On this day in 1949, the Tucker Corporation went out of business. Preston Thomas Tucker founded the company in 1935 with race car legend Harry Miller, known for his high powered racing engines. As Miller and Tucker they built a pile of Indy race cars using a Ford framework. Miller and Tucker moved to Indianapolis and continued in the race car biz until Miller died in1943.
Tucker moved back to Michigan and began working on military projects but it took until 1948 and the founding of the Tucker Corporation that his true inspiration came out. The result was The 1948 Tucker Sedan, or Tucker Torpedo (I like that name way better).
This amazing vehicle featured among other things: true aerodynamic stying by Duesenburg designer Alex Tremulis. He was given all of 6 days to figure it out. It also featured disc brakes, fuel injection and a rear mounted engine. All of this made the car very nimble, and because of Tuckers practice with high powered engines (he developed an armoured combat vehicle for the US Army that could go 185kmh) the thing could go like snot.
He was also ahead of his time in his attention to safety features such as padded dashes, instruments and knob clustered around the steering column, so you wouldn't crack yourself on the ciggy lighter, and his most famous safety feature of all, the centre mounted headlight attached to the steering that peered around corners.
Tucker was also a marketing innovator, developing and selling a line of Tucker "Accessories" that included men's and ladies suitcases and travel bags.
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