Salt Lake Tribune | 1988-09-11 | Page 6

x r Sunday September H 1988 - 6A The Salt Lake Tribune - V t t '?"' r ' ‘ V‘yr- -' " ' “''- VHr-- - -s Tucker Torpedo Didn't Die With Dream — iVof at $ 100000 a Pop i By 5 ut Paul Dean Los Angeles Times Writer LOS ANGELES — Tucker the man and his dream are long dead But many of his 1948 cars the designer who built this Route 66 cruiser some family and much of the curt hibtory of rebel Preston Tucker survive in Southern California Since the release of the movie Tucker The Man and His Dream ' analyses of the builder and his car have exhumed a controversy dead for 40 years and for those considering the cars as an investment well you should have bought a Tucker yesterday “I had a broker call me from Louisiana who said he had a Tucker with only 3 000 original miles on it" said North Hollywood car auctioneer Rick Cole He asked me how much I thought it was worth “I told him about $45 000 He said that with the movie and all the publicity he was thinking more about $250 000 " Despite the absence of recent transactions local owners and experts say Tucker prices are certainly rising from a recorded sale of $35000 nine years ago to today s projections of up to $100000 collector Among American-madcars says John Tucker 57 of Long Beach Calif one of three surviving sons of Preston Tucker his dad's car now ranks No 3 in value and desirability behind Duesenberg and Cord All of w hich might seem surprising for an automobile that never raced anywhere and won zero design awards The Tucker was powered by a modified helicopter engine and sold no better than the Keller Chief yf - ¥ n ‘ thJ 54 j e Uznw-- ' —J Pv k 'v — i saw V - ' A 4 9 tar- - "i 'V)f irirraftrrwffiiiatort’iii1 —lot Aogetet Time Photo Stephen Nicas Vista Calif cares for ’48 Tucker that has rotating headlight heli- - copter engine (mounted in rear) and 6 tailpipes Of 50 made a surprising 45 remain Duesenberg stylist who brought design to Tucker’s vision is still alive and living in Ventura Calif Despite dimming eyesight he motor is working on a car At 74 It (Tucker Torpedo was a real quickie of a job generated from scratch and completed in 100 days" he said "The rear engine was my idea and that alone marks the car's moment of automotive history” In such haste however there were shortcomings that nobody remembers It was produced for only one year before Tucker's informal business ways collided head-owith the Securities and ExCommission change The car also had a nasty habit of jamming its transmission Yet of 50 Tucker Torpedo sedans manufactured in 1948 a surprising 45 remain and almost a quarter of those are owned by California auto museums and impassioned individuals Alex Tremulis the former Au burn-Cor- d three-wheele- d cern that the Apache gunship can be affected by routine emissions from commercial microwave television and airport radar " Those problems would be more severe m wartime when Rights over battlefields crammed with electronic emitters would be likeThe Pentagon report said the helicopters could be vulnerable to emissions from such common sources as "U S and allied missile radar controllers "The problem causes concern regarding their fitness against enemy electromagnetic countermea sures" the report said Although the new Army heli copters believed to be most vul nerable to stray radiation — the AH 64 Apache gumhip the UH and 60 Black Hawk troop-carrie- r Kiowa scout — meet the Army requirements for radiowave protection those requirements now are acknowledged to have been inadequate 011-58- Retired aerospace maker Stephen Nicas tool-and-di- e 69 of Escon- es evolution" The car’ Franklin engine — originally designed for Bell helicopters — still clatters and raps like a 1982 Corvair The radio looks like it plays nothr ing but Guy Lombardo air intakes are covered by grills that by today’s plastic standards are sturdy enough for stoves Door handles are like horseshoes on this Acme Bumper Car by Studebaker out of Dream Machine John Lemmo of Peninsula Ohio has probably the most historic Tucker of all — Tucker No 0 the prototype “They called it ‘The Tin Goose’ and If I found a guy with nothing but money to throw up in the air and watch it come down I might sell it to him for $500000" said Lemmo a owner and president of the Tucker Automobile Club of America Rear-fende- wood-burnin- BOSTON (UPI) — A new class of drugs is showing promise for treating and possibly preventing one of the most common and serious complications of diabetes which can lead to amputations Known as aldose reductase inhibitors the drugs may be effective for treating diabetic neuropathy a deterioration of nerve fibers that causes a variety of nervous system symptoms As many as 1 million of the 10 million diabptic Americans experience severe diabetic neuropathy Symptoms include a loss of coordination and sensation m various parts of the body The loss of sensation can become so severe that victims break bones or damage the skin on their feet to the point where amputation is necessary The cause of the condition is unknown But researchers believe chronic high levels of sugar in the blood may lead to the damaging ac trol sticks and pedals Such emissions entering these systems can duplicate pilot commands two-’Dick- dido Calif owns a small stable of American collector cars It includes hibitor known as Sorbiml for one cumulation of certain types of sugars on nerve fibers Researchers speculate an enzyme aldose reductase converts blood sugar into another form of sugar known as sorbitol which accumulates on and damages the nerve fi- bers That has led several drug year The researchers took samples of a nerve behind their ankles before they began treatment and after 12 months The samples were compared to those taken from six diabetics who did not take the drug The researchers reported that patients who took the drug had about a 25 percent increase in the number of nerve fibers and the regeneration of nerves was increased by about four times compared to those who did not take the drug Although the patients did show-somsigns of a decrease in symptoms another larger study involving the same patients and others aimed at gauging symptoms had not yet been analyzed Greene said But the findings indicate the drug should be effective for treating diabetic neuropathy and may also succeed in preventing the condition Greene said compa- nies to begin testing agents that inhibit the enzyme m the hopes it will prevent the accumulation of the sugar and the resulting damage Two studies published recently in The New England Journal of Medicine provide new evidence that the approach may work I think this is the first evidence that this disease is actually potentially reversible” said Dr Douglas Greene head of one of the studies and professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan medical school m Ann Arbor In Greene's study 10 diabetics were given an aldose reductase in e sagSEBaMPaaBEHBaBBaaBaBaraBBBBBBHBBwra3aMHBppBcw Add a touch of elegance with 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Grenada action the developments in the Persian Gulf and more severe combat conditions than originally anticipated" said the report signed by Pentagon Deputy inspector General Derek J Vander Schaaf In recent months the Army has begun an intensive effort to protect its helicopters by shielding key components through which the stray emissions can enter the aircraft The Army s newest helicopters are more vulnerable to such problems than older aircraft controlled by mechanical means Stray radiation becomes a critical Right safety issue on the newer helicopters which are controlled by electrical impulses generated by the pilot using his con‘ ly "But you have to remember that the first car of a series like the first one of anything will have flaws no question about it” John Tucker said He was a gofer at his father's factory when the Tucker was built "But as they came along the later ones were much better than the first It was simply a matter of iron" ing out the kinks And had the car rolled out 30 years earlier Tucker believes it would have been a success in a receptive market place then supplied by a matched pair of maroon 1930 already willed one apiece to his two sons a 1928 Cadillac a 1932 Franklin — and the 17th Tucker to roll from the plant Unfortunately Nicas has been disabled by three strokes So tending the Tucker falls to the responsibility of his elder son "Dad bought it 14 years ago after it had been owned for a good deal of its life by the foreman of the King Ranch in Texas” Nicas said "1 haven’t driven it enough to form a but it steers great hard opinion and handles well it seems to have enough power and poop and it’s ceras a tainly an interesting car first-tim- e effort not something that is the end result of many years of They May Prevent Amputations Army Copters Vulnerable to Transmitters Knight Kidder Newspapers WASHINGTON — The Army has barred its newest helicopters from Hying near more than 300 radio transmitters around the world to avoid electronic signals that could send the aircraft out of control Army officials said Tuesday The announcement is the latest indication that the new helicopters are ill prepared to Hy above the modern battlefield which is crammed with sophisticated electronic emitters that could jeopardize safe control of the aircraft At the same time Pentagon investigators have concluded that "the magnitude of the problem points to an inadequate design for the shielding of electromagnetic interference effects on all Army " helicopters The new study by the Pentagon s inspector general warns of an "extreme electromagnetic interference vulnerability in Army helicopters and expresses con Henry Ford Ransom Olds and Art Chevrolet “I’ve always thought that dad was the last of those pioneers” he said "but by 1948 the romance had gone out of the car business Cars were being built for the banks not the people No question about it” There also is no question that the Tucker was a permutation from its rear engine and six tailpipes to a rotating headlight (all the better to see where you're turning went that notion) m the center of the hood "Tucker was not a strong engineer at all" claims Tom Sparks of Los Angeles president of Sparks Automotive and technical adviser to the movie It was Sparks who culled the nation and collected 22 Tuckers for the filming "But he always surrounded himself with good engineers and mechanics "His innovations were doors that the rear enran into the roof-lin- e gine with fuel injection disc brakes a safety windshield that would pop out and with more time and money a few changes such as going to coil spnngs and shocks instead of his torsional elastic suspension it could have been a good car” Francis Ford Coppola who directed the Paramount movie (at $22 million it cost more than Tucker spent making his cars) is an automotive hobbyist and owns two Tuckers George Lucas produced the film and equals Coppola in professional-persona- l interest He also owns two Tuckers - s Shop Ogten 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