The World’s Biggest Collection of Tucker Cars and Memorabilia
By Tom Catuosco
We write a lot of car related articles for this blog - not only because our website advertises cars for sale, but also because my co-founder, Paul, and I both love cars. It was with great pleasure that we recently attended the grand opening of the Cammack Tucker Collection at the AACA Museum in Hershey, PA. The museum’s Cammack Gallery houses the world’s largest single collection of “Tucker 48” cars and related items. For anyone interested in cars, and the Tucker in particular, it is really something amazing to see.
For those of you who haven’t heard of the Tucker 48, here’s a very brief history: The Tucker 48 was conceived by Preston Tucker as a car that would be the safest and most advanced car on the market after World War 2. He planned innovations and safety features such as disk brakes, pop-out safety glass, seat belts, an automatic transmission, a rear engine, a centrally mounted 3rd headlight that turned with the steering wheel to eliminate blind spots when turning at night, and other innovative ideas.
Preston Tucker was a brilliant promoter and the Tucker Corporation raised millions of dollars selling stock, dealer franchises, and accessories before the car was actually ready for sale. Many believe that the established “Big Three” automakers felt threatened by Preston Tucker’s innovative car and worked with the media and federal government to destroy him. Tucker and 7 associates were put on trial for securities fraud. They were all acquitted. Unfortunately, the negative publicity from the trial and other issues destroyed Tucker’s company. Only 1 prototype and 50 early production cars were made before the factory closed. A 51st car was partially completed and finished afterwards. Of these cars, 47 still survive.
David Cammack was a long time collector of Tuckers and related items. He amassed the largest collection of Tucker cars and items in the world and happily shared his collection and Tucker knowledge with visitors at his private museum in Alexandria, VA.
Here’s a really cool video of David Cammack himself discussing the Tucker and his collection.
Mr. Cammack passed away in April, 2013. Prior to his passing, he made sure his amazing collection wouldn’t be broken up. He pledged the entire collection to the AACA Museum in Hershey, PA where it would go upon his death and remain on permanent exhibit. The museum spent a great deal of time preparing the gallery before allowing the public to view the collection at its grand opening on October 8th, 2014.
Cars in the Cammack Collection include 3 “Tucker 48” sedans:
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# 1022 - Mr. Cammack’s first Tucker. Purchased in 1972. |
| # 1001 - This is the first “production” Tucker, and the second car obtained by Mr. Cammack. |
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# 1026 - One of only two Tuckers produced with an automatic transmission. The other automatic equipped Tucker doesn't survive any longer, but the transmission from that car is in Mr. Cammack’s collection. |
In addition to the three Tucker 48 cars, David Cammack’s collection includes:
The grand opening night of the Cammack Gallery was a great event. People from all over the country attended, including members of Preston Tucker’s family. The collection is really incredible to see in person and we had a great time at the event. It was a treat to spend time chatting with Mike and Sean Tucker, Preston Tucker’s great-grandsons, who were very cool. We also would like to make special mention of Stephen Backus, a Tucker enthusiast from Maryland who had the privilege of visiting David Cammack’s collection many times in Virginia. Stephen has an encyclopedic knowledge of Tucker history and was our unofficial tour guide for much of the evening.
If you’re ever in the Hershey, PA area you should definitely check out the AACA Museum, not only for its Tucker collection, but also for its many other great automotive exhibits.