Preston Tucker was an engineer and eventually automobile designer.
He was born in Capac, Michigan, September 21, 1906.
His first automotive experience was working on the production line at Ford Motor Company; he was demoted because he installed a heater in the dashboard of some of the cars he worked on, a feature that at that time Ford did not install.
After time selling cars, designing Indy 500 racers, and building armored cars for the Dutch government, (able to hit 80 MPH, in an armored car, in 1939? Unheard of.) Tucker spent time designing and building armored gun turrets for the U. S. Navy.
Finally, in the 1940's, Tucker began work on one of the world's all-time great "concept cars."
Named the Tucker Torpedo, it was the first American vehicle to incorporate such features as a rear-mounted engine, disc brakes, fuel injection, a padded dashboard, instrumentation in front of the steering wheel, and - last but not least - a center headlight that turned in the direction of the steering wheel, an innovation STILL not used today.
However, Tucker ran out of money, and tried to raise money in a way that raised eyebrows - by selling accessories for the Torpedo before the vehicle was even in production. This caused his indictment for fraud in 1949, and the trial and legal fees left Tucker Corporation bankrupt.
Only 50 Torpedoes were ever built, 37 from the production shop at Tucker Corporation, and 13 later finished from parts in stores. The major auto manufacturers at the time pushed heavily to have him indicted, and "helped" out the prosecution as much as they could, and as a result Tucker was put out of business before being able to become a serious threat to their business.
He was able to resurrect his reputation after the trial, but died from cancer in 1956 before his next automotive project, a sports car, was ever completed.
His innovative ideas - with the exception of the swivelling headlights, which you stil won't see on the road - are still used by auto manufacturers to this day.
Of the 51 (including the prototype) Tucker '48 sedans ever built, 47 still exist today.
The Tucker Torpedo featured:
- 334.1 cubic inch flat-6 engine, adapted from a helicopter engine. 166 horsepower!
- First automobile to have a "safety cage."
- First automobile to mount the steering box behind the front axle to protect the driver from front-end collisions.
- First (and only!) automobile to use a swiveling headlight.
- First "hemi."
- First fuel-injected automotive engine.
- First "safety glass" pop-out windshield.
- Automatic transmission. (In the prototype. They were unable to work all the bugs out before production, and the existing Tucker '48's have manual transmissions.)
- 4-wheel independent suspension.
- Tubular shocks.
- First all-sealed water cooling system.
- A drag coefficient of only 0.27 - better than 90% of the cars on the road today, which average between 0.3 and 0.35. Equivalent would be the Infiniti G35, or the Mercedes-Benz W-203 C-class.
- Top speed of 109 MPH, and gets 24 MPG. I will note that this is better than the car I drive now.
- Oddly, the Torpedo did not have seat belts - Tucker had considered them, but rejected them because he was afraid they might give the impression his car was unsafe.
To give you an idea, this vehicle has about the same weight to power ratio as a 2005 Lexus LX. And it was made in 1948.
Preston Tucker was one of America's automotive pioneers.
1948 Tucker Sedan, Driver's side.
1948 Tucker Sedan, Passenger side.
1948 Tucker Sedan, Rear.
1948 Tucker Sedan, Steering wheel detail.
1948 Tucker Sedan, Interior.
We're not worthy, dude.
