TUCKER TIME: The Tucker automobile has been memorialized in film
and print but how many people realize Bradford’s name comes up in
its storied history?

Mike Wennin of Emporium sends along an article from Old Cars
Weekly about the Tucker automobile which reveals a Bradford
connection to one of these rare antiques, adding, “not sure if this
is common knowledge in Bradford or not.”

We vaguely recall some talk when a movie came out about Preston
Tucker, the car’s inventor, but these details were new to us.
“Tucker: The Man and his Dreams” was released in 1988.

In any case, the information on Old Cars Weekly will take up two
days to cover.

Here’s some background from the story written by Jay Follis: “No
other automobile has ignited the imagination of the public,
captured the attention of the collector world and spawned more
controversy than Preston Tucker’s dream car — the Tucker ’48.
Introduced to the car-hungry American public following World War
II, the revolutionary rear-engined Tucker featured many safety
innovations, including a pop-out windshield, padded dash, passenger
crash chamber and a turning, third ‘Cyclops’ headlamp to illuminate
the way around corners, all of which stirred the public’s
interest.”

The article, obviously geared to collectors of old cars,
notes:

“As with any rare or desirable collectible, there is the
universal dream of discovering the unknown, the one that’s been
forgotten, or the missing. It’s certainly true when it comes to the
1948 Tucker, with values hovering between $750,000 and $1 million
for one of the survivors. Out of 51 built, 47 Tuckers remain. But
before treasure hunting for a missing Tucker, read on to learn the
facts known behind those ‘missing’ cars.”

The Tucker Automobile Club of America Inc. — recognized as the
foremost authority on Tucker Automobiles — has worked diligently
since its founding in 1973 to trace the history of all Tucker cars.
Each Tucker has its own story, and while most cars have been very
well documented, their history is not considered infallible.
Research is always ongoing as new facts and puzzle pieces are
uncovered.

Beginning in the late 1950s, a few Tucker owners tracked down
all of the Tuckers produced, the article notes.

This is where the Bradford connection comes in but it will have
to wait until tomorrow.