We all know the basic story of the Tucker car company, right? They produced 51 cars in 1948 before folding up and liquidating. The cars happened to be miles ahead of anything else on the road during that era with both safety and drivetrain technology that had not been seen on American roads in, well, ever. There’s lots of speculation that the company was killed off by the larger Detroit manufacturers of the day who saw their products, as advanced as they were, as the threat. While that is certainly possible, it is far more possible that they just ran out of money like lot of companies do. Collapsing companies aside, Tuckers bring heady money at auction and in private sale. Since there were only 48 produced and they have had an aura since 1948, the cars are among the most desirable American cars ever produced.
The guys over a Bring a Trailer have unearthed a story about the 56th Tucker engine ever produced. That very engine was pulled off the line and used to run on a test stand, we’re guessing for quality control purposes. It was then crated back up, sent to the Tucker factory and never mounted to a car. It was never actually ever removed from the crate! The engine is currently for sale. The asking price? $60,000 on the nose. This thing is literally unobtanium. It is the only Tucker engine known to exist that was not mounted in a car.
We talked before about how advanced the cars were. This is an all aluminum engine that was adapted from use in helicopters. Engineers equipped the car engines with water jackets, which the helicopter engines did not have. It displaces 335ci, is a flat six design, makes 197hp and 390 lb/ft of torque. Those were heady numbers for the late 1940s, especially the torque figure. All of that torque made the large Tuckers formidable performers when compared to other smaller offerings from the Detroit manufacturers.
The Bring a Trailer guys have lots more info and photos. Hit the link below to check it out!
Link: A Tucker aluminum flat six is for sale!
There’s a museum in California that has one of the engines that Tucker wanted for his cars, but couldn’t get into production. That thing was even crazier – it had no camshafts and used a hydraulic “distributor” to control the valvetrain. I’ve sometimes wondered how replacing pushrods with hydraulics might work out.
Now I’m confused; Is it 51 cars produced or 48?
Man…that’s a crazy torque number for
back then.
Love this kinda stuff.
Funny how my mind went straight to how the intake could be improved…
Very cool piece of automotive collect-ability.
Neat find! Although….if the Tucker was as advanced as they say it was, wouldn’t the engine look more like a small block Chevy?
Bill Smith has a Tucker AND a spare engine in his Museum in Lincoln, NE. I was there in January and saw both.
The way I understand it, There were a total of 51 Tucker cars produced, including his prototype. Only 48 were completed before the plant was closed by the fed. The remaining units were assembled by friends and family in an attempt to keep Tucker Automotive alive during the trial.
Visit the auto museum in Paris ,Maine owned by Bob Baer, the owner of Loudon N.H. speed way, he has a Tucker car AND a engine that was never installed in a car .it was built as a spare for a dealership to have…..