The Wolf of Wall Street Lamborghini Countach, the Porsche 928 from Risky Business, and of course the (replica) Ferrari 250 GT California from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off—all are easily recognized collector cars made more so thanks to appearances in classic films. The Tucker 48, though, is a rare example of a movie car that most outside of the gearhead community are only familiar with because of its massive silver screen role, one that was central to Francis Ford Coppola’s Tucker: The Man and His Dream.
The acclaimed 1988 biopic follows Preston Tucker’s attempt to bring to market a cutting-edge vehicle brimming with then-unprecedented features, including a “Cyclops Eye” headlight that turned in-sync with the steering wheel to better illuminate corners at night, a flat-six engine modified from its application in a Bell 47 helicopter, prescient aerodynamic teardrop styling, and multiple safety features like seat belts, a pop-out windshield, and a padded dashboard.
Tucker’s company failed quickly due to reasons that are still contested: The movie largely blames a conspiracy between the General Motors, Ford and Chrysler—aka the Big Three—to sabotage Preston’s efforts, which culminated in an investigation into stock fraud by the SEC. Though Preston was acquitted, he and his company were unable to recover from the interference.
There’s a different side the story. According to Hagerty, just as the first Tucker 48s were rolling off the assembly line and into garages of an eager public who were excited to drive the “Car of Tomorrow,” the operation began to unravel.
Per the classic car insurance company, “Tucker was just getting the taste of that success when, on June 6, 1948, Drew Pearson, a well-connected muckraker in Washington, D.C., told listeners of his widely distributed radio show that the Securities and Exchange Commission had launched an investigation into Preston Tucker and his stock plan that would ‘blow Tucker higher than a kite.’ Four days later, Pearson followed up in his national newspaper column, ‘The Washington Merry-Go-Round,’ declaring that ‘the ax is falling on Preston Tucker, the revolutionary automobile man, and falling hard.’ The War Assets Administration, Pearson gleefully wrote, had denied Tucker’s bid to purchase a steel factory in Cleveland, which the automaker desperately needed to provide sheetmetal for its cars, and that Tucker the man and Tucker the company were also being investigated by the FBI, the SEC, and a U.S. Senate committee.”
Speculating on the company’s subsequent downfall, a 2008 article in The Journal of Private Enterprise, cited by Hagerty, posited that “historical evidence suggests that the demise of the Tucker Corporation was the result of two problems. First, the company’s lack of financial planning led to continual crises. Tucker’s refusal to utilize conventional bank loans combined with the company’s attempt to sell dealerships and stock before building a car prototype scared away normal venture capital. Second, unable to sell additional stock or dealerships, the Tucker Corporation needed money to start producing cars. With no inventory to sell and the SEC’s determination that pre-selling car features was illegal, the Tucker Corporation was financially bankrupt.”
Only 50 Tucker 48s made it out of the factory, one of which had a starring role in both Coppola’s garage and his film. Chassis No. 1014, the 14th example produced and of 12 finished in Waltz Blue metallic paint, appears in several scenes and was even substantially disassembled for sequences filmed on the set of the Tucker factory assembly line. It then served as the crown jewel of Mr. Coppola’s private collection and has been placed on public display from time to time at Inglenook, the Coppola family’s renowned Napa Valley winery.
Coppola’s 1948 Tucker 48 is expected to sell for between $1.5 and $2 million at Gooding Christie’s upcoming Pebble Beach auction this August—the same auction where this supercharged Alfa Romeo “Torpedo” could sell for over $5 million.