Tucker or Porsche

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Mark Todorovich
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Tucker or Porsche

#1 Post by Mark Todorovich »

I was at Hymen Ltd in St Louis looking at a car for sale for a friend. Look what I saw across the garage floor. An old horizontally opposed flat six engine. It sure wasn't from Porsche but I think they had lots of influence in the design.
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Ron LaDow
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Re: Tucker or Porsche

#2 Post by Ron LaDow »

Mark, I thought Tucker used an aircraft engine.
Oops, I'll be back in a minute; Bing calls!

"The company first tried the Lycoming aircraft engine, but it would not fit in the car's rear engine compartment.
An air-cooled flat-6 engine, the O-335 made by Air Cooled Motors (and originally intended for the Bell 47),[21] fit, and its 166 hp (124 kW; 168 PS) pleased Tucker. He purchased four samples for $5,000 each, and his engineers converted the 334 cubic inches (5,470 cc) engine to water cooling (a decision that has puzzled historians ever since).[21] The Franklin engine was heavily modified by Tucker's engineers, including Eddie Offutt and Tucker's son Preston, Jr. at his Ypsilanti machine shop. Using an aircraft engine in an automotive application required significant modification; thus, very few parts of the original Franklin engine were retained in the final Tucker engine. This durable modification of the engine was tested at maximum power for 150 hours, the equivalent of 18,000 miles (29,000 km), at full throttle.[22]

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There's more; the original plan was pretty radical, but never made it into metal.
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Martin Benade
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Re: Tucker or Porsche

#3 Post by Martin Benade »

I was expecting it to be a Tatra until I saw the valve covers. I once read an online post in very broken English explaining how all of Dr Porsche's designs were stolen from the Tatra designer Ledwinka, and that Porsche owners were "soar loosers" who wouldn't admit it.
Cleveland Ohio
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Jay Wiener
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Re: Tucker or Porsche

#4 Post by Jay Wiener »

Tatra was usually a 8 cylinder air cooled. I own a 603 Tatra

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Greg Bryan
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Re: Tucker or Porsche

#5 Post by Greg Bryan »

Looks even more like a Corvair motor influence
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Pat Daily
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Re: Tucker or Porsche

#6 Post by Pat Daily »

The earlier Tatras (1930s) that I have seen had flat 4s. I rode in on in Prague.
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Dennis ODonnell
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Re: Tucker or Porsche

#7 Post by Dennis ODonnell »

"...stolen from the Tatra designer Ledwinka."

But Ledwinka stole the wheel concept from Fred Flintstone.

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Greg Bryan
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Re: Tucker or Porsche

#8 Post by Greg Bryan »

Story on the internet today - 'new' Tucker motor sold for $35,000
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