Man & His Car, A: Iconic Cars and Stories from the Men Who Love Them: 2 (A Man & His)

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The story of the Tucker 48 became famous after the release of the 1988 film Tucker: The Man and His Dream by Francis Ford Coppola starring Jeff Bridges and Joan Allen.

Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) - IMDb Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) - IMDb

Twenty-one of the cars were borrowed from members of the Tucker Automobile Club of America and were extensively used as both "set dressing" and in starring roles.Three cars were used to film the crash scene, a "before" version, with a fiberglass body, the car used to do the actual rollover was a Studebaker modified to look like a Tucker (this car is currently in a privately owned museum in Tallahassee, Florida), and an "after crash" version which was another fiberglass body fitted to a Ford LTD chassis. Many of Tucker's innovations—aerodynamic styling, padded dash, pop-out windows, seatbelts, fuel injection, and disc brakes—were gradually adopted by larger automakers and are found in most modern cars. Coppola included the involvement of Preston Tucker's children, grandchildren and members of the Tucker Estate during the development of Tucker in the late 1970s, as well as during filming in 1987. My friend Paolo Tumminelli teaches about car design [at the University of Cologne] and has owned spectacular cars and driven some amazing things.

Man and His Cars: The Authorized Biography Colin Chapman: The Man and His Cars: The Authorized Biography

I wanted to shoot everything on a black background, like the watches, and so I created a mobile set. Prior to final editing, the studio insisted on amplifying the title to Tucker: The Man and His Dream. Coppola's family was undergoing a stressful time during the production and he dedicated the film to Gio, his eldest son, who died before filming began.Behind the wheel of a Lotus Eleven he won the 1957 Autosport production sports car championship, almost repeating the feat the following year with one of the first Lotus Elites.