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Tucker kit? YES!


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Many of the safety devises we have today were on the Tucker then, They include: safety glass winshields, padded dash, seat belts, disk brakes , just to name a few. The car The big 3 said that all those things implied that the car was not a safe car. And make no bones about it the big 3 would love the telsa to go the way of the tucker.

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48 out of 50 are still roadworthy! say's something for tuckers quality.

Not really. Every Tucker is a collectible, so the owners obviously keep them in as pristine condition as possible. It has nothing to do with Tucker quality. They are cared for and treated like the valuable items they are.

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Many of the safety devises we have today were on the Tucker then, They include: safety glass winshields, padded dash, seat belts, disk brakes , just to name a few. The car The big 3 said that all those things implied that the car was not a safe car. And make no bones about it the big 3 would love the telsa to go the way of the tucker.

For what it's worth, laminated safety glass predated the Tucker by 20 years, Ford having introduced that on the very first 1928 Model A's, with universal industry adoption within just  a year or so after.  Seat belts were around before the Tucker, having been introduced, but not required, in race cars as early as 1932 or so.  Disc brakes, in 1948 were an iffy thing--they never really worked all that well until the introduction of power brake boosters, even though Crosley had them by 1949.  

Art

 

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  • 4 months later...

Not really. Every Tucker is a collectible, so the owners obviously keep them in as pristine condition as possible. It has nothing to do with Tucker quality. They are cared for and treated like the valuable items they are.

one of them has only 2/10ths of a mile on it, so that proves your point!

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48 out of 50 are still roadworthy! say's something for tuckers quality.

Or, more that they were made from fairly rugged components.  If any component of a Tucker would be a problem, it would be the transaxle--every Tucker built is equipped with a Cord 810 transaxle, modified to mount to the Tucker engine.  Even the Tucker engine was more ruggedly built than most other automobile engines of the time, simply because it had to meet aircraft requirements:  Tucker's flat-opposed six cylinder engine was nothing more than a Franklin (yeah, after Franklin ceased doing automobiles in 1932-33, the company continued as "Air Cooled Motors", and the six that Tucker used was the engine that powered not only the post-WW-II Stinson Station Wagon civilian ;plane, but also the legendary "bubble topped" helicopters used for medivac  in Korea--made even more visible/famous in the TV series M*A*S*H.

It should be pointed out, however, that not one of the Tuckers built, nor that exist today, were truly production models.  Rather, they were preproduction prototypes, which every automaker builds, in order to find the flaws, and things that might cause problems in mass production (pretty much a 1:1 scale "test shot" if you will).

Art

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>And if you understand the biz, you know why. Versions.....

 

The 59' and '60 Biscaynes can be offered in several versions, police... dirt track racer.... NASCAR.... drag.... countless custom versions..... and perhaps as demolition derby. However, they were never made although Revell can take over many of the parts from the Impalas.

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Tuckers exist today mainly because they became a collectible almost instantly due to the circumstance behind them from the very beginning.

 

If a quality kit becomes avail today . I would buy one ,. Mainly because  I think its help fund other projects. But a tucker kit isnt even in my top 10,,,,probably not even  in my top  25 .

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I was pretty jazzed about Tuckers 20-years ago and I own the movie and appreciate the history, as well as the discussion here. I was thrilled to see a Ford-Copella Tucker up close in San Rafael.

However, it's not likely I'd buy a Tucker model. Die-cast has covered it so completely for so long that I don't feel the need to commit the hours to piecing one together myself.

Edited by Lunajammer
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No thanks. Most of Trumpeters car kits fall quite a bit short.

I built the Trumpeter Limo kit. What a strange kit. I swapped out the suspension bits for a 1/20th scale Lindberg S10. Gave it a better look. Also used the V8 from an Otaki T-Bird kit with the Ford letters filed off the valve covers. At the time there were no online pics of the Hong Qi's engine. It does resemble an older Mopar V8 however.

 

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I built the Trumpeter Limo kit. What a strange kit. I swapped out the suspension bits for a 1/20th scale Lindberg S10. Gave it a better look. Also used the V8 from an Otaki T-Bird kit with the Ford letters filed off the valve covers. At the time there were no online pics of the Hong Qi's engine. It does resemble an older Mopar V8 however.

 

What does this have to do with Tucker's?

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Honestly, I think they are neat cars, but not enough to warrant a kit. But, I thought about it, why not? Why not make a kit of a one off weirdo, after all, I have a soft spot for those kits and after further thinking, I noticed how many kits have been made for weird, one off types that no one really remembers or cares about. So why not something as Iconic as a Tucker. 

So yes, I would support it and actually even buy one or two. I don't know when I would build them, but, I would buy it. 

MPC-1-0554-2.jpg

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revell-aerovette-corvette-concept-car-3.

 

 

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