulated a crippling amount of debt. It was there he met Harry Miller, maker of more Indy winning engines than anyone at the time. The two joined forces in , forming Miller and Tucker, Inc in to produce race cars. In Tucker ended up in the hospital with appendicitis. While bedridden he took a keen interest in news magazines that theorized war in Europe. The threat of conflict inspired him to develop a speedy combat vehicle.

Renderings and detailed data of the future war machine garnered interest from the Dutch government. However, by the time the production could begin, Germany had already invaded the Netherlands. At that point the Dutch no longer needed the vehicle. Tucker showed his armored prototype, which featured a patented Tucker Turret, to the US government. The vehicle, which could reach speeds in excess of mph, was simply too fast for them. The heads at the Defense Department did like the mechanical turret he developed, but not for its intended use.

In the years that followed Tucker even worked with American-Bantam on the design for the original Jeep. Following the war Tucker wanted to create a completely new car for a new world, whereas major automakers, such as the Big 3, were in no hurry to change their ways. In all, 50 complete Tucker 48s left the factory, in addition to the prototype, before the plant closed for good. How Tucker was financially able to produce the vehicles became a point of contention. The Security and Exchange Commission placed Tucker under investigation for the way he raised funds, which included selling Tucker accessories and dealerships before the car was ready for production.

He eventually faced a grand jury trial brought on by the SEC. In he would be found not guilty on all charges. The losses were far too much by then. The negative press and numerous lawsuits from people who had purchased dealerships left him riddled with debt. His dream to produce a radically futuristic car was crushed. Following the trial, nearly all Tucker Corporation assets fell under the auction gavel. Tucker did receive one of his cars and his mother another.

He soon connected with inventors in Brazil to build a new car he named Carioca, illustrated below. Unfortunately, it never saw production. Preston Tucker died of pneumonia as a complication of the cancer in December of that year. Need more Tucker?