Leading Tucker collection donated en masse to US museum

| 16 Jul 2013

An amazing bequest of three Tucker cars and a vast cache of history, memorabilia and engineering related to the marque has been made to a leading US museum.

Avid Tucker fanatic the late David Cammack was the benefactor and the AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania is now to build a dedicated exhibition around the donation, which is due to open next year.

The museum said: "David's desire was to have this collection shared with the public, and the AACA Museum is honoured to be chosen as the caretakers of this extensive collection."

The Cammack collection comprises three of the rear-helicopter-engined 1948 Tucker vehicles, the factory Tucker test chassis, hundreds of engineering drawings, original Tucker parts, several engines and many other artefacts and items.   

The vehicles include Tucker 1001, the first 'production' prototype, Tucker 1022 and Tucker 1026, the only example built with an automatic transmission.   

A total of just 51 Tuckers were built by hand in Chicago, of which 47 are known to still exist.   

The three Tuckers which will reside at the AACA Museum will form the largest collection of these vehicles on permanent display anywhere. 

The museum has just moved the items from a facility in Virginia and re-located them to secure, locked storage at the AACA Museum where they will stay until the exhibition opens.

Click here to learn more about Tucker cars and click here for a superb film from Smithsonian Magazine of David Cammack discussing the Tucker story, immortalised in Francis Ford Coppola's 1988 movie Tucker: The Man and His Dream.

Read C&SC's definitive Tucker feature here.