The 405 Aired Sept 25th, 2025

Preston Tucker and his amazing 1948 Tucker Tornado automobile
Part II

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Episode Transcript

OK Solberg (00:00):
Wanna again welcome you to The 405 Coffee Break.
Beautiful day. Get you a cup ofcoffee, glass iced tea, or
bottle of water. Let's seewhat's happening. Spring wheat
$5.13 a bushel.
550lb steer calf. Sit down.$4.35 a pound. Orvin's about to
eat crow. Remember? I told youthey won't be this high come

(00:24):
Halloween. Well, it isn'tHalloween, but I'm already
getting my palate ready to eatcrow. I am happy they're so
high. Never saw it coming in ahundred years. Butcher hog in
Iowa, 61¢ a pound, and a 100pound fat lamb in Billings, $2
and 4 pennies. But, guys,there's more, much more.

(00:46):
Okay. Jay, Jay, are youlistening? Preston Tucker again
today. But if you see FrankMorin downtown, tell him thanks,
because they're having KMMRauction.
I had to leave today out oftown, but Frank opened up and
helped let me record early thismorning. So our hats are off to
Frank. Okay. Today, again, wetalk about Preston Tucker, the

(01:11):
designer and builder of the 1948Tucker Tornado automobile. You
remember, the one with theheadlight in the center of the
grille that turned with thesteering wheel so you could see
around that corner.
If you listened yesterday, youknow that there were 51 cars

(01:34):
produced, and 47 of them stillexist today. Yes. They do. Many
are in museums, and we can allvisit and enjoy this wonderful
piece of history. Okay.
To set the stage, I have a bibleverse from James 1:2 Count it

(01:54):
all joy, my brothers, when youmeet trials of various kinds,
for you know that the testing ofyour faith produces
perseverance. Well, let me tellyou, Preston Tucker met trial
after trial after trial. He tooka licking and kept on ticking.

(02:15):
Listen to one of the dozens ofsetbacks he had.
Tucker couldn't find an enginecompact enough for his rear
engine design. So what did hedo? Give up? No. He bought a
company that made helicopterengines and had his engineers
adapt them for the car.

(02:36):
One engineer warned, you knowthis engine is meant to run-in
the air, not on pavement. Tuckersmiled, that's fine. That's
fine. The car is gonna fly offthe shelves. Setbacks kept kept
coming his way.

(02:57):
During early testing, one of theprototype Tucker 48s caught
fire. Tucker, ever the showman,ran into the smoke with a fire
extinguisher, put out the firehimself, and then asked
photographers to wait until hecombed his hair before taking
pictures. A young teenage boyworked in Tucker's shop. And you

(03:23):
know what he did? He took aTucker 48 out for a spin during
a lunch break withoutpermission.
You know, all us boys would havedone that. Well, he lost
control, smashed it into aloading dock. What happened?
Rather than fire him, Tuckerasked, Now. Did you learn

(03:45):
anything?
When the boy nervously said yes,Tucker told him good. Good. Then
it wasn't a waste. My kind ofguy. Tucker, unusual for the
time, hired female engineers anddesigners.
He hired ladies, including somefrom the aircraft industry. One

(04:10):
female worked on the torsion barsuspension system. When asked by
a reporter, Tucker said, hey, ifshe's smart enough to build a
plane, she's smart enough tobuild a car. Those ladies had
been helping win the war,working in factories. Why not
work in a car factory?

(04:32):
And did you know, rumor has it,that a movie star named Howard
Hughes, who also had a love forengineering called Tucker, to
praise the car's design. Tuckertold the press, when Hughes says
you got something wild, it mustbe really wild. So here's to
Preston Tucker, a man with adream and a man who designed and

(04:55):
built 51 1948 Tuckerautomobiles, of which 47 of
those cars still exist today.And you and I can both see them
in a number of museums acrossthe land. I hope you guys also
watch the movie that was madeabout Preston Tucker.
And the the movie was made in1988 titled Tucker the Man in

(05:19):
His Dream. Who was it starring?Starring Jeff Bridges. Yes,
sir-eee-bob. The Dude playedPreston Tucker.
The dude abides. So until nexttime, as you go out there,
remember now, don't be bitter.