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If innovation and being WAY ahead of it's time means anything, then the Tucker would have to be at the top of the list. First car with A/C, rear mounted engine, automatic transmission, the headlights turned with the steering wheels, cornering lamps, power steering, power brakes, 4 wheel independent suspension, torsion bars with shock absorbers,padded dash, safety glass windshield, engine and transmission mounted on subframe and could be removed in minutes, Hemi heads, fuel injection, all aluminum engine, disc brakes, all things we think are modern technologies were offered in 1948.
While I agree with you that the Tucker was extremely innovative, and I would love to have one, your enthusiasm for the Tucker design has led you to credit the car with "firsts" & other features that it simply did not have when it came time to manufacture the cars. Many of these features were mentioned in the original prospectus, but never materialized on the 50 pilot cars that were produced.
>Tuckers were not available with A/C!
And, even if they were, automotive A/C was pioneered by Packard, in 1941.
I think that your confusion might stem from the fact that the Tucker's Franklin-designed engine was originally an air-cooled unit that Tucker's engineers converted to conventional water cooling. But, air conditioning? NOPE!
>Tucker was NOT the first car with an automatic transmission.
GM was the first, with an optional Hydramatic unit for the 1940 Oldsmobile.
Of the 50 Tucker pilot cars that were produced, only 2 had early versions of the Tuckermatic transmission, which was still in the design phase.
All of the others used a vacuum-operated pre-selector shift mechanism, and the driver did indeed have to use a clutch pedal.
>Tucker did not produce any cars with disc brakes, and the first American make with disc brakes was Crosley, in 1949. (Quickly abandoned by Crosley, due to major durability problems.)
>The Tucker suspension did not use torsion bars, although it did have an independent 4 wheel suspension.
It actually used a rubber "elastomeric" suspension that many of the owners later converted to a coil spring suspension, due to the problems inherent in the rubber suspension design.
>The production Tuckers did not have fuel injection.
>The prototype Tucker had a mechanism to turn the two outboard headlights, but when this proved to be unworkable, Tucker converted to a design that allowed only the center headlight to turn. However, this was still very innovative--even if only one light did swivel on the production cars.
>Power steering and power brakes were never even mentioned in the prospectus, and are not present on any of the cars.
>While the windshield was designed to pop out upon impact, Tucker was not the first to use safety glass.
If Senator Homer Ferguson and his Detroit allies had not put Tucker out of business, I am confident that the Tucker would have materialized with many more innovative features, due to Preston Tucker's desire to have a truly advanced car. However, as you can see from what I detailed above, many of the features that you believe the cars to have had were not a reality on the 50 pilot cars that were manufactured before Tucker's demise.
Last edited by Retriever; 12-24-2012 at 06:33 AM..
While I agree with you that the Tucker was extremely innovative, and I would love to have one, your enthusiasm for the Tucker design has led you to credit the car with "firsts" & other features that it simply did not have when it came time to manufacture the cars. Many of these features were mentioned in the original prospectus, but never materialized on the 50 pilot cars that were produced.
>Power steering and power brakes were never even mentioned in the prospectus, and are not present on any of the cars.
Addenda:
I should have added that Pierce-Arrow introduced power brakes on its 1928 models, so even if the Tucker had power brakes, it certainly could not have been the first.
The first commercially-available power steering was on the 1951 Chrysler Imperial.
My favorite car is the 67 Nova but I think the best classic was the chevelle. It changed body styles and still commanded a loyal following. Plus, a 454 just sounds thundering.
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