Of the 51 Tucker automobiles assembled and ineptly brought to market in 1948, 47 exist today. They’re held in the protective clutches of museums and private collectors. The car that Preston Tucker originally planned to sell for $1,000—dubbed the “Tin Goose” in its prototype stage—can nowadays command upwards of $3 million at auction.
Preston Tucker and His Battle to Build the Car of Tomorrow describes the gregarious and ambitious Preston Tucker as part Svengali and part rainmaker. He could charm anyone, oversell anything, and win the trust of others, sometimes against their better judgment. He also had the confidence and ingenuity to bring to the consumer automobile industry a wholly new brand, based upon a distinctive exterior design along with various new features that Detroit automakers had been slow to introduce on their own cars—among them disc brakes, automatic transmission, a roomier step-down interior, padded dashboards, independent suspension.
