The Infamous Three-Headlight Car: Torpedo on Wheels

By: Chantel Nurkowski 

 This non-profit museum has cars from the 1930’s to 1950’s and was founded by Dick Burdick. The Tucker 48 can be found at Dick’s Car Garage, which was briefly produced in Chicago. Only 51 cars were produced. The original proposed price for the Tucker was $2,450. The value of the car is now worth millions. The Tucker at this museum has never been driven, and was the last car to be produced.

Tucker has a flat-6 rear engine, four-wheel independent suspension, and a fuel injection. Because it has a rear engine, it is rear wheel drive. It also has a “Cyclops eye,” which is a third headlight in the center of the car, which activates at steering angles of greater than 10 degrees to light the car's path around corners. The windshield is made of shatterproof glass. The glove box is actually located on the front door panels because in front of the passenger seat is a “crash chamber” which is a padded area to protect the passenger.

Missy B, a reviewer on Yelp, who resides in Austin, Texas said, “I had heard about this famous car, but seeing it in person was more impressive than I could imagine. Not only is this car huge, I mean so big I couldn't get a good pic of it, but it has an aura about it that just makes you want it, like it is sending off pheromones. We also found out that it has to lowest mileage of any antique car in any car museum, only 1/2 mile on the odometer.”

Preston Tucker first named it the Tucker Torpedo, but since he didn’t want to remind people of World War II when hearing the name of this car, he changed the name to Tucker 48.

The 1988 movie, Tucker: The Man and His Dream is about the car’s production.