After World War II, the American automobile industry was reeling.
It is th.
Here, Steve Lehto tackles the story of Tucker\'s amazing rise and tragic fall, relying on a huge trove of documents that has been used by no other writer to date.
But the SEC\'s investigation had compounded the company\'s financial problems and management conflicts, and a superior product was not enough to keep Tucker\'s dream afloat.
In fact, the Tucker \'48 sedan was genuine, and everyone who saw it was impressed by what this upstart carmaker had achieved.
Headlines accused him a perpetrating a hoax and claimed that his cars weren\'t real and his factory was a sham.
An SEC commissioner with close ties to Detroit\'s Big Three automakers deliberately leaked information about an investigation the agency was conducting, suggesting that Tucker was bilking investors with a massive fraud scheme.
But as the public eagerly awaited Tucker\'s car of tomorrow, powerful forces in Washington were trying to bring him down.
With a rear engine, rear-wheel drive, a safety-glass windshielf that would pop out in case of an accident, a padded dashboard, independent suspension, and automatic transmission, it would be more attractive and aerodynamic--and safer--than any other car on the road.
Tucker\'s car would include ingenious advances in design and engineering that other car companies could not match.
Now, gathering a group of brilliant automotive designers, engineers, and promoters, he announced the creation of a revolutionary new car: the Tucker \'48, the first car in almost a decade to be built fresh from the ground up.
This salesman extraordinaire from Ypsilanti, Michigan, had built race cars before the war, and had designed prototypes for the military during it.
And then in stepped Preston Tucker.
Having spent years building tanks and airplanes for the army, the car companies would need years more to retool their production to meet the demands of the American public, for whom they had not made any cars since 1942.
After World War II, the American automobile industry was reeling
