Tucker convertible to cross the block in Scottsdale | Hemmings Blog ...

Photo courtesy Barrett-Jackson.

When it found its way to the spotlight three years ago, it touched off a wave of speculation and controversy in the collector car world. Some considered it the final chapter in one of the most spectacular automotive stories, while others dismissed it as a hoax. Either way, the Tucker convertible will head to auction once more at Barrett-Jackson in January.

Introduced as a four-door sedan in 1948, the Tucker 48 never made full production: Preston Tucker halted the assembly lines after about 35 cars were finished, leaving behind enough parts and bodies to build another 15 or so cars, which was eventually done during the 1950s. Yet some Tucker enthusiasts ? Justin Cole of Benchmark Classics in Madison, Wisconsin, among them ? claimed that Preston Tucker had been secretly working with Lencki Engineering on a two-door convertible prototype called Project Vera when production ended. Cole, who bought the car claimed to be that convertible prototype (stamped with body number 57) from Al Reinert in 2008, spent the next year or so not only restoring the car that he bought, but also attempting to make the case for the car?s legitimacy. While he never produced any factory documentation proving the claims about the convertible, he did put together other assorted documentation and hire restorer Al Prueitt to inspect and verify the car.

Cole showed the completed convertible at Hershey the following year amid a storm of criticism, not the least of which came from Jay Follis, then president of the Tucker Automobile Club of America, who called it an urban legend and questioned its authenticity on the basis of lack of factory documentation. Follis later stated that

The Tucker Automobile Club of America, Inc. (TACA) has never been presented with ? nor have been able to find ? any credible evidence to prove the authenticity of this or any other vehicle as being a Tucker Corporation intended convertible and therefore we can not certify it as such.

While TACA is certainly not ready to completely dismiss the possibility that a Tucker convertible could have been built by the Tucker Corporation, we have never discovered nor been presented with sufficient evidence to prove such a car was planned for or started at the factory.

At that time, Cole was asking $3.99 million for it on the Benchmark Classics website; he had sought $5 million for it earlier that year on eBay. Since then, Cole took the convertible to the January 2010 Russo and Steele Scottsdale auction, where bidding went up to $1.4 million but failed to reach his reserve. At that time, the highest price paid for a Tucker was $1,017,500; since then, the record price paid for a Tucker has increased to $2.915 million.

For its upcoming Scottsdale auction, Barrett-Jackson describes the convertible as a ?rare original Tucker (that) has been customized into a convertible? and notes that it has been driven just nine miles since Cole completed it. Cole, whose phone number at Benchmark Classics has been disconnected, was not able to be reached for comment.

Barrett-Jackson?s Scottsdale auction will take place January 13-20. For more information, visit Barrett-Jackson.com.

Source: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/11/09/tucker-convertible-to-cross-the-block-in-scottsdale/

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