The Tucker 48 / Torpedo

Just saw the movie on Preston Tucker and his car for the second time.What a great story! Really enjoyed it, nearly as much as the first time I saw it. I was so amazed I had never heard of this guy or his accoplishments until viewing the movie.
Has any one read the book ?
I was wondering if Howard Hughes did actually help him out or not.

Check it out if you haven't seen it:beer:

Could you imagine getting your new car and finding out that it has a second hand gearbox!
Tucker was not a genius he was a conman.

Morris, tsk tsk... That's the ignorant myth of Tucker.

Tucker's show car, his prototype, _that_ was hand-built from, yes, some scrapyard parts.

But all 51 of the production cars had 4-speed manual transmission with vacuum linkage.

And it _was_ a spectacular car. You could roll it over and then drive it away. It had seatbelts when none of the big 3 would offer them, a central headlight which turned with the steering to illuminate the road ahead in a turn.

And in the greatest American tradition, the big three used their political influence to destroy him.

The car had no advanced features, it just had a lot of gimmicks to woo the morons into parting with their money to be put on a waiting list for a car that they had never seen or were ever likely to see.

It was an automotive pyramid scam.

The car had no advanced features, it just had a lot of gimmicks to woo the morons into parting with their money

Is that anything like cup holders, heated seats, powered mirrors, and satellite navigation?

Tucker had a little of both in him, salesman and engineer. He definitely had some excellent ideas on how to build a better car. He also had to move quick and dirty as the big 3 were leveraging him out of business.

No advanced features, eh? Powerful flat 6 engine mounted at the rear, all independent suspension, a genuine attempt to incorporate safety features and styling years ahead of anything else. The Big 3 were wetting themselves.