Mystery Foto #45 Solved: Jeff Bridges and Members of the Tucker Automobile Club in 1987
Gene Kennedy challenged you to identify this special Tucker gathering.
Ansers to the Mystery Foto questions:
- What did most of the people in the photo have in common?
With the exception of actor Jeff Bridges (#18), the people in the photo were members of the Tucker Automobile Club of America.
- Why did this group get together?
The group was invited to the movie set to watch the filming of the 1988 film "Tucker: A Man and His Dream". Several members provided their Tuckers as part of the filming. Overall, 22 Tuckers appeared in the film, along with several cardboard cut-outs (seen in the top left corner of the Mystery Foto) and several mock-ups used in the crash scenes.
- When and where was this photo taken?
The photo was taken in 1987 in an abandoned Ford factory plant in Richmond, California.
- Identify the two people in front of the Tucker.
Jeff Bridges (#18) and Ruth Burton (#17)
- Kudos question: Name the other people in the photo.
As provided by Ken Northcraft, the members of the Tucker Automobile Club were identified in a 1980s' issue of Tucker Topics, the official publication of the Tucker Automobile Club of America.
Comments (8)
Congrats to Sal Grenci, John Cunningham, Steve Busch, Steve Lucas, Ken Northcraft, Martyn Donaldson and Rob Ida for identifying members of the Tucker Automobile Club with Jeff Bridges.
Kudos to Ken Northcraft for identfying all 18 people in the Mystery Foto.
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Close-Ups
Tucker Topics article. Submitted by Ken Northcraft.
Note: Richard Jones' Tucker 1022 is featured in the photo. All the Tuckers in the upper left corner were cardboard cutoffs.
Tucker Topics article. Submitted by Ken Northcraft.
Tucker Topics article. Submitted by Ken Northcraft.
Photo was taken by Ralph Nelson Jr. of Lucasfilm,Ltd.
Ken Northcraft in front of Tucker 1022 that was featured in the Mystery Foto. Tucker 1022 is part of the Cammack Collection at the AACA Mseum in Hershey, Pennyslvania.
New York Times, August 31, 1988. The photo was used in this article to promote the film.
Which set of wheels do you prefer for Tucker 1044: whitewalls or blackwalls?
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Blackwalls (Factory-Correct, circa 1948)
43.97%
-
Whitewalls (Concours formal)
42.91%
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Both look great
11.70%
-
No opinion
1.42%
Total Votes: 282
Comments
Tucker movie photo taken in California Jeff Bridges as Preston Tucker
What did most of the people in the photo have in common?
They all worked for Preston Tucker
Why did this group get together?
Filming the movie, Tucker: The Man and His Dream
When and where was this photo taken?
1987 at the Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant in Richmond, California (used as stand in for Chicago Dodge)
Identify the two people in front of the Tucker.
Jeff Bridges and Preston Tucker Jr
That brings back memories, Bev and Dorthy were great , Richard Jones, John and Jane, Gene Cofer and his wife, Jay . Had many great Tucker talks with all the folks pictured. They were all lucky to have their cars in the movie and also be extras in many of the scenes
Since I don’t really have a clue for most of the questions, I’m going with some wild guesses. Most of the people in the photo could be actual owners of the Tuckers used in the filming of “Tucker: A Man and His Dream”. The group could be celebrating the completion or premier of the film. It was probably taken in 1988, maybe on the set of the Tucker factory. The two people in the front are Jeff Bridges and possibly a son of Preston Tucker, either Preston Jr., John, or Noble. As to the rest of the people, good luck with that.
Mystery Foto #45… Here are my guesses since my research came up empty. Most of the people in this photo are Tucker owners. They gathered for the 30th anniversary of the Tucker movie. Photo taken in August of this year ... at Pebble Beach??? The two people in the front of the car are actors Jeff Bridges and Joan Allen. I believe that Martin Landau is also in the photo behind Joan Allen.
Martyn Donaldson
I’ll have to look through the Tucker Topics newsletters from the late ‘80s to refresh my memory on the identities of all the fine people in the photo, but I can place a few. 8 and 9 are Curtis Foester and his wife, 7 may be Steve Nicas (#1017), but I’m not 100% sure on that. I think the Burtons and Russ Brownell (former Tucker employee) are in the pic too, but will have to check to be certain. Many other Tucker people were on set that are not featured in the photo, including Phil Egan, one of the original designers and a technical consultant on the movie.
Rob Ida
Several people that I can identify:
-This is my good friend Carlo “Chick” Delorenzo who passed appx ten years ago. He was the owner of #51. If not for Chick I never would have been able to do many of the Tucker related projects early on. He was a great guy and a great friend.
-Richard Jones, he buried the burned up Tucker in his back yard
-Bev Ferrara, probably logged in more miles on a Tucker than anyone.
This mystery was out of my scope. I was unable to identify Jeff Bridges and Preston look-a-like. Further complicating, Preston sitting next to his younger (older) son. Impossible to solve. You got me this time Howard.
Sorry Gene, YOU got me this time!
Howard,
Jeff Bridges was a member of the International Association of Panoramic Photographers. He had a Widelux swing lens panoramic camera and took photos on the sets of the movies he was in. He would then have books made of the photos and give them to people involved with the films.
Do you know if he did this for the Tucker film? If so, have you come across any of these photos?
Regards,
Bob L
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Howard Kroplick
Bob, Jeff Bridges did take photos on the Tucker set:
https://www.usatoday.com/media/cinematic/gallery/1074957002/jeff-bridges-exclusive-photos-from-the-set-of-tucker-30-years-ago/