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It seems that his biggest mistake was in not assembling the right team to make this happen - probably tried to do too much by himself; lack of ego was not an issue with him. It was an incredibly long shot, anyhow, and he did (or maybe didn't do) some things to get attention from the wrong people. But looking at it from the vantage point of 2024, I don't think he stood much chance of ever having a successful company.

I own a 2024 KIA EV6 and it's impressive how much my car takes after this car lol

I always thought the Desoto and Chrysler airflows looked kinda bulky, although innovative not a very appealing design. If you compare that to the 1934 Tatra 77 or the 1935 Peugeot 402 I find the lines are much sleeker. And ofcourse you have to mention the Rumpler Tropfenwagen, which although very different styling wise (more nautical) was so far ahead of the curve in 1921 that it really was a lone pioneer.

The colours of that particular car are unfortunate. About as exciting as grandad’s cardigan.

My grandfather was approached was by Tucker, he told me the guy was shyster and a crook, probably because of his salesmanship. I am in a bit of internal conflict, due to the innovation/styling and cars produced, was he a shyster and a car maker? as a Tech I say both

"The Big Three" U.S. automakers wanted Tucker GONE. His proposals and engineering innovations were going to cost Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors millions of dollars to keep up with Tucker. The Big Three had plebian lead sleds compared to the stylish and sleek Tucker '48. Preston Tucker was an extremely intelligent man who got stopped by the Feds representing the major car manufacturers.

In racing they destroyed the competition. That's why they came after them

Chevy Chase’s character in the 80s movie ‘Fletch’, coined a word that has stuck with me for all these decades. Whenever I see a Buick, I am reminded of the word….’OldsmBuick’. 😂

Interesting why they never made those glowing wheels for bicycles. Be such a nice safety item.

A 9.7 litre engine was originally planned. Thats a semi-truck engine, not a car engine.

I’ve seen writing that Ferdinand Porsche saw a De Soto Airflow town coupe in Berlin, and used it as the basis for his design for that rather famous little German car. Looking at photos of the two, it’s fairly clear that the KDF Wagen/Volkswagen is a line for line copy of the De Soto, but on a smaller scale. Perhaps if Chrysler had thought to shrink the 1934 De Soto, the history of the division might have been very different.

My father worked for a Chrysler dealer before WWII and I never asked him about this.

in the stephen king novel, needful things, the bad guy at the end drove off in his tucker talisman. i like that name much better than torpedo lol.

I wonder how many of those DeSotos were sold? Why does he keep touching the car with his hands, arms with his watch touching, constantly leaning on it! Makes me cringe!!! Great video though!!!

I have had two Firebirds in my life. First one was a 68 400 convertible and a second was a 73 Firebird Esprit. I would love to have either first or second gen back on the firebird line never Camaro for me. Those are secretary cars

Front-eheel drive junk!

We will never see a grassroots company build a vehicle like Tucker ever again...what a beautiful engineered vehicle..has a lot of art deco influnces...one of my top 5 favorite vehicles!

"Inneresting"

Hoenstly it's ones of those thing that painly gets the future 100% correct when people got it so much wrong with way more plobicty... Like to me this cocapt car is amassive check list of what we have... Which is all of that although not always in passanger cars.. Like the uni control is 100% just a joystick which both gamepads took over PC gaming after the Xbox 360 came out in thelate '00s it was very common for people to play racing games and sims with a joystick meant for flight games/sims as driving a car with a keytboard and mouse has never bween figured out... And what you showed is exactly how you drive a car with a joystick back then.. also when controls came to exsitnce with the N64 so did gamepad racing games which still to this day can use use that input sceme for them alough with gamepads it's far more popular to use the triggers for throttle and break but you still can... But to be fair that sceme is how the move on gamepad on foot and on hourse back or in mech suits that are like beinbg on foot... So just incredible he got an control sceme so right despite not having dacades of hard fought experience which is hownormaldefault control sceme in gaming come to be!

I'm surmising here the radio fitted here is not original, A correct Airflow radio would be a box mounted under the dash on the firewall (I think) with a remote radio head that replaced the ashtray. The antenna would part of the roof, I believe..... in a wire network embedded next to the composite insert ....so it would have _no_ visible antenna.

Thanks, interesting overview: especially since I ordered a new : ROAD RUNNER in Fall 1967, paying my $200.00 retainer:: that Plymouth (?)Green/ Black Deluxe Interior Carpet (* I just could not see that MAT only interior) /PS/ PBDisc brake/ FAN DEC,UTCH (?)/ positraction,only: unfortunately reneging on Purchasing…Anyhow, the HEMI OPTION, way to,expensive / GAS/Insurance m when ordering! Oddly , a friend & I checked the Green/ 4 Speed (forget if was “the OTHER, & not” a Hurst) 1968, RR AND A NICE EXAMPLE: extremely well built & Finish ,for early (??)@ was sold immediately.. The Plymouth Dealers / & MOPAR really targeted Us College , etc., students. ***Interestingly, Spring* 1970 the Ford Dealer Could NOT LET me take a “BOSS MUSTANG “test Drive overnight, though Dodge Dealer let me take a DART340 GS/ Pursuit Home, overnight. ( ps, I was Third year , just into Pharmacy School, in 1967-68)….Anyways, stayed MOPAR as first new Car purchase , was late Summer 1970, a great Ralley Red/ Black Vinyl top, **Dodge Coronet 500/383/ loaded** , @$3000.00 from Dealer next to my Pharmacy…..actually a nice Coronet & easy improvement (*e.g. REIGNITION), , though much the RT/GTX/ not direct fits(*e.g. RT SWAY Bars)

I owned a 1989 Grand Prix SE. Same 2.8 liter V6 with manual transmission. I drove it daily to work. The rear calipers had a bad tendency to seize up. I drove it 100,000 miles and sold it to my 16 year old neighbor. He drove it back and forth to his high school and he was definitely "too cool for school!"

I had an 89 Beretta with the 2.8. It provided ample power (for the 80’s), had good fuel economy, and was very reliable. I miss that car.

That hidden gas cap behind the air intake grille is a neat feature. Then he proceeds to open it and slam it into the paint.

The Tucker engine was NEVER intended to be air cooled. Even their initial 589 cubic-inch six was water-cooled. The Franklin-sourced O-335 engine was air-cooled in it's helicopter use and yes, the Tucker Engineers did briefly toy with the idea of keeping the engine that way (and ONE prototype engine does still exist) Mr. Tucker himself did not believe that air-cooling was efficient enough nor was the American public ready for such a vehicle. So, no, the Tucker was never intended to have an air-cooled engine. Secondly - and I can't believe I'm having to repeat this as this is surely well-known.... on initial showing, the Prototype Tucker HAD NO REVERSE. On June 19, 1947, at the Chicago Tucker Factory unveiling; the "Tin Goose" was still sporting it's 589 cubic-inch engine and fluid couplings on each rear wheel. This meant that at least the car could drive forward but there was no way to reverse those fluid couplings. Eventually, once they'd abandoned the 589 engine and began using the O-335 and the Y1, the Tin Goose was converted at the factory at which point it got 4 forward speeds plus reverse. And only 17 cars initially used rebuilt Cord transmissions. It was found early on that the Cord transmission was not up to the task of the O-335's torque. It was found during testing that first gear could be sheared clean if too quick of a take-off was accomplished. Only cars #1001 through #1018 had modified Cords at which point they began producing the Y-1 at the Tucker plant and all cars from #1019 on received Y-1's and the previous cars were also converted to Y-1's. NOW, the problem comes from the past 70 years. When Y-1's have developed problems and of course, parts are not to be found; some enterprising owners found it easier to source out the old modified Cord transmissions which were sold in a parcel at the factory auction. So, some Cord transmissions may be in use in some Tucker cars today. However that was never the intention. The Y-1 is a much more robust transmission, has much wider gears, a larger case, better bearings and isn't prone to shearing teeth off it's first gear. As a matter of fact, car number #1010 was the Bonneville Salt-Flats car and used a Y-1 with a factory modified final drive (I think it was 3.22:1, but don't quote me on that) and this was the car that set several speed records at Bonneville.

FWIW, Back in the 70s +/- I saw a Tucker driving through Golden Gate Park San Francisco. Being aware of the Tucker story I was totally amazed to see one on the street. It appeared to be chauffeur driven with a little old lady sitting in the back seat grinning at me as we passed by.

My father and mother are buried 5 feet away from his tiny headstone in Michigan memorial. Crazy.

Excitement

I don't know much about the car, but it make for A great movie !!

Always there has to be a disclaimer... nobody wanted that car... at that price. It was more popular than you think, because now America is slap full of cars that nobody wants... at that price.

TBT KMB NMIMHA🐷🔥🚮

You're talking about the car I grew up in.😊 The Avante was built in Canada just as they were closing down. Their engine blocks were not seasoned and had a habit of warping and cracking.

Tucker rhymes with another word that starts with an F

Whattabout the 88 Fiero GT? (I'm biased tho, own a V8 swapped '87)

Quickest or fastest? Obviously there's a difference.

The answer to why it did not succeed is simple. It was not cost effective to include all these new innovations and compete with a Buick or a Chrysler which were not cheap cars and had a long reputation as quality cars. To the average car buyer, it was too much of a risk. The competition was well known products with a large dealer network and backed by GM and Chrysler. Tucker on the other hand was a unknown entity with no reputation to stand on.

To be honest I think if one thing ruined car design it was aerodynamics ! that's why most people drive jelly moulds that all look the same today 😒. Adding a hatch back would in my opinion would have meant adding an even worse so called modern advantage to possibly the worst classic I have ever seen .

I dont get the design analysis. The Design language is definitly early 40ties. The 46 studebaker, Kaiser and the 49 ford and gm models did look more modern.

I'd love to get my hands on that R R . I'd restore it's former glory . I'm a young 70 years old now , and when i was 17 i purchased a 1968 roadrunner with 383 4spd. and man that car was FAST . I would like to buy another one , but they are SO much money . I paid $1200 .00 for my '68 R R , and very good condition . Loved that car . Unfortunately , i was T- Boned at an intersection and totaled my beautiful R R . Long live the Road Runner . Good Video Sir .

10:17 right in the back what is the neon sign transformer needed for? was it for some neons mounted in those glowing tires?

Oh, how sweet of you to think the sleekest car of 1988 was manufactured in America. That’s so cute. “It’s only a Pontiac. It’s not a Buick. It’s not a Cadillac, but it’s supposed to be above that Chevrolet level”. There’s an entire world of automobiles out there just begging for your attention. In 1988 Australia was producing the XF Falcon was the best-selling Ford Falcon in Australia from 1984 to 1988. Ford and Nissan shared models, including the Ford XF Falcon and Holden VL Commodore, and Japan was pumping out the Honda Accord, the Honda CRX, and Mazda had the RX-7 and the MX-6, Nissan had the 200SX, the Skyline, and the Silvia and then there’s Europe, which I won’t even begin to go into other than to mention the Aston Martin Lagonda, and the BMW M5.

88 Thunderbird was a superior car .

THANK YOU SO MUCH, Rick, for pronouncing “Grand Prix” correctly!!!

Love the Grand Prix. Had a 79, 87, 94 and 2004 GTP. And mother in law had a grand am. Never got my Firebird.

Thank you for the review and video. I enjoyed the video. I did want to share a few things. The 3.1 liter V6 had a 140 hp initially. It did not reach 160 hp until the 1990's. I do agree the 2.8 liter V6 was underpowered. All the W Bodies used it in the early days. The Regal offered the 3800 V6 first in the early 1990's. I liked the 1976-1977 Grand Prix, the 1981-1987 Grand Prix as well. The 1969-1970 was "grand" too. I did like the looks of the 1988 Grand Prix interior and exterior. The engine was this issue. They did offer the Quad 4 on the Grand Prix and Cutlass Supreme W Bodies. You are correct. They had not figured out how to get power out of smaller engines. The W Bodies got better with time and especially by the second generation. The W Bodies green in size by the second generation in wheelbase and length and width.

Not sire if you’ve heard this but you look just like Mitt Romney

My mom had a '95 & an '03 Pontiac Grand Prix SE.

What about the olders Chevrolet Lumina models?

Can't watch anymore this video, keep mis pronouncing grand prix

My cousin had a grand prix convertible