Great Cars: TUCKER

Just after World War II, Preston Tucker wanted to be the first automaker to introduce an entirely new car, not just a touched up pre-war model. Tucker set up shop in an old Dodge plant and got financial backing through stock and dealers. Despite his "futuristic" car models, the government thought Tucker was a swindler and began a lengthy investigation. Tucker and several of his employees were eventually charged but acquitted of mail fraud and conspiracy. By the time the trial was over, Tucker's hopes were shattered. Preston Tucker dared to dream the impossible dream.
EP 307

[@glennt69lol]

Beautiful looking car, the big 3 and government screwed him over hard

[@yanuchiuchihaanimegamesand3907]

When Politics gets mixed in the court of law

[@WhittyPics]

Damn shame that car didn't get a chance

[@austin1839]

Yeah the big automakers really did him in. The Tucker was far more advanced than any other car of its time and that's what made Detroit so pissed off. That plus the fact that Tucker wasn't a member of the ruling elites.

[@georgeelmerdenbrough6906]

This car had the best potential of the upstarts after WW2 ...though I believe that suspension was too ambitious and would have hurt the company's reputation . I loved the look of the car , a real beauty .

[@richardstewart2080]

Fascinating story, well presented. It was good to see the historical footage. Go to the Petersen Museum, take the Vault Tour and see car number 30 with many special features, one of two he was allowed to keep in the bankruptcy. It was his mother's daily driver.

[@frankmayer139]

What a shame. I'll bet he would have really had something. Just imagine what he'd be making today.

[@CreeperOnYourHouse]

So, the reason why it failed was because the FTC announced that it was going to sue Tucker just before it was going to launch? That sucks.

[@rsr789]

SEC.

[@scotpens]

Not the FTC, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). Tucker was indicted and tried for stock fraud. He was eventually cleared of all charges.

[@georgeelmerdenbrough6906]

Pearson was a hatchetman for Detroit .

[@vinnydaq13]

3:03 Harry Miller had one stylish moustache ! 😎

[@chrisj197438]

Seeing one in person is amazing.

[@TinLizzie-uc1jw]

Chump Johnson I agree! I saw one in Tacoma and I freaked out! 😂 It was so amazing to see!

[@louisedwards6681]

I saw one at the Smithsonian in wash DC ,,,,, my heart melted and I almost cried 🤗😘😎😂

[@michalgajdos7575]

Big three& government vs Tucker...

[@bradwilliams1691]

Great documentary, tragic story. Living in Melbourne Australia, I've only recently learnt that there's actually a Tucker 48 here, and that it's only a stones throw away. Hopefully one day, I'll be in the right place at the right time to catch a glimpse of this incredible car. Until then.............

[@jackflash1129]

0-60 in 8 secs! That was fast for those days.

[@aricsnyder5882]

Jack Flash lol 0-60 in 8 seconds was fast in the 80's

[@georgeelmerdenbrough6906]

There were some problems with the rear enging placement . I believe it was just a show off to rear mount it . It had to be built to survive crashes because the weight at the rear worked like a pendulum . Still , this car should have gotten a chance , if not the car thanat least Tuckers design team .

[@garlandremingtoniii4679]

HOLD THAT TIGER! 🐅 HOLD THAT TIGER!! 🐯 HOLD THAT TIGER!!! 🐅

[@horrorskopf]

This strongly reminds me on the German Borgward story of the late 50s to early 60s

[@yeshualionofjudah7107]

Hard to believe they didn’t mention the directional cyclops eye ( headlite).

[@pinkflydnt]

Actually,,,they did.

[@mn11073]

Great Spirit ⚘⚘⚘⚘Lov💖

[@cvcoco]

Tucker's own black one was in Petersens museum in Los Angeles. From the time I was a little kid the Tucker was awe inspiring and was the single force that led me into design. Then seeing the real one just took my breath away. The part I didnt understand from the history was that after the court process, really was there nobody in the country willing to step up and now get the car on the road? Nobody at all? On the other hand, tell me how its different for Elio Motors now, taking in money on a product that doesnt exist, delayed for years, promises broken. Why isnt the govt investigating Elio? If there were hidden powers out there to crush Tucker, and think they did try to crush Tesla too, these powers are there all the time and yet Elio escapes. Why? Too small to care about?

[@104thDIVTimberwolf]

7:45 is my unit coming home. The 104th Infantry Division became the 104th Training Division. By the time I got out in 2015, we were the 104th Leadership Training Division. *Nightfighters!*

[@johnnymason2460]

The 1948 Tucker is the kind of car that Jay Leno should own. I'm surprised he hasn't bought one yet.

[@acelasitwinkie7568]

A car ahead 30 years of its time.

[@louisedwards6681]

Yep ,

[@fob1xxl]

GREAT AUTOMOBILE! WAY AHEAD OF EVERYONE ELSE . EVEN THE HEADLIGHT DESIGN AND TECHNIQUE WAS USED ON THE 2015 MERCEDES BENZ S-CLASS. A BEAUTIFUL EXTRAORDINARY FEATURE.

[@chrislemaster2695]

I would buy a Tucker 1948 over any new car today. FORD and GOVERNMENT MOTERS SHUT HIM DOWN.

[@josephfrank1472]

The Government says that he didn't delver well if they were not running him through the ringer he could of!!

[@valerieguilletat3666]

Magnifiques voitures, grand génie

[@tonysaldzna2226]

Early 90's l was in prison taking auto mechanics. One day the instructor showed us the movie Tucker: The Man and His Dream. It opened my mind to what a determine man can do and what evil and greed men can do. To this day l wonder what the car industry would look like if Tucker was left alone to make his cars. Hold that tiger.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

Preston Tucker didn't pass away in December, 1953 (as stated in this video), but on December 26, 1956 at age 53.

[@donaldvincent]

Someone should make a kit car version of this. Put it on a Lincoln Town Car chassis. It would be front engined and all but would look pretty cool.

[@offroad5594]

I believe these cars in original form are worth millions today.

[@dehoedisc7247]

Then it is important for YOU to go out into the planet's extremities and rescue each and every one of them. Savvy? Then you can come back and show everyone how much of a hero you are. You think they're worth millions, then PAY UP, and you will then be your own rich hero.

[@khaccanhle1930]

Another example of big government using arbitrary power to cooperate with big business. Nothing new sadly.

[@anibalbabilonia1867]

The goverment and the big 3 automakers screwed him up! The man was a genius and was way ahead of its time! The big 3 was scared. I can just imagine the possibilities if the company was up and running today! He's was te Tesla of its time! My respect to the genius! Rip 🙏 Preston.

[@philliplopez8745]

The only reason that the automakers ever improve their offering is government mandate , they would still be selling us junk if they had their way .

[@billythekid3234]

THEY ARE SELLING US JUNK! i WON'T BUT AMERICAN EVER AGAIN! WASTE OF MONEY!

[@danialhowe9814]

8:00 how interesting.... so LUSTRON homes tried to displace tucker... there are several lustron homes in des moines iowa. they are quite odd... the entire house is made of aluminum and they never have basements . to see one in person the first thing you notice is the giant panel walls that resemble 1950s service station bathrooms.... as a real estate investor i cant imagine anyone wanting to own one - they are cold and sans any livable frills... i guess for the time they would do but they certainly didnt make their mark like tucker did!

[@austinteutsch]

So the Japanese and the Germans entered the American car market when a true American car builder failed. Sure the big three were scared shitless. He had seat belts, popout front windshield and other safety features the big three didn't want as it would ad to the cost of their cars. Fuck safety, they said. This is about money, not anyone's life. Tucker was an American original.

[@fayzemourie7776]

great cars great man

[@honestbutugly]

Always something to smear or spear a New American car, as history repeats itself with the Tesla

[@joedirt6212]

brad dovel yeah but it’s California and electric so who cares

[@louisedwards6681]

Don't even go there 🙄

[@BennysBenz]

No bail outs for Tucker.

[@billolsen4360]

BennysBenz Yes, you only get a govement bailout if you fail BIG TIME, like General Motors.

[@aricsnyder5882]

Movie crash cars were a fiberglass Studebaker and a glass version on a Ford Ltd frame

[@billbright1755]

Should have went with the one headlight prototype theme. But Nooooo. Corporate bean counters nixed that plan as containing too much austerity in styling cues. Didn’t listen to me. The “ Cyclops “ would have been a sales hit.

[@robertdeal9553]

I wonder how true the movie is. I heard this story from an uncle decades before the movie and it aligned with it.

[@michelbeauloye4269]

Also interesting would be a video about a somewhat similar car, the Tatra limousine from the then Czeckoslovakia. A big car with an air-cooled rear V8 engine and outstanding aerodynamic design. It is believed that Ferdinand Porsche was inspired by those cars to design the Beetle. Tatra continued to build automobiles under the Communist government. They now concentrate on building very popular trucks.

[@georgeelmerdenbrough6906]

I thought it was gorgeous but it had some problems that typically do not get discussed like pendulum swing from weight in the rear and the rubber bumper suspension was of inferior design

[@noahh9472]

I wish there was a episode on Mustangs

[@garyreed5985]

I believe that the big three and their money destroyed Tucker, terrible Tucker had great ideas which are just coming out Now. Shame on all of them 2021. All of that for greed.

[@richardthomas2574]

there are two in Prundale ca.

[@coreyellisart6877]

I am listening to this video right now and it's the beginning of 2024 and it reminds me of what's happening right now with Donald Trump

[@bootsarmstrong8421]

Love the outro music.

[@threepeakscomputers8444]

tucker and kaiser both destroyed by the big 3 this is bad even today

[@aricsnyder5882]

Love everything about this car but the steering wheel, and bland dash, would love to see what a coupe version would have looked like

[@davidvanhansen]

Much admiration for a car that was never built in series and was never ready for series production. In the series it would have Form example the disc brakes are not given all around. And whether the not exactly friends "Big3" really worked together is more likely to be looked for in the area of ​​self-knitted legends. Furthermore, the company would probably have gone bankrupt very quickly anyway. The vehicle was basically a single technical flaw in a nice look.

[@earleburtonjr9292]

And the giants came down and killed something beautiful...

[@s.i2898]

I like packard the most because as a brand they’ve made nice cars but the trucker was amazing and is my other favourite but I will never afford one.

[@jamesd.lethgo6988]

AN AMERICAN AUTO GREAT

[@billolsen4360]

Sounds like Drew Pearson maybe got a fat bribe from on of the big three

[@edarcuri182]

The Tucker was a good effort, but I would stop short of calling it great. Tucker's major problem, true of independents that would fail later, was insufficient capitalization. His legal problems, even though resolved, didn't help him of course. However, like many other auto visionaries (see Kaiser, Henry J) he underestimated the prodigious amounts of capital necessary to compete. Tucker wound up using a reworked helicopter engine and Kaiser built his cars on the bones of the Graham Paige with engines from Continental and Willys. Product was rarely the cause of an automaker's decline, however. Costs were the real danger. Had they worked together on power plants and tooling, some might have survived. It's a tough business. Chrysler was bigger than Ford circa World War 2 and observe how many times that company had a near death experience before its bankruptcy and conversion to the Netherlands company known as FCA, L.L.C. The history of auto making in this country would be much happier if visionaries and experienced auto people had worked together - and listened to each other. Egos often got in the way.

[@paulbroderick8438]

A real shame. I was brought up in Coventry, England at one time the Detroit of Britain with numerous auto manufactures now virtually all extinct. Art Deco features were a large part of design back then! Three on a tree with bench seating, those were the days!! Greetings from a Brit in Arizona.

[@KingRoseArchives]

I'd still call it great as a great effort and because of its innovations. Of course, I'm prone to support the underdogs.

[@rsr789]

At least Jaguar survives (albeit in Indian hands :-/ )

[@gpalmerify]

@@KingRoseArchives Agree, my dad was an auto enthusiast who went to automotive design school. I remember him recounting Tuckers amazing automobile and story. It was probably the safest car in the world with the first A frame and safety zone,etc. My dad believed auto companies in the US were focused on the huge demand for cars after the war without incorporating new technologies from the aircraft industries as European car companies did. If Tucker succeeded, I wonder how US cars would have been?

[@eleanorpowellfan]

None of the Tuckers built had any of the advanced features pitched to gullible investors. Beautifully styled, but otherwise nothing special.Tucker needed no help from the big 3 to put his company into bankruptcy.

[@johnzornow6580]

Very true. Their great advances were just gimmicks.

[@carlosrenteria4232]

USA have a supervision on a car industry... this country make the most beautiful cars on the planet..

[@christophersansom7751]

???????? !!!!!!!

[@bohemialite6371]

Damn Rockefellers and Rothschilds they did this to Tucker

[@rsr789]

?? Neither of those two families was connected to the automotive industry. Blame the Ford family!

[@billolsen4360]

rsr789 A lot of internet trolls are antisemitic failures, so they're always planting anti-Jewish crap.

[@gregorytimmons4777]

It's too bad that some of the biggest proponents of Capitalism won't let it flourish without interference. Those who competed in the early days on the principle of even competition and the strongest surviving got to be fat cats and rested on their success. Innovation fell by the wayside at times. At least to some extent. There were advances but also a sense at times that the car companies should show the customer what they wanted. Someone like Tucker comes along with radical new idea's, real changes engineering wise and the establishment panics. Tucker, underfunded, building an oversteering sketchy handling car that likely would have failed on it's own just would not be allowed to even compete. Those who had fought to become established automakers at the dawn of the 20th century could not risk this interloper gaining a foothold. Let him deplete his resources developing his car and then crush him amid scandal. Ah, the American dream. Great for some but once their dreams become reality then fear of honest competition prevents other newer upstarts being allowed their dreams. It's funny, strange even tragic how the greatest system in the world is so good for some, adequate for many and downright cruel to the rest.

[@BOBFORDD]

The Tucker had an air cooled engine which would often overheat.

[@oml352]

That's not true, the Tucker had a Franklin O-335 helicopter engine that was converted by the Tucker engineers to water cooling...

[@judymccoy3846]

Had a water cooled engine!

[@jamesbranham2217]

Sort of like delorean .. and if it was for Japanese cars in the 70s we would still be driving substandard cars.. to the socialists out there competition is good..

[@charlesm.9858]

Su unfair! That’s why I don’t buy any of the big 3! I buy a Lexus and tell the big three to kiss my butt!

[@goldenretriever6440]

Tbh I’ve had the dream of starting a car company I will say that tucker had made mistakes Like the name of his company Sure tucker is good and all but it doesn’t sound automotive You need something better then that Like Joliet or Lafayette And I’m not just saying french names but stuff like Blackhawk Springfield or something along those lines I mean I’m just spitballing here really you know

[@chriskingston4270]

I bet marijuana is legal where you live.

[@Batman-wv5ng]

Very smart man beautiful car , but government destroyed him sad.