Featuring a Tucker Prototype II - one off

[oldboomercurmudgeon]

I wasted three minutes and forty seven seconds of my life watching this, I can never regain that lost time.

[richfincm]

Skip to 2:43 for the Tucker

[MrJoeBiggs]

probably on a buick riviera fram.

[Slowscrew8u]

that's not a Tucker..that's a messed up Buick Riv. GAWD that's ugly

[TheMethuenRangers]

theres a trucker for sale 40000 saw it today

[joey4957]

THAT WAS NO TUCKER!!!!! WHO IN THERE RIGHT MIND WOULD BELIEVE THAT!

[ojtveito]

The idea of turning lights on the car is now a fact in most luxury cars. Preston Tucker made this already in 1946/48.

Though the lights didn't turn togeher with the wings in other than this clay prototype.

[Checkerholic]

@ojtveito

please sir, What cars are you speaking of that have headlights that turn? Most luxury cars, Such as my 2006 Lincoln Town Car have cornering lights but I am unaware of any production car with turning lights.

[Checkerholic]

Guys...It's NOT a Tucker. Its a highly modified Buick Riveara. I doubt rather seriously if it was built based on any tucker drawings. At the time Tucker was having enough problems getting their 1948 model into production. Doubtful they would spend much time on any prototype design. Especially something that was a clean slate design.

[Phi1point62]

@Checkerholic The "Tucker" shown in this video is based on the design of Alex Tremulis that Tucker had originally planned on builiding but due to time constrainsts the design had to be changed for the Tucker 48. Had Tucker been successful then the Tucker Torpedo would have eventually been built.

Look up "Tucker Torpedo By Ida Automotive Second Version" on youtube. Also look up Alex Tremulis on Google, he made some amazing car designs that never saw the light of day.

[flashcadjr]

If you think that's a "Tucker", then you're a dumb f****r! As long as I live, it'll be a Boattail Riv!!!

[hunterziegelmann]

Tucker, safest car for it's era!

[grandcarriage1]

Ok... it's a 60's Buick Rivera modified to look like a Tucker Prototype... Really amazing amount of work... and very interesting, but what he says isn't really nearly correct.

[bodyvegas]

@grandcarriage1 I was just about to post similar about it looking like a Riv

[proto57]

It's Mega Fugly.

[hunterziegelmann]

I ONLY watched the vid for the tucker the rest of it is meat head muscle guys who put frekking hydrualics into an augly car... hydrualics=LAME 90's mustangs=LAME just and opinion so dont hate.

[mikecameli]

looked like a molsted boat tail buick riv to me mabey a 71 or 72

[uscar17]

@mikecameli totally. It just is a 71 or 72 riviera...

[mikeurbs]

Anything being done reguarding Tuckers today should strictly be left to Rob Ida.

End of story. He's the only one out there with the talent and ability doing it the

right way. And has the Tucker family blessing too.

[TuxedoRonny]

I wish this was more about the Tucker, instead of a footnote amongst ramblings on every-other muscle car.

[tbear4pa]

That Tucker concept car was sure way ahead of it's time(about 20 years or so), much more than the actual production model made a little later, as it almost resembles a 60's muscle car, except for the big fender skirts.

[LillithCarmichael]

Nice video. The fellow with Tucker is a bit off. The front yes contains bits of the original designs with turning fenders but was scrapped due to safety. The car was obviously built from a Buick Riviera he must have been talking about the front portion of the car.

[zillis]

@LillithCarmichael

As I mentioned before, the fellow claimed the 71-72 Riv was based on some of Tremelis' work - and that this car was only intended to capture the spirit of what the Tucker Torpedo MAY have looked like had they more time and money. He claimed he some drafts from Tremelis himself. Of course the guy could have been totally full of crap, but I can say that It was a functional car. He drove it often.

[compukenny]

@zillis

Doing some math here and I seriously doubt that this man Ever contacted Alex Tremulis or even saw any drawings of that car. The video was posted in 2006. The man states it took him 2 1/2 years to build the car. Lets asume he started the construction of this car in 2001 what the hell was he doing for the previous 20 years as Tremulis died in 1981. What does the Tucker Automobile club say about the car. He failed to mention anything about them.and they are the autourity on Tucker.

[zillis]

@compukenny

The "Tucker" portion of the video was SHOT in 2001- this little clip is all that survived.

This car was a local curiosity for many years before I started shooting video and decided to interview him about it.

Alex Tremulis died in 1991.

I'm not trying to convince you of the authenticity of this car.

The man simply built a tribute to a concept using a Riviera - and claims to have based it on actual drawings by the original artist. He never tried to fool anybody about what it was.

[compukenny]

@zillis I stand corrected. Tremulis did die in 1991 not 1981 as I stated. An error on my part. I won't argue authenticity either. In my opinion the car simply wasnt designed by Tremulis, ay least while employed at Tucker.Since the late 1960's I have devoured everything I could ever see or read about Preston Tucker, his car, and his buisiness relations with Tremulis. Unfortuanantly we will never know with certainty the actual facts behind this mans car.

[compukenny]

@zillis I stand corrected. Tremulis did die in 1991 not 1981 as I stated. An error on my part. I won't argue authenticity either. In my opinion the car simply wasnt designed by Tremulis, at least while employed at Tucker.Since the late 1960's I have devoured everything I could ever see or read about Preston Tucker, his car, and his buisiness relations with Tremulis. Unfortuanantly we will never know with certainty the actual facts behind this mans car.

[camstildrivin80]

what a waste of a perfectly good RIVIERA..... that car would never make it into a reputable car museum to say the least.... just a riv with a crappy front put on it...

[guidomith]

Skip ahead to 2:40 for the Tucker

[tamaninja00]

Good job on that stupid ass putting hydraulics and strobes on a Mustang, way to ruin a car dipshit!

[barryroot]

The guy built it on a Riviera. If you doubt that take a good look at the rear, the lights and bumper look to be stock Buick. But it is still a very interesting piece, seems extremely well done and not at all ugly, just futuristic.

[saturnx311]

Go red Sox!! Let's get a pizzerannabeeyah!

[seanseanseanseansean]

That so-called Tucker is just an ugly-fied Riviera.

[KapteinOpel]

hmm its abit strange that the fella who built the Tucker copy didnt build an exact one when he did all that work anyway.. Or maybe he did? It says its built exactly to his prints, maybe its just a coincidence that it looks like a Riviera at the rear......

[zillis]

Unfortunately, this was one our earliest interviews (2001) and this little clip is all we have of it. We never did a follow up before he died - supposedly the car resides at a museum or something.

The car was well made and completely functional, supposedly closely resembling the car Tucker thought he would be able to build. Maybe the guy exaggerated, or just made wacky claims - for example, he told us the "boat tail" Riv was based on Tremelis' early stuff. I don't know. I wish we got more of it.

[nightmathzombieethan]

@zillis

Yeah looks to me like the guy was "Stretching the truth" quite a bit...

[artmasterswtk]

Actually I think that's true; I think I have seen Tremulis drawings with that boattail treatment in an old issue of AQ. I know that Tremulis did renderings for a second-generation Tucker. I believe him. Tremulis was accessible, he attended car shows and Tucker club functions, and I would not be surprised if this guy is telling the truth, regardless of what he started with.

[Tankboy26]

@KapteinOpel it was based off a buick Riviera... IDK how this guy could do this and claim its a Tucker...

Paul

R.O.A. Member # 12474

1953 Chevy 210 (Bel Air) 2dr. sedan

1971 Buick Riviera

1972 Buick Riviera

1993 Chevy C3500 2WD

2008 Honda Civic LX

[KapteinOpel]

@Tankboy26 @Tankboy26 flickr. com /photos/bradffordallan/4291486­218/ This is a drawing of the Tucker Talisman, as you can see it resembles a Riviera pretty much. This may also be the case for the prototype II, so why hassle with building something already existant? He doesnt claim its a Tucker, he says they only did a clay model, but he got the drawings for it from the designer, Alex Tremulis, and built the car himself.

[Tankboy26]

FAIL! im speechless @ how stupid that is....

[KapteinOpel]

@Tankboy26 What do you mean? You or me...?

[Tankboy26]

not you... I personally own 2 of that body style Riviera, and just think its aweful that one should have been done like that.. tho I am curious as to its whereabouts..

[KapteinOpel]

@Tankboy26 Well I dunno.. Custom cars are kinda cool if there is enough of the base vehicle around...I just hate to see idiots chopping '30s cars like they think they are '50s teddyboys..But building a Riviera into a Tucker Talisman would be cool.. Search for it on Flickr, you'll se the similarities. Links cant be posted on youtube, at least not here.

[camstildrivin80]

@KapteinOpel and not only does it look like a riv at the rear... the interior is the same as the riv as well... oh my i think buick copied tuckers prototype to a "T"

[KapteinOpel]

@camstildrivin80 @camstildrivin80 I can of course see that it is built from a Riviera, What I mean is.. The Tremulis blueprints may be so alike a Riviera that the tired old man didnt bother to change it. It might very well be the case that Jerry Hirschberg @ Buick's design department found these old blueprints and thought by him self: "hey, I can use this!

[zillis]

@KapteinOpel

That's the general idea.

[camstildrivin80]

@KapteinOpel i was being a smartass

[zillis]

@camstildrivin80

KapteinOpel is basically correct. It would appear that he read some of the comments and used a bit of intellectual reasoning before commenting himself.

[bjmicha3]

Sad that these guys claim thay know cars and they can't tell a boat tail Buick Riviera.

[zillis]

Another guy who can see the "Tucker" is made out of a 71-72 Riviera - and feels the need to belittle the people who made the video instead of just saying so.

Why are you so grumpy?

And when did anybody "claim thay know cars" anyway?

[suckmycod]

@zillis thank you, I saw that immediately. That would be the rarest car there (or possibly the US?) instead they choose to show cars you can see anywhere!

[msmit105]

the tucker is the coolist looking car I have ever seen.

[grandcarriage1]

@msmit105 Have you ever seen the real deal? It is a far more elegant car than that one: There are vids on youtube of them...The engines on the majority of the 51 built are basically helecopter engines.

[jmerringer]

The Riveara Had everything DeLux plus had a Corvette Ass!!!!!!!!!!!

[WheezerK9]

He built his Tucker using a 1972 Buick Riviera. BTW/its a Bow Tail.Not a boat tail....

[criticaboutvids]

2:43

O_O

[mechanicalmusic]

All Tuckers except one are now accounted for. The missing car is assumed scrapped because it was found in a terrible state decades ago and virtually all that was left was the metal. It was towed to the home of a police officer who knew what it was and subsequently stolen, he suspects for the value of the metal.

[Phantomrig]

Tucker 35 also know as 1035 is also missing now, for along it was in a museum in Brazil but it has disappered in the last 6 months. it is rumored that the car is now in France but know body knows for sure.

[Sarcasticscum]

It is now at the Ford Motor Museum on the front display room..

[nosupecualponerme]

well even if look like riviera o trata the car looks better than any ferrari or rolls royce or any byron, and chinge asu madre al ke no le guste

[doug102152]

Obviously a Buick Riviera Boattail that's been morphed into something else.

[Klottelitsch]

I allways compare the tucker to the very elgant Czech Tatra streamline rear engined V8 cars of the same era

for comparing please go to

the video

Tatra 603 Motorsound

here on youtube.

[proverb311031]

It is sad that the same thing that happened to the Tucker we let happen to electric cars, we sold oursleves out so that a few automakers could get rich and now we are paying the price a million fold!

[herbienbrian]

O.O! thats incredable!!!

[k5ing]

That guy with the Tucker is full of s**t with everything he says.

[zillis]

What are you talking about?

Explain, please.

[toxinstar]

That guy with the Tucker is full of s**t with everything he says. <<<<<<not true man. not true.

[dmb1995ta]

right! the car looked like a boat tail riviera from 1972 or 73 and the front like a shitty, make shift tucker do-it-yourself crap

oh well, the rest of the cars are bitchin

just my 2 cents

[compukenny]

@k5ing I absolutely agree. This is in no way shape or form anything but a buick riv.

check out the tucker clubs website. If anyone knows Tucker its the guys there.

[kabbalahmum]

There were 50 Tuckers made and 47 are still around. I wish I had one.

[zillis]

The car in this video is not one of the 50 Tuckers that were built (I thought it was 47, but anyway...), nor is it based on the car that was built. According to the owner, he actually got Alex Trimulis' drawings of the concept car that Preston Tucker based the Torpedo on. Supposedly the "boat tail" Riviera is also based on this concept drawing. So that's how the got got the idea that he could build this. Tucker shows the drawing of this car to his wife in the movie.

[1968DodgePolara]

51 tuckers were built 46 are still on the road a few lost in crashes few lost unknown where they are BTW that would make a great barn find story of the lost Tuckers ... :O

[chad3200]

Wow, it's amazing what you can do with an old Buick Riviera!

[oldschoolen1]

cool post on that tucker.that old dude is cool..

[zillis]

Have you ever seen the Tucker prototype? I don't think it exists, except on paper.

Yes, this is a modified Riviera. I don't know if "bucnch of crud stuck on it" is an accurate description though.

How can it fall short of something that was never made?

[Skoda130]

By being built.

[debaucheryBotched]

The tucker is BS its basically a Buick Riviera with a bunch of crud welded to it to simulate the prototype but really falls short.