By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

We got a ton of comments on the list of “Top Ten Vehicles That Need to Come Back”. I didn’t include any of the cars below cause they are all from dead brands. But if we lived in an alternate universe, then yes, all of these rides would need to come back! See the rest of the list after the jump!

Pontiac Trans Am

Duh.

Continue reading "Top Ten Vehicles That Need to Come Back But Can’t Because Their Brands No Longer Exist" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

No Tucker convertible ever went into production (if you can even call the company’s run of 51 cars “production”), so this is truly a 1 of 1. Looks a bit rough, but I dig the bare metal and yellowed wide whites. I say spraybomb it with some clear and run it!

Its eBay auction ends tonight, so with all the offers on it, we’ll soon be able to get an idea of the more rational prices that folks are willing to pay for such a relic. Since the last time I checked (yes, because I want one), Tuckers were going for about $250K in original condition. So $5 million seems a little out to lunch, especially for a partially-completed resto (the copy emphasizes “the price listed is for the opportunity to buy this one of one prototype vehicle with zero original miles on it when it is completed“). Hmm, I guess we’ll see!

Ever seen a Tucker in real life? It’s kind of like seeing a unicorn, right? You’d be surprised, but arranging some face-time with one of these awesome rides isn’t like putting a man on the moon. The Tucker Club of America lists nearly all of the surviving 48′s on their website with info on the museums at which the cars are displayed, and they’re actually pretty widely distributed throughout the US. Well okay, the lion’s share is in California, of course. But you might also luck out if you’re in Georgia, Pennsylvania or Michigan. There’s even a handful of the cars living abroad. I’ve seen a Tucker once in my life—it was part of a temporary exhibit on automotive design at an art museum in Montreal—and I can tell you that seeing an iconic ride like the Tucker right up close is absolutely a worthwhile day-trip. Always. See if there’s a Tucker in your state!

OzHemi spotted this 1959 Tucker Sno Cat at the Pomona Swap Meet this weekend, where it was 80 degree and sunny. Go figure. It’s powered by a Mopar six banger, and the guy wants $19,000 for it. More pics after the jump.

Continue reading "Tucker Sno Cat" »

Seeing one of these cars is kind of like seeing a unicorn: it just doesn’t happen. But Autoblog tells us that one of the original 51 Tuckers, built in 1948 by doomed visionary Preston Tucker, sold on eBay yesterday for a couple of hundred grand. This one was converted in 1964 to run a Mercury Monterey driveline, including a 390 V8 in place of the original Tucker’s rear-mounted Franklin aircraft engine. This is the kind of radical engine swap you could never get away with today on an original Tucker, which is valued in the hundreds of thousands.  But it’s clear that the conversion actually makes this ultra-rare classic a lot more feasible as a driver: with the 390, it’s something you could actually work on and enjoy, rather than just a giant paperweight.