THE INDOMITABLE TIN GOOSE

Subtitled The True Story of Preston Tucker and His Car, this book, by a close friend of Tucker attempts to make clear that Tucker was not a confidence man bent on swindling the public and that the car he developed in 1948 was basically sound and years ahead of its time in design. Tucker's car, the Tin Goose, has many of the features of today's new cars: rear engine, individual suspension, air-cooling, swivel seats, torsion springing, etc. But Tucker had constant engineering and production problems which were compounded when, in 1950, he was indicated by a Chicago grand jury based on an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Tucker was acquitted but, by then, his company which had always operated rather precariously was bankrupt. Tucker died of cancer in 1956. The author concedes that the first Tucker models are obsolete now but he believes that a new design could be built under the original Tucker plan.