The Tucker 48, or as most people know it, the Torpedo, is not only one of the most important cars of its era but, no thanks to a bunch of false allegations of fraud that forced Preston Tucker to shut down the company’s operations on March 3, 1949, also one the rarest production cars in the world. In all –including the prototype, just 51 examples of the Torpedo were made.
According to a little research we conducted, we discovered that the specific Torpedo that’s for sale on eBay (starting price: $ 166,766) is the only one fitted with a front mounted engine as it used a Oldsmobile drivetrain & chassis put in by the original owner Nick Jenin in Florida. In 1962, the car was sold to its second owner, John Janecek of Springfield, OR who in 1964 replaced the Oldsmobile chasis & drivetrain with a Mercury Monterey Parklane chassis and drivetrain. We remind you that the original Torpedo that featured a rear-engine, rear-wheel drive layout, was equipped with a horizontally opposed 6-cylinder engine producing 166 bhp. -Continued after the jump
