I remember reading somewhere before that someone had found a Tucker convertible and I had forgotten all about it until today. I just came across this article. It’s debated whether or not the car was assembled at the factory which would make it a genuine Tucker convertible or assembled after the plant had closed because there is no mention of it in any paper work. The car is currently undergoing a restoration and should be completed this year. Genuine or not it’s still going to be great to see the only Tucker convertible in existence.
Image source www.madison.com
This story is from the Wisconsin State Journal
WED., FEB 18, 2009 - 1:59 PM
Moe: Unique local car is a historical legend
By Doug Moe
It is the object of envy, wonder, curiosity and derision in the passionate and somewhat insulated world of classic cars.
Believers have trouble even estimating its true worth.
“We’ve had people,” said Justin Cole, “who think $5 million is low.”
For all that, today it sits unobtrusively, only partially assembled, toward the rear of the back shop in a building in Fitchburg.
On a morning last week, the mysterious Tucker convertible did not look like a legend.
The only tip-off was the grin on the face of one of the men working on assembling it.
“It’s like working on history,” Rich Schulenberg said. “A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Schulenberg works for Benchmark Classics, at the corner of Verona Road and Highway PD. It’s a classic car retailer and restorer. Justin Cole, 27, who moved to Madison five years ago from Dallas, is the company president.
Cole is the one who brought the Tucker to Madison, and he is the one at the center of the controversy — cheerfully, it seems — over whether what he has is a million-dollar baby of great historical significance or something less.
The crux of the controversy is this: Did Preston Tucker, the flamboyant, visionary auto maker from the 1940s, ever start construction at his factory of a one-of-a-kind convertible, and is that convertible now residing with Cole in Fitchburg?
Or is what Cole has a car constructed outside the factory with Tucker parts purchased at auction in the six decades since the company folded? Either way, it’s fitting that Tucker is still able to spark a controversy more than 50 years after this death. His colorful life was portrayed on screen in a Francis Ford Coppola movie starring Jeff Bridges as Tucker.
Tucker designed a revolutionary rear-engine car with innovative safety features and a third, middle headlight that rotated with the steering wheel. But only around 50 Tuckers were ever made, after legal and production problems doomed the fledgling company.
Those vehicles have since become highly sought after collectibles. There is a fan club, the Tucker Automobile Club of America, devoted to the cars.
Justin Cole, who bought and restored his first car at age 14, knew his Tucker history when he attended a car and swap show in Jefferson in December.
There Cole met a 68-year-old Burlington man named Allan Reinert, who was interested in a 1957 Corvette Cole had brought to the show.
In the end Reinert was so interested he bought the Corvette, and he said to Cole, “The guy who bought my Tucker convertible will be sending you a check.”
That got Cole’s attention. “I’ve never heard of a Tucker convertible,” he said.
Reinert, whom Cole calls “a walking, talking Tucker encyclopedia,” proceeded to tell Cole the story of the mysterious Tucker convertible.
According to Cole, Reinert acquired the car in the early 1980s. Various newspaper stories had identified Reinert as a passionate Tucker collector. One day he received a call from someone offering to sell him the only Tucker convertible ever begun.
“The story goes that the car was started in secret,” a recent article in Old Cars Weekly noted, “and that when things began to fall apart for Tucker, the car was ushered out the back door.”
Reinert told the paper: “It was built off the books. Preston Tucker had a lot of secret projects going on. I was told his was Project Vera.” Vera was Tucker’s wife.
Reinert’s assertion is based on talking to former Tucker employees. There is — as his “off the books” comment indicates — no definitive written evidence that the Tucker plant started work on a convertible. And it is that lack of a paper trail that makes some Tucker aficionados scoff.
People on both sides concede that whether the car was begun in the Tucker factory may never be known for certain.
Cole got the car after talking to Reinert in Jefferson when Reinert’s other buyer fell through.
Benchmark Classics is now working on finishing the Tucker convertible. While Cole plans to sell it — you can get it on eBay today for $5 million — he believes it will endure as a testament to Benchmark’s restoration expertise. Cole said the hope is to have the Tucker finished by May.
How certain, Cole was asked, are you that your Tucker was started in the factory?
“One hundred and ten percent,” he said.
2010 Russo and Steele Auction Results for the Tucker Convertible
17 responses so far ↓
1 Mark // Feb 19, 2009 at 7:25 am
Steve, you gotta wonder about a convertible from a guy that was so safety minded, But if it was for his wife, that could make you do some crazy things.
2 Steve // Feb 19, 2009 at 8:39 am
Mark,
I never really thought about that. You make a good point about Preston and the safety issues.
3 Controversial 1948 Tucker Convertible | 1800blogger // Feb 19, 2009 at 10:20 am
[...] The crux of the controversy is this: Did Preston Tucker, the flamboyant, visionary auto maker from the 1940s, ever start construction at his factory of a one-of-a-kind convertible, and is that convertible now residing with Cole in Fitchburg? [Read more →] [...]
4 Controversial 1948 Tucker Convertible | 1800blogger // Feb 19, 2009 at 10:20 am
[...] The crux of the controversy is this: Did Preston Tucker, the flamboyant, visionary auto maker from the 1940s, ever start construction at his factory of a one-of-a-kind convertible, and is that convertible now residing with Cole in Fitchburg? [Read more →] [...]
5 Bill // Feb 20, 2009 at 9:05 am
I have spoken on many occassions with Preston Tucker’s daughter. Her Mother Vera hated convertibles — there is no doubt that such a car would NEVER have been developed for her. This is just someone’s way of trying to make a buck off the back of someone else.
6 Steve // Feb 20, 2009 at 9:14 am
Bill,
Thanks for the comment. That’s interesting that she didn’t like convertibles.
7 Sid Savage Auto Dealer Supply // Feb 27, 2009 at 3:24 pm
This is a pretty cool looking car! If anyone pays 5mil, they better make sure it’s authentic!
8 john // Apr 12, 2009 at 9:19 am
i saw this car in 1948 in hackensack nj.
9 Benchmark Classics // Sep 9, 2009 at 9:12 am
Hi, my name is Justin Cole and I am one of the owners of the Tucker Convertible. Does anyone know how I can contact John who left the comment above?
10 ed riley // Sep 25, 2009 at 6:07 am
I visit the tucker of bob bayer of paris hill maine and wish I could own both.
11 Bob Rush // Oct 28, 2009 at 9:04 pm
I saw the Tucker Convertible 10-15-09
in a restoration shop in Pa. Have pictures.
12 Jay A. Follis // Jan 4, 2010 at 11:52 am
Over the past twenty years, the Tucker Automobile Club of America, Inc.—recognized as the foremost authority on Tucker Automobiles—has been asked repeatedly to make an official statement or a detailed response in regards to the authenticity of a purported Tucker convertible.
With the upcoming public auction of a vehicle which the sellers contend is an actual uncompleted Tucker Corporation convertible concept car, we feel compelled to restate our long-standing position:
The Tucker Automobile Club of America, Inc. (TACA) has never been presented with—nor have been able to find—any credible evidence to prove the authenticity of this or any other vehicle as being a Tucker Corporation intended convertible and therefore we can not certify it as such.
While TACA is certainly not ready to completely dismiss the possibility that a Tucker convertible could have been built by the Tucker Corporation, we have never discovered nor been presented with sufficient evidence to prove such a car was planned for or started at the factory.
It is worth noting that TACA maintains the Tucker Historical Collection and Library, an archive collection of several thousand original company documents, factory photos, and other materials. This includes production records for the prototype, known as the Tin Goose, and the 50 pilot-production Tucker sedans completed prior to plant operations ceasing, as well as inventory documents identifying surplus bodies, engines, and various parts. The National Archives holds vast amounts of Tucker Corporation-related material: the SEC investigation papers, trial transcripts, bankruptcy proceedings, and lawsuit documents. There are two private collections containing multiple copies of original company records including over 60,000 original blueprints for the 1948 Tucker Sedan. Yet, to date, no evidence has been found in any of these materials to support the claim of a Tucker Corporation convertible.
TACA and independent historians alike have investigated this contention at great lengths. While many respect the visual appeal and presentation of this “Tucker convertible,” the overwhelming consensus of individual opinions continues to be that inadequate evidence exists to support the claim of this being an original Tucker convertible (with many believing that the evidence to date negates the possibility of it being a genuine Tucker convertible).
TACA recognizes that this vehicle appears to have been built using many authentic Tucker parts, such as an engine, some body panels, and etc. It may well represent, as a tribute car, what a Tucker convertible would have looked like had one been produced by the Tucker Corporation.
This vehicle has never been presented to TACA for a comprehensive review per our certification / authentication process, nor has the seller responded to our request seeking the engine serial number and data plate information. TACA has insufficient evidence to otherwise authenticate this vehicle as being a genuine attempt by the Tucker Corporation to produce a convertible model or concept. As always, the burden of providing adequate evidence to establish authentication falls on the presenter. TACA can only rely upon Primary evidence—direct, uninterrupted historical documents and materials—and formulate an opinion accordingly. If other such documentation proving (pointing to, indicating) the existence of a convertible project existed, it has not (never) been made available to TACA.
This is not a case of TACA having an interest in the existence or non-existence of such a vehicle: either way, TACA neither gains nor loses anything. We have no financial stake in taking sides. Our position is clear: without credible evidence, we cannot rewrite history; we cannot state that Tucker Corporation planned for or started a convertible project; nor can we certify this or any other vehicle as being an authentic Tucker Corporation convertible.
The Tucker Automobile Club of America, Inc. would welcome both the current owner and any prospective purchaser to become members of our organization, share in the ongoing research and findings, and join together as we strive to preserve the fascinating history of the Tucker automobile and all those who contributed to it.
Respectfully,
Jay A. Follis, President
Officers and Board of Directors
Tucker Automobile Club of America, Inc
13 Benchmark Classics // Jan 13, 2010 at 6:36 pm
A TUCKER CONVERTIBLE? ABSOLUTELY!
The Tucker Club’s press release dated January 4, 2010 states that “The Seller (Benchmark Classics) has not responded to our (Tucker Club) request seeking the engine serial number and data plate information.”
In an effort to clarify this issue please consider the following correspondence. On December 9, 2009 Benchmark received the following e-mail from Jay Follis which is quoted verbatim below:
“How is the convertible project coming along? I would still very much like to come up and look at the car or look at it when it is shown again. Being I have not personally seen the car or engine used in this car could you please provide the engine serial number? It would also be nice to get a photo of how the data plate currently reads and the cowl stamping” Emphasis added.
Justin Cole, of Benchmark Classics responded as follows:
“You have gone on record as saying that you would not be able to verify whether or not the convertible was a Tucker concept if you saw it (Grand Rapids Press August 14, 2009). The press has pitted your club and you against me and my company. I have also been attacked personally on your club’s website. What I am wondering is how your coming and inspecting my car is going to help me? Please don’t take the question the wrong way. I am hoping you can tell me something I have not thought of. Thanks.” Emphasis and citation added.
Probably due to an unfortunate oversight, the TACA President, never responded to Benchmark’s e-mail and made no further attempts to examine the car, or personally review its supporting documentation. No Tucker Club member has ever been told that they could not come and see the car. The car has been continuously open to the public since it originally arrived at Benchmark Classics in December of 2008. In addition, the Tucker Convertible was on display at the Keels & Wheels Concours D’ Elegance (Houston, TX), the Auto Historica Event (Chicago, IL), the Fairfield County Concours D’ Elegance (Newport, CT), and most recently, the largest car show in the world, the Antique Automobile Club of America’s Hershey, PA Meet. As a side note the Hershey event officials commented that the Convertible was by far the most popular car at the entire four day event.
The TACA press release appears to have been very craftily written by a marketing expert. It attempts to support its case regarding the Convertible’s originality by referring to the “consensus of individual opinions” without referring to the number or identity of these “individuals” or, for that matter, to their qualifications to render an opinion.
None of these “individuals” have examined the Convertible. In fact, some of these “individuals” have claimed on the Club’s website that the Tucker Convertible is actually Tucker #1027, which was scrapped after it was rolled at Indy (a few spare parts still exist), or Tucker #1052, which now resides in Roscoe, Illinois. The car can’t be in three places at once. These are our critics exposing their “individual opinions.”
TACA has over 400 registered online members many of whom have seen the car and expressed their opinion that the “Club’s stance does not reflect their views or the views of other Tucker Club members.” Presidents of many organizations, including the United States, do not necessarily reflect the views of all of their constituents.
The TACA press release states, “That it is not a case of TACA having an interest in the existence or non-existence of such a vehicle: either way, TACA neither gains nor loses anything.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Unfortunately, its recognition as the alleged “foremost authority on Tucker Automobiles” is at stake. Its reputation has been challenged. Its own members have gone so far as to apologize for the behavior of certain Tucker Club “individuals.” Clearly the Tucker Club is a house divided.
No one invests in very expensive collector cars, no matter what documentation may exist, without engaging an independent expert to thoroughly examine a car. Decisions to purchase multimillion dollar cars aren’t based entirely on paper documentation.
Benchmark engaged Al Prueitt, an engineer by trade and a true legend in the restoration business with over 50 years of experience, to evaluate the Tucker Convertible. He has won over one hundred awards at venues such as Pebble Beach, Amelia Island, Meadow Brook, Hershey and the CCA Nationals. As a restoration expert, who also currently serves as a museum curator and automobile historian, he is extremely knowledgeable, not only with regard to the evolution of manufacturing technology but also with regard to the techniques that were used to fabricate reinforced frames and sheet metal in the 1940s and 1950s. His credentials can be viewed at Benchmark’s “Tucker Convertible” website.
He carefully examined many different aspects of the Convertible, including its one of a kind box-wrapped ovular (tubular) frame, which was created to compensate for the loss of rigidity when Tucker Sedan #1057 was transformed into Tucker Convertible #1057, thereby satisfying the performance expectations of the Tucker Engineering department. He also focused on the passenger doors that are long in comparison to those of a sedan and appear to have been stamped suggesting more convertibles were to come. That insightful observation came from Holly Bedsole, the executive director of the AACA Museum who has also seen the Convertible. Car # 1057 was not going to be the only convertible produced by the Tucker Corporation.
After spending a couple of days examining the car Mr. Prueitt authenticated its originality. His authentication may be found and viewed on the Tucker Convertible website.
Jay Follis is an immensely likable man. We agree that he is unable to authenticate the Tucker Convertible. It is our understanding that he has no experience working as a paid employee in a restoration business and doesn’t have a background in engineering. He didn’t join the TACA until 1994. He has served at the Gilmore museum as its marketing director for 11 years. Before that he had a career in law enforcement and as a private detective.
Again, Mr. Follis represents the Gilmore Museum very well but Mr. Prueitt has been in the restoration business longer than Jay has been alive. That is why Benchmark turned to Mr. Prueitt. Benchmark needed that expertise. It is not uncommon to engage professionals such as Mr. Prueitt, with over 50 years of engineering and restoration experience to authenticate cars. Many times key documents have been destroyed or lost and the exact nature of a car’s origins are muddled.
In conclusion, Mr. Follis genuinely seems dedicated to preserving the fascinating history of the Tucker automobile. With these same interests in mind we engaged a highly regarded restoration expert to independently evaluate the car based on his knowledge and experience and the car’s construction. Paper archives just weren’t enough.
Justin Cole
President, Benchmark Classics LLC
jcole@benchmarkclassics.com
608-275-3800
14 RadialSkid // Mar 1, 2010 at 2:49 pm
A few things, Mr. Cole:
1. Members of the TACA *have* examined your alleged convertible, long before you bought it.
2. There are too many coincidences, such as the signs of repaired damage that *perfectly* match the damage done to Tucker #27, which is today missing. Furthermore, photographs of your #57 body stampings also show obvious signs of restamping on the “5,” which is convenient, to say the least.
3. A “restoration expert” is not an automotive historian. I’m sure your Mr. Pruitt can shoot a mean coat of paint and is an excellent judge of the shininess of your vehicle’s chrome, but his actual knowledge of Tucker history likely doesn’t hold a candle to the knowledge of a dedicated historian like Mr. Follis.
4. Photographs of the chassis to Tucker 1057 can be found in the archives to Life magazine, dated September 1950, which show the body (complete with an experimental wraparound rear windshield) sitting in the shuttered Tucker planet. On the off-chance that your car IS actually 1057, the modifications certainly were not performed in-house.
With all of that being said, I would just like to close by saying that I’m *not* a member of the Tucker Automobile Club of America, nor do I speak on their behalf. But I am a general car enthusiast with a great B.S. meter, so to speak, and it’s going off left and right with regards to this car.
15 John // May 26, 2010 at 11:28 am
I only recently became interested in the Tucker convertible project. I am trying to put all the information and claims into some perspective.
Question: in order for this car to be considered a legitimate convertible, would it take evidence that work was done to it AS A CONVERTIBLE, within the Tucker plant? It is clear it was never completed within the plant and that many parts came from other cars, but is there evidence that it took on the identity of a convertible within the Tucker plant? Is this a reasonable question on my part?
What would be such work? The frame would be a critical area. It should be different from a sedan due to the need for additional bracing. If it has such bracing, can it be substantiated that the modifications were done in the plant?
Suppose the car, as a sedan, was sent out of the Tucker plant to an outside body shop, with the intent of it becoming a prototype convertible. Would that make it, in the eyes of the Tucker community today, legitimate? or exisiting in a gray area? What if someone, after the plant was closed, decided a convertible would be interesting to develop, that someone not being Preston Tucker? Where do you draw the line?
Not that it would be a deciding factor, but is there ANY paperwork, drawings or notes from the factory relative to a convertible concept?
Comments have been made that the doors are of a different length. This is of interest as generating new dies would seem no small task and thus not for a single car, unless there was some way to easily modify existing doors (are the convertible doors longer or shorter? Seems easier to shorten things!) Where did the original Tucker doors come from? Where they stamped within the factory or provided by a metal stamping company? What do people know about the doors?
Are there photos available of either the frame areas unique to a convertible OR the discussed imprinting of “57″ ??
I thought Mr. Cole’s own firm might provide such but I cannot get the Internet to access either http://www.benchmarkclassics.com or http://www.tuckerconvertible.com, which I find strange. (it could be as simple as their server being down when I tried…)
It would seem to remain Mr. Cole’s burden to provide convincing proof. Many people, myself included, would love to see the car turn out to be legit but objectivity needs to be respected, not to mention the wallet of any potential buyer.
I am not a member of any car organization nor have I ever seen a Tucker in person. My experience is with 58-60 Ford Thunderbirds. The collector market there is strewn with hardtops converted into convertibles, with inflated prices. The distinguishing feature is again the frame (the TBird is unibody but the rocker panel area on the convertible is factory reinforced as compared to the hardtop).
All these thoughts and a dollar will probably get you today’s local paper… thanks!
John
16 curtis // Jan 22, 2011 at 12:52 pm
do not know if it is real or not but to ask 5,000,000 dollars for it is total b.s.
17 Tom Baur // Jul 26, 2011 at 10:30 am
I have a tucker heater in the original
shipping box, i would like to sell
Thanx Tom 708 372 2799
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