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On this day, December 26, 1956, Preston Tucker died.
Sat Dec 26, 2020: On this day, December 26, 1956, Preston Tucker died.
See this thread from the day before too.
Fri Dec 25, 2020: Merry Christmas, 1947, (?) from the Tucker Corporation
HISTORY
This Day In History: Legendary Carmaker Preston Tucker Dies
Elizabeth Blackstock
20 minutes ago • Filed to: HISTORY
On December 26, 1956, a man named Preston Tucker died at the age of 53. His name may not be immediately familiar to some of us, but he was one of the many people who made a substantial change in the automotive industry, whether folks at the time wanted to give him credit or not. And his goals were absolutely incredible.
{snip}
Tucker started working in the mailroom at General Motors and became the vice president of a Packard dealership in Indianapolis by the time he turned 30. There, he became good friends with Henry Miller, a racing driver who very likely planted all kinds of fabulous ideas in Tucker’s head.
While he did invent a gun turret for Navy ships that was used in World War II, Tucker is best known for something informally called the “Tucker Torpedo”—or, officially, the Tucker 48. Named after both its creator and its model year, the Torpedo was… a hot mess. Only 51 models were made before the company was forced to file for bankruptcy.
The media wasn’t particularly keen on the Tucker 48, nor were the Big Three (which Tucker believed had played a role in his demise). But that’s ignoring the fact that this car was innovative in so many different ways. In fact, the Tucker 48 was one of the first cars to have some of the first elements of modern cars that we’d recognize today.
{snip}
This Day In History: Legendary Carmaker Preston Tucker Dies
Elizabeth Blackstock
20 minutes ago • Filed to: HISTORY
On December 26, 1956, a man named Preston Tucker died at the age of 53. His name may not be immediately familiar to some of us, but he was one of the many people who made a substantial change in the automotive industry, whether folks at the time wanted to give him credit or not. And his goals were absolutely incredible.
{snip}
Tucker started working in the mailroom at General Motors and became the vice president of a Packard dealership in Indianapolis by the time he turned 30. There, he became good friends with Henry Miller, a racing driver who very likely planted all kinds of fabulous ideas in Tucker’s head.
While he did invent a gun turret for Navy ships that was used in World War II, Tucker is best known for something informally called the “Tucker Torpedo”—or, officially, the Tucker 48. Named after both its creator and its model year, the Torpedo was… a hot mess. Only 51 models were made before the company was forced to file for bankruptcy.
The media wasn’t particularly keen on the Tucker 48, nor were the Big Three (which Tucker believed had played a role in his demise). But that’s ignoring the fact that this car was innovative in so many different ways. In fact, the Tucker 48 was one of the first cars to have some of the first elements of modern cars that we’d recognize today.
{snip}
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
