BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Tucker automobile #39, 1948

DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Tucker automobile #39, 1948:

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Description of Pictures: Tucker automobile #39, 1948
Ongoing
Preston Tucker (1903-1956), an automotive engineer who helped design Miller racing cars before World War II, almost realized his ambition of producing a "completely new" passenger automobile after the war. He and his business associates leased a former Dodge aircraft plant in Chicago for this purpose. Fifty-one nearly identical Tucker automobiles, designed by Tucker, Alex Tremulis, and J. Gordon Lippincott and Company, were built in 1948 before the Tucker Corp. became embroiled in fraud allegations.
The Tucker never entered full production, but its design epitomized automotive trends that were new and significant in the immediate postwar years: avant-garde styling, innovative mechanical features, awakening interest in passenger safety, and efforts by small manufacturers to capture a larger share of the new car market. The Tucker was an exaggeration of these trends and evidence that the desire for change was strong enough to move some fairly radical ideas from the drawing board to the production stage.
The car shown here passed through numerous owners and had been repainted and reupholstered. It was seized in 1992 by the U.S. Marshals Service following a narcotics investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and transferred to NMAH the next year.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SIAHTU_160307_08.JPG: Revolutionary Failure: In business good ideas do not always succeed. In 1948 automotive entrepreneur Preston Tucker advertised a mass-produced futuristic car but only fifty-one were produced. While the care featured some safety and technological innovations, the company -- undercapitalized and poorly managed -- failed. Preston Tucker, 1903-1956 Super Salesman Visionary and charismatic, Tucker helped excite the nation about the prospect of his "Car of Tomorrow." He channeled post-World War II desire for innovative design and new technology but failed to raise enough capital for successful production. His dream was dashed by bad management, investigations of financial fraud, and ultimately bankruptcy. Innovative Financing: Founding an automobile manufacturing company was expensive. Undercapitalized, Preston Tucker turned to creative financing. He sought venture capital, offered stock, sold dealerships, and pre-sold accessories. The last two acts brought him to the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The government indicted Tucker and six other company executives. They were eventually found innocent but, disgraced in the press, the company had already failed.
2. SIAHTU_160307_12.JPG: Life magazine, March 1, 1948
3. SIAHTU_160307_15.JPG: Tucker suitcases, 1948 Future Tucker owners were encouraged to buy accessories (luggage, radios, etc) to reserve cars even before production began. The company raised about $2 million.
4. SIAHTU_160307_18.JPG: Stock prospectus, 1947 Even without a car on the market, Tucker Corporation launched an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of stock, which brought in about $20 million.
5. SIAHTU_160307_20.JPG: Preston Tucker, about 1945
6. SIAHTU_160307_54.JPG: Tucker America's First Completely New Car in 50 Years
7. SIAHTU_160307_57.JPG: Revolutionary Failure: In business good ideas do not always succeed. In 1948 automotive entrepreneur Preston Tucker advertised a mass-produced futuristic car but only fifty-one were produced. While the care featured some safety and technological innovations, the company -- undercapitalized and poorly managed -- failed.
8. SIAHTU_160307_61.JPG: Tucker automobile, 1948 Highly advertised, only fifty-one Tucker automobiles were produced before the company went out of business.
9. SIAHTU_160307_64.JPG: Dealership banners, 1948 Technological and safety innovations were a major part of the Tucker promotions.
10. SIAHTU_160307_66.JPG: Design patent, filed 1947 The body styling of the Tucker was modern but reminiscent of the other stylish cars of the 1940s, such as the Cadillac Sedanette.
11. SIAHTU_160307_69.JPG: Innovation Was the Tucker "America's First Completely New Car in 50 Years?" Features of the car included a rear-mounted aluminum alloy engine, safety windshield, padded dashboard, and center headlight that turned with the front wheels. Tucker was pressured to quickly begin production and resorted to using off-the-shelf parts, brought into the plant to be assembled.
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2016 photos: Seven relatively short trips this year: two Civil War Trust conference (Gettysburg, PA and West Point, NY, with a side-trip to New York City), my 11th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including sites in Utah, Nevada, and California), a quick trip to Michigan for Uncle Wayne's funeral, two additional trips to New York City, and a Civil Rights site trip to Alabama during the November elections. Being in places where people died to preserve the rights of minority voters made the Trumputin election even more depressing. Equipment this year: I continued to use my Fuji XS-1 cameras but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000. Number of photos taken this year: just over 610,000.
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