When I was a teenager and lived in Collinsville, Illinois, I worked at a Studebaker dealership as a mechanic and body man helper, and I also took care of the show room cars that the dealership had on display. I was working at this dealership when the 1948 TUCKER was put on display there for a few days. I was the one that had the responsibility for keeping the TUCKER shinning like a Brand New Coin. I also had the responsibility of watching over it so that NO ONE did anything to harm it in anyway. I would go to the owner of the Dealership and get the key for the TUCKER and after It was shown or after I did anything on the inside of the car I would then take the key back to the owner of this Dealership for his safe keeping.
The Name of the Dealership was McClanahan Motors, and it was a STUDEBAKER Dealership. It was a block off of Main Street and off of West Church Street. The Street it was on went right between a Pontiac Dealership and a Chevrolet Dealership. Just can’t remember the street name.
At that time all of the main auto dealerships in town didn’t want the TUCKER to be introduced in Collinsville, as per people I spoke to back then, and what the Dealer had told me. It seemed to me that they didn’t want anyone to disrupt the auto business they had built, with a product that had so many new items on it, or that they didn’t think up for their autos. This was the only Dealership that would let the Tucker be shown.
Anyway that’s why we had to take the precautions in showing the 1948 TUCKER to the people of Collinsville.
A friend of mine told me that when he was out on the main highway outside of Collinsville, that the TUCKER passed him and had an attached sign that read YOU HAVE JUST BEEN PASSED by a TUCKER. He also said, man that Tucker is a neat car.
I was also told that if the dealership where the Tucker was shown, would let it be shown, with Studebaker approval, the TUCKER Company would allow the Studebaker Company to use ideas that the TUCKER Company had used on it’s car. He had many.
Yea!! Just look at the 1948 Studebaker Starlite Commander, and the Land Cruiser. Then look at the Studebakers that were produced before the 1948 TUCKER.
I myself believe the Studebaker Company used the TUCKER know how to produce a better vehicle, since the TUCKER was stopped in production by the big auto Industry of that time. I watched the TUCKER movie; you sure get the idea from that about how strong the TUCKER completion was at that time. To bad for the Auto Buyer’s of that year and many year’s after should it have been left alone to be offered to the auto buyer.
All that saw the TUCKER when I was taking care of it sure were amazed at how really nice a car it was. Thank You, The Tucker is one of my BEST MEMORIES of my young years at working at Auto Dealership’s as a car washer and polisher and apprentice Mechanic and Body man, and a wrecker assistant. I’m sure glad that I had that experience in my youth. The TUCKER, is still my dream car. Thank You, Lou Papproth