Tucker No. 1046 in 2009, before restoration work began.

One of the best things about going to the annual North American Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit is its proximity to Chatham, Ont. – home of RM Auctions. Again this year I made time to stop in at RM because there’s always a story to be found there.
RM is much more than one of the world’s top automobile auction houses, and it’s always fascinating to see what its craftsmen are working on in the restoration shops. When I popped in after last year’s NAIAS, I was shown a rare 1948 Tucker Torpedo – or what was left of it – that was awaiting restoration. So on this year’s visit I especially wanted to see how work was progressing on this rare automobile.
Tucker Corporation is very much in the news these days because of the controversy over the authenticity of a 1948 convertible that failed to sell at Russo and Steele’s Scottsdale auction last month when the owner refused a bid of $1.4 million. So RM still holds the record for highest price ever achieved by a Tucker – $1,000,017 (including buyer’s premium) for a green sedan sold at it Monterey event in 2008. This same car – chassis No. 1034 – had previously been sold at the same RM event in 2006 for $577,000. It now resides in a private collection.
The few Tuckers that were assembled at the company’s Chicago facility, a former Dodge aircraft engine plant, sold for about $2,500 when new.
The brainchild of auto designer and entrepreneur Preston Tucker, the car was a radical departure from pre-World War II American iron. It had a rear-mounted flat six helicopter engine and was driven by a modified Cord transmission. The Tucker Torpedo’s streamlined shape was quite modern for the day and its front end was unmistakable because of its “Cyclops’ eye” – a headlamp mounted in the nose that turned in relation to the front wheels for better nighttime vision.
While the provenance of the convertible is in dispute – the owner says it’s a factory prototype, the Tucker Automobile Club of America says it isn’t – there’s no disputing the authenticity of the Tucker sedan in the RM shops.
Of the 51 Tuckers produced, including the prototype “Tin Goose,” 47 are known to exist. The one at RM is chassis number 1046 and its big problem is that it’s far from original.
No. 0046 had been given an Oldsmobile drivetrain in the 1950s and was converted again in the 1960s when it was mounted on a 1964 Mercury Monterey chassis with a 390 CID V8 up front. Despite this, No. 1046 sold on eBay for $202,700 in 2007, according to the Tucker club website.

Tucker No. 1047 on the hoist at RM in Chatham.

The car is now in the part of RM’s shop where photography is not permitted, but I’d been allowed to take the photo accompanying this story in 2009.
The first thing you’ll notice is that louvres have been cut into the hood to direct air flow to the front-mounted V8. These will be removed during the restoration process and RM has obtained the correct drivetrain, including the water-cooled Franklin flat six.
However, one thing that’s impossible to obtain is a Tucker chassis, so that will have to be hand-fabricated. To help with that job, RM has Tucker No. 1047 on loan from the Gilmore Auto Museum in Hickory Corners, Mich. In exchange for doing some work on its car, the museum is allowing RM to use it as a template for four months.
On the day I was there, No. 1047 was up on a hoist and a technician was photographing every square inch of the floor and frame for future reference.
As for No. 1046, it’s now been disassembled, awaiting a complete rebuild.
For more on Tucker Corporation, and a complete roster of surviving cars, log on to the Tucker Automobile Club of America website at www.tuckerclub.org.

Write to Glen at glenwoodcock@canoemail.com