Tucker Combat Car

[docspeedshop]

HOLD THAT TIGER...

[John234pwns]

That is damn cool.

[koledapt]

Where is progress the last 70 Years ? With this Vehicle you can winn every Off Road ,Trial,Dakkar etc .Rally Off Today.Compared with this the Jeep is a Ugly primitiv thing.(Hummer too).

Americans constructed great Cars ,this and for Insance the Turbine Cars and never produced them and wondering that there Auto Industrie goes down.

[mrpitv]

@koledapt I did a show about the Chrysler Turbine cars. They were basically jets without wings. Wildly impractical gas hogs but very cool.  They could run on tequila, perform or gas. But were never going to be seen a driveway near you -- except for the experimental fleet they loaned out to consumers for publicity.

[user6008]

Back in 1940 the U.S.Government though Tucker's combat car was too fast and would also use much more gas than the jeep. Go figure! Basically Tucker invented the Humvee 45 years before the military actually started using the hummer in 1984. The man was and still is decades ahead of his time. Don't you just love it when big brother stifles technology? p.s. we could have been driving electric cars 30 years ago.

[mrpitv]

@user6008 The government should have given Tucker the greenlight on his combat car but it wasn't the govt that killed the electric car. Cheap oil strangled that baby in its crib in 1901 when a gusher blew at Spindletop, Texas. Electrics struggled for a few years but when GM introduced the self starter in 1911 it basically was all over for electric cars. To stimulate demand for electric cars and more fuel efficient cars govt should have implemented higher taxes at the pump. Political suicide.

[majorporpoise]

@user6008 there were electric cars that were squashed in the turn of the 20th Century, brother.

[mrpitv]

@majorporpoise GM, Honda, Toyota and others did back away from electrics after the California let them off the hook by saying they didn't have to produce Zero Emissions Vehicles. Cars like GM's EV1 were really just PR ploys to mollify the public while its lawyers worked behind the scenes to scuttle the regulations. They weren't ready for prime time. They now have the Volt but its sales are anemic. More PR than real. Transforming the auto sector requires global govt. subsidies.

[VegardMinde]

Todays equipment is trash in comparison !

[mariehansler]

I think the whitewall tires should not have been on this thing....but the rest of it was pretty good for its time.

[racerbvd]

They said that they had a fleet ready for delivery and showed a picture of a bunch, wonder where they ended up??

[mrpitv]

@racerbvd I asked Tucker's grandson and he said that they've all been lost. The Germans invaded the Netherlands before they could get rolling.

[RSprtn117]

This would have probably been the first ifantry fighting vehicle ever implemented. That turret mounted 37mm just reminds me of the bradleys supporting in iraq right now except that tucker is faster and probably more practical for road travel in europe.

[TheBelldiver]

Thuscis better than todays armored vehicles in Iraq!

[rogerstill71]

I want one!

[ZImpresive]

lol this is batter than a modern retarted slow HUMURRRRRRR.

[barmtrail]

A 50 caliber would have done plenty of damage to the wheels and tires. But the car was so fast that i doubt it could be hit while moving. The antiaircraft weapon would not have worked. Too much ammo would have to be carried for that weapon, causing very little room inside for the occupants. Not to mention the forward guns. If this vehicle would have been larger and the tires more protected, it most likely would have been considered. The contracts went to GM and Dodge. Tucker was great though!

[mrpitv]

@barmtrail Ford got the majority of the Jeep contracts and Willys came in second with poor Bantam, out of Butler, PA a distant third. Even thought Bantam's engineers had designed the Jeep. Dodge got the contracts for the Power wagon and GM for other trucks and lots of other hardware for the War effort. Tucker ended up using some of the designs he'd developed to build turrets for PT boats and other ships at a plant in Alabama. A most inventive fellow.

[redrocker1055]

@mrpitv Yeah, and the US Government stole the patents for "The Tucker Turret."

The whole Tucker story just go's to show you what can happen when bought US officials are dead set on destroying a man.

[puppykicker54]

Tucker should have gotten help from the Government itself, either with a contract for a large number of these vehicles, or just some start up money. I say this because think about the competition this man would have put against GM, Dodge, and Ford. The three companies would have put so much more effort into their cars to compete with his, think about how much farther the car industry would have come from it...it's a shame.

[trektothetroops]

We sure would have given Germany hell even more so with these coming at them the. Imagin a heavier version contructed to carry a cannon or other anti tank weapon no Panzer could aim and shoot at a tucker combat car.

[BlueHeavenBound]

Preston Tucker was a Brilliant man; what happened to him was America's loss...

[homebuiltindoorplane]

this was absolutely fantastic thanks!

[Fresco1982]

Wow no wonder the government didn't want to use this car! It would have saved too many lives and ended the war too soon. Tucker would have made the greedy fat cats and sweet heart deals with other war profiteers slimmer or nonexistent. Ford, GM, and Chevorlet wouldn't have been worth pissing on if Tucker got the government contracts for the entire car. How those SOB's did Tucker reminds me of how they did Nikola Tesla. I hate politics and BS.

[fattony252]

save the tiger save the tiger save the tiger. The government in its wisdom is not looking to win anything. They are looking to make money in Bushs endless war

[rocksparadox]

Look at all these lego tacticians screaming about ''how good'' this vehicle could be but forget that an enemy light tank with a 20 mm cannon makes such vehicles a lot LESS safe....

Learn something about symmetrical/asymmetrical warfare and weapons/armor races before spouting out nonsense. The perfect weapon does not exist, and if you do believe so, you have not been in a war, Jesus loves you, but the rest of the world knows you are an asshole.

[spotgame1]

@rocksparadox Dude. There was nothing in this era that was anywhere near as tactical and cost effective as this war wagon. In trying to sound like you know something, you just show how much you dont know anything. Please dont be my LT in the next war. THX!

[rocksparadox]

@spotgame1 You must be a cavalry general then.....>_>

[iamonacomputer000]

Does it still  exist?

[mrpitv]

@iamonacomputer000 I'm not sure. a good question. I'll ask John Tucker, Preston's grandson.

[iamonacomputer000]

@mrpitv - if you find out thatd be great, to my knowledge its extinct, id love to get one made though, nowadays a 100 mph armored veichle is a technological stretch, if the paper is still out there with plans on how to build them, please do let me know

[msteven515]

@mrpitv Well, does it???

[sgtpepper1138]

@mrpitv Did you ever get a chance to find out about the Combat Car?

[mrpitv]

@sgtpepper1138 I'll send an email to John Tucker today. I totally forgot. thanks for the reminder. If one exists it should be in a museum somewhere.

[smartcar111]

@mrpitv Did you get a response back?

[ibmtech1]

@iamonacomputer000  Yes it does I just had a chance of a life time not only to see it but to go for a short ride. I hope to bring my camera with me this summer when he brings it back out.

[1960markN]

@ibmtech1 You say you have seen one? WHERE? How many still exist? I never knew of this until watching this video. This is awe inspiring!

[Black0mega]

This vehicle is just awesome, the ignorant and blind people in Washington obviously preferred some more soldiers die than provide them with THE BEST tools to do their job. Too fast was not an issue as that could've been easily reduced with a simple gearing change. I believe that someone in Washington was bribed to pass this vehicle up in place of something else.

[silverbird58]

yes

[holdupsway]

I really don"t understand why wouldn't the government by this car. So what the fuck if it was to fast, this thing was so ahead of its time, actually that thing is even futuristic now. I mean what did they think that having these in the army meant they were cheating or sumthing? war is war, survival of the fittest.

[mrpitv]

I agree. Made no sense. Much better than the tippy, slow moving Jeep they ended up with. This was a lethal little race car that also had protection for the occupants. Way ahead of the game.

[smellytoilet1996]

@mrpitv actually Jeep Willys looks so original

[sidejays]

@mrpitv the reason the army passed was because they had a speed limit of 35 mph on all military vehicles crazy i know and the tucker combat core could do twice that but the military did use his motorised gun turret for their bombers so some good came out of it

[redrocker1055]

@holdupsway You have to understand something about the American Government. They only care about the safety of it's soldiers when it's economical to do so.

Yes, this should've been made, but quite frankly it was too expensive to put in the hands of average soldiers.

[flatheadman1]

the military turned it down because it was to fast. the tucker combat car could reach speeds of 115 mph. the military at the time said no vehicle should go over 45 mph.

[ElboTheHedgehog]

It was too fast for the time, so it failed

[MegaDavid1960]

did the millitory buy any..never seen it before?

[mrpitv]

The US military took a pass. The Dutch government had ordered some but the Nazis invaded and the order was cancelled. Don't know if the prototype exists anywhere.

[TimidALFONS0]

Well i just think the Military made the wrong choice of not using a couple of these tanks in WWII. I would prefer one of these instead of a HUMVEE. When i heard about this tank, I thought it was just any regular tank. But after seeing the specs. i was amazed and mad to find out it was never given a chance in combat. Even the Tucker Torpedo had many features cars didn't have until late 90's. I just wish i had one of those tanks.

[barmtrail]

In combat this car would have been too fast indeed. Speed is a great way to avoid gunfire, but in the hands of your average 19 year old soldier of WW2, this car would have been dangerous. Not to mention that the fuel consumption would have been terrrible. This would be a fantastic vehicle for police work of today however. I admire preston tucker tremendously, His tucker car was fantastic. I have seen his wife's car in person. they were vaey large vehicles.

[helmuthoorn]

The men who had to storm the beaches of Normandy and Iwo Jima would have loved a couple of these.

[tuckerfan1053]

Interestingly enough, Harry Miller, who worked with Tucker on the Combat Car, ALSO developed the prototype Jeep for American Bantam. The rights to build the Jeep were stripped from AB and given to Willys (and also to Ford, when the war started). I have a feeling that the suspension and brake system for the Combat Car, would have gone on the Carioca, had Tucker lived long enough to see it produced. Great video, and please visit the Tucker Club's website.

[swathdiver]

Definitely a cool car! Tucker was a visionary who's many innovations are mainstream today.

[maco10810]

Well done to the designers of that vehicle I would use that before a modern jeep any day no offence ment just facts, speed counts and the handling on this vehicle makes it worthy of modern usage its a lovely beast and I would choose it hands down to go into battle its so fast and handles so well and is so well gunned - see those poor guys exposed on "modern vehicles" this is better than those big fat things

[mc9599]

it was missing 4wd, for the rest a cool car

[russellsmith93]

If you look at the end of the video, it says it has provisions for optional dual wheels, four wheel drive,& caterpillar type tracks

[GenerationAutomobile]

Preston Tucker made (50...) cars of tomorrow, today, and it's a shame the american and/or canadian army did not think that tank car was a winner.

The tank car of tomorrow, today!!

[mrpitv]

sooo cool.

[CDTbossy]

How cool would it be to have this car!

[WastedCar]

I hope that combat car still existed today..

[mrpitv]

no one has been able to find it. And nothing like it has ever been produced. still way ahead of its time.

[russellsmith93]

with an updated power train,this vehicle would be very much serviceable today. much better than an up-armoured Humvee, possibly better than the mrap. if the 4wd was standard instead of optional, and the advent of rubber tracks that are much quieter than tho old style of caterpillar type tracks this thing could go almost anywhere. it also was designed for a 45* side incline which was part of the specs for the humvee bef

[russellsmith93]

before they were up-armoured