[Closed] Pics: Here is my complete set of Brooklin’s current series Tuckers.

But...there are only eight. Weren't there fifty? 😉

David, I wanted to refresh my memory so I went to "Collectible Automobile's"

July '85 issue which featured the Tucker. I know you have a copy!

On the cover is Tucker #41, clearly light yellow. Note the wheel covers. Then this car is shown, minus the license plate, on pages 54-55 in what is clearly white or very light beige and with different wheel covers.. Same owner. Then, it's back again on pages 60-61 in yellow, and still with the same owner. Weird.

As for the story on the colors, the caption on p. 49 reads "Paint colors varied among the 50 production Tuckers, as did equipment and some running gear." We knew about the variations in trim pieces, door handles, fuel filler locations, etc. Then, on p. 59, in the sidebar about the Tucker Club, we find "All Tuckers are four-door sedans and look about the same except for colors; nearly every one was done in a different hue." Neither of these statements is definitive, but they do seem to support what I always thought---that each was different in color although sometimes the differences weren't dramatic. That same sidebar states that "even a few [Tuckers] got the self-shifting "Tuckermatic" transmission. Car #48 is fitted with a three-speed Borg-Warner manual, while other cars have four-speed manuals and some the four-speed electric shift. Lots of variations in transmissions, then, too.

By the way, the Kelly Green car, no. 5, was at an indoor car show in Austin some years back and the owner was there at a table displaying his Tucker literature collection and his own paperwork. He'd owned the car for a long time, and had several large binders of official papers, registration documents, and that sort of thing. He was a really nice guy and after we'd talked for awhile, he invited me to sit in his car. It was really cool, the only time I actually met an owner of a Tucker and given the privilege of sitting behind the wheel. He was an older gentleman when this happened, so I wonder if he is still living or who owns the car now.

Seems that there is nothing easy about the history of Tuckers!

Great stuff, Rick. Thanks.

I guess the paint issue makes sense. They were cobbling together prototypes. I'm sure they used whatever paint they had on hand and may even have mixed a few colors of their own.

Of yours, I like the bronze and Waltz Blue best, but the beige looks surprisingly good, too!

Rick just received an award for best write.

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We have David to thank for the Waltz Blue. He campaigned successfully and tirelessly for it.

I'm willing to bet he was instrumental in getting us the black one as well.

Thanks, Shel! I'm honored. Actually, I live for this stuff. As an American History major in college and grad school, I am a lifelong student of American auto history. I had the distinct honor of doing research for the great Leon Mandel for his book "Driven." Many here will know Leon's name, as editor of Car and Driver in its glory days, but he was also the author of a number of books on auto racing and history.

I have a library of automobile history books, brochures, original ads, magazines, postcards, articles, and everything else you can think of concerning US auto history. I love looking up info and replying to questions of history that come up on these forums. There has to be a purpose for all this stuff!

Hear, hear! Nice work, David!

You knew Leon Mandel! Amazing!

Yep! He and his family lived in Reno and so did I, before and after

I was in grad school at the Univ of Nevada, Reno. I read a column of his in C/D in which he mentioned that he lived there, so I looked him up and wrote him a letter. He called me and said he was writing a book and wanted someone to do research for him. He was great to work with, and I also met his wonderful wife and children Dutch (Leon, Jr., later editor/publisher of AutoWeek) and Olivia. Leon was one of the smartest people I've ever known.

He got me a free pass to Bill Harrah's auto collection in Sparks, where I also had the pleasure of meeting Dean Batchelor, then the head of the collection. I spent a lot of time at the collection doing research and just admiring the 1500 or so cars there.

Tucker built 51 cars, 47 still exist.

My understanding, and somewhere I have the list of the six colors, some of which apparently there may have been slight variations in hue, and how many of each color were produced. I did find my notes that there were four black cars , #1016, now in the Henry Ford Museum, # 1021 privately owned, #1030 now in the Petersen Auto Museum, and # 1041 privately owned and one of the most well known from being originally black from the factory and being repainted possibly more than once, yellow being one of the iterations before fairly recently being carefully restored to its factory specs.

Leon was one of the greats. What a privilege and honor you had!

LOL, John !

I have lunch monthly with William Jeanes also a former editor of Car and Driver. William loves to come tour my collection of little cars and has many stories to tell about them. He has also contributed several that were given to him over the years by various manufacturers.