Tucker 48 - 1035

A photo of Tucker 1035 taken along the beach of Copacabana around 1949.

An ad for Gatamianis' Brazilian Tucker dealership from 1948. According to the ad, exclusive distributors were located in the states of São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.

Another Brazilian Tucker ad from 1948.

A third Brazilian Tucker ad from 1948.

Tucker 1035 during a trip to Europe.

The Brazilian Tucker as it sat in 2004 at the Museum of Antiquities Mechanical Paulista in Caçapava.

In 2011 the museum was donated to the municipality of Caçapava. This is how the car sat the day they removed it from the museum. Photo courtesy of Antigos Verde Amarelo.

January 19, 2011 Tucker #1035 was transported out of the museum in Caçapava. Photo courtesy of Antigos Verde Amarelo.

The Brazilian Tucker as it sat in July of 2011. Photo courtesy of Antigos Verde Amarelo.

Photo courtesy of Antigos Verde Amarelo.

Photo courtesy of Antigos Verde Amarelo.

Photo courtesy of Antigos Verde Amarelo.

Photo courtesy of Antigos Verde Amarelo.

Photo courtesy of Antigos Verde Amarelo.

Tucker 1035 was sold to Mr. Jamie Gatamianis of São Paulo, Brazil. Jamie was a Brazilian Tucker distributor, and while he owned it, he took it to Europe on a vacation.

Preston Tucker made several trips to Brazil in 1955 and 1956. He had hoped to get funding to build another car called the Tucker Carioca. Unfortunately, he died of lung cancer before the concept could be developed. In addition to this, the Brazilian government did not appear to support Preston's efforts to build a car in Brazil.Rumor has it that Preston shipped a Tucker 48 to Brazil, and that it remained in the country after he had died. Because of this rumor, many believed that Tucker 1035 was the car Preston had brought down to Brazil. Preston's son, Preston Tucker Jr., who worked with his father, could confirm that Preston never brought a second car to Brazil. The car he wanted to build in Brazil was completely different, so there was no reason for bringing a Tucker 48.

According to the family of Agop Toulekian, Agop bought the car from a dealership in São Paulo. He owned for about 20 years before selling it to Orlando Bombard. Orlando sold it to Eduardo Matarazzo shortly thereafter. Later on Roberto Lee of Caçapava bought the car from Matarazzo. Mr. Lee placed the car in his museum, the Museum of Antiquities Mechanical Paulista, with plans to eventually restore the car one day. Someone had attempted to put a front engine into the Tucker, so it was torn apart, and the steering along with other parts were pulled out of it. Unfortunately, Mr. Lee never got a chance to restore the car as he was killed in a lover's quarrel in 1975. As the museum was tied up in a legal wrangling for about 30 years, the status of the car was unknown for a long period. The Tucker Automobile Club of America received information about the car being sold and shipped out of the country, but they were unable to confirm the rumor. Since it was against Brazilian law to export the car out of the country, some claimed it was still there, while other claimed that it had been shipped to France and Spain. According to a story written by vnews January 21, 2009, the Tucker was still located in the museum. The story also said that the condition of the cars located inside the museum was very bad due to a damaged roof. This turned out to be true. In 2011 the museum was donated to the municipality of Caçapava. January 19, 2011 Tucker #1035 was transported out of the museum together with the rest of the cars. They were all cleaned up and displayed at a temporarily location. The plan for the Tucker is to restore it back to how it looked when it left the Tucker plant, and then return it to the museum. The museum will also be restored.