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#17
02-25-2008, 06:41 PM
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Brazilian President Getulio Vargas ( 1930/1945 and 1951/1954 ) wanted Preston Tucker to open a factory here in Brazil. Negotiations with Preston Tucker began as early as 1951, when President Vargas returned to power. Tucker embraced the idea with enthusiasm, and came to Brazil several times. He even projected a car to be made here, the car was named "Carioca" ( "Carioca" is how the natives of the city of Rio de Janeiro are called ). No prototype of this car was ever built, only drawings exist, but it was to be very similar to the Tucker Torpedo. Unfortunately, the deaths of both President Vargas ( in 1954 ) and Preston Tucker ( in 1955 or 56, now I am not certain of the date ) aborted the project. Tucker was still making negotiations to open the factory here when he died - he smoked waaayyy to much cigarrettes, and died of lung cancer. What a waste.
In reality, two Tuckers exist here in Brazil. One is ( luckily!!! ) in the hands of a private collector, and the other one is that poor unfortunate abandoned in that "museum" . One of those two was somehow "introduced" to George Lucas: when the movie was released many years ago, a parade of vintage cars was made in the city of São Paulo as part of the maketing of the movie. The Tucker was leading that parade. This event was videotaped and the tape sent to George Lucas. He really enjoyed the whole thing. A friend of mine, who worked as a Lucasfilm representative here in Brazil told me this story. 
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#18
02-27-2008, 02:51 AM
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Wow. That Tucker is sorely missed back here in the U.S.! Too bad about the Studebaker and Caddy as well. Collectors pay dearly for cars in much worse shape! As someone who frequently rides in a Prius, I'd personally like to see these cars saved, or even made roadworthy again!
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#19
03-01-2008, 10:41 PM
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I was also gonna say something about that Tucker. Only 51 ever made, unbelievable that one is simply sitting there literally collecting dust instead of being restored and put on proper display as it deserves.
__________________
Random bits of stuff in the collection: Yamaha YP-D4 turntable with B&O MMC 10E cart Allied 495 receiver 2 Magnavox amps, AMP150 and an AMP178, currently under the knife. Onkyo TX-4500 Onkyo Radian III speakers
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#20
03-02-2008, 07:52 PM
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Selling one or two of those cars would pay for a lot of museum upgrades!
__________________
From Captain Video, 1/4/2007 "It seems that Italian people are very prone to preserve antique stuff."
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#21
03-02-2008, 08:08 PM
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Y'know, Cap'n, maybe YOU oughta take it on yrself as the champion of getting those cars redone..They may not really "belong" to anybody, or are awaiting the "bug" getting put in someone's ear who COULD get it done...Just a thought.
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Benevolent Despot
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#22
03-03-2008, 03:18 AM
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I wish I had that power...
I live very far from that museum. Something like a 1000 kilometers in a three-state trip. If it were in my power to do something about it, I would have done, already. People in the vintage car community are already putting out the world that such situation is a shame. I hope they have success in their efforts. One thing that CAN be done is for some very generous and wealthy individual ( or corporation ) to pay for the restoration of those cars, but with them still belonging to the museum ( since the authorities stubbornly keeps refusing to sell them ). It's not very likely that such a thing might occur easily ( given the possessive nature of human beings, the people who can do that wants to actually OWN the cars ), but it's not impossible: some years ago, Mercedes Benz, and other corporations ( I think ) actually paid the whole restoration of an ultra-rare 1908 German "Protos" automobile ( only two known to exist in the world, one in Europe and the other one here in Brazil ). This car is ( since 1926! ) part of the itens belonging to the National Museum, in Rio de Janeiro. The reason: it was the official car used by the "Baron of Rio Branco", the head of the Brazilian foreign policy in the 19th century and early 20th century, a man who managed to acquire to Brazil some vast portions of land. After the Baron's death, in 1912, the car had other not-so-noble uses, until someone had the excellent idea to transfer it to the National Museum in 1926 - still, the car spent almost a century literally rotting while in public display ( I know this, because when I was a kid I lived in Rio de Janeiro, and saw that car quite often, we could even touch it freely ); it was in a pretty bad shape. Public museums budgets are usually really tight here, if they haven't been succesful on obtaining the partnership with Mercedes Benz, the car might still be rotting. On a bizarre note, in another state, last month, a traditional family donated their vintage automobile, that they had since new, to a museum in charge of a catholic order. It would not be so bizarre, if the car in question were not a French Panhard manufactured in 1895! Believe it or not, one of their ancestors brought this car to Brazil in 1900, and they kept the car in their possesion ever since. The same car, with the same family, for 107 years! I think it probably should go to the Guinness Book. And, they took great care, the car is in EXCELLENT shape. It was not the first car to be brought to Brazil ( the first was in 1893 ), but it is the oldest known survivor of the first generation of automibiles that traveled through this land. It was already cover of a magazine in 1962 as "the oldest car in Brazil" .
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#23
03-04-2008, 07:14 AM
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What will happen to them? Well, we all know what will happen to the vast majority of Man's fruits of the Industrial Revolution: it will all, outside of a couple of artifacts residing in some cosmic "museum" eons later, revert to Dust...
That's ok. We had fun with them while we were on this Earth... LJB  Now, about that DuMont...
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#24
03-04-2008, 11:26 AM
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Something that I think will be common someday: Museums of the 20th Century. Perhaps every major city will have one. They could each have a display ranging from Victrola to plasma screen. But that will only use a limited volume of old sets. A long time from now, when every one of us is gone, maybe nobody will care about the cathode ray tube. Then again, perhaps they will be fascinated by it. Time (a whole bunch of it) will tell.
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Bryan
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#25
05-17-2008, 08:00 PM
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Quote:
I showed up one afternoon and Rick gave a several-hour guided tour. I've got a few items I plan to get to him eventually. He's also got a semi-working mech TV, if anyone can help him out.
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#26
05-17-2008, 08:25 PM
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I just wrote to Rick to offer our services in getting his mechanical set working. We have a number of them that display pictures.
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