The Fabulous Tuckers

A couple of weeks ago an article came across my desk about a collection of Tucker cars in Alexandria, Virginia.  I grew up in Alexandria and was a bit surprised that I had never heard of this collection.   After reading the article, I started making some inquiries and was soon put in touch with David Cammack who is the owner of this impressive collection.  That’s Mr. Cammack in the picture above with car number 1001.   

For those who are unaware the Tucker was the dream of Preston Tucker who created 51 prototype vehicles of which only 47 remain today.  The Tucker was a revolutionary automobile for its time.  For instance, the center headlight turned with the steering wheel when making more than a 10 degree turn.  Only recently have some high end vehicles added headlights that project into turns.  

If you look at my photography you might notice that I shoot old cars whenever I get the chance.  That’s because I love cars!  I have spent my  entire adult life working in the automotive industry and my interest in cars is more than skin deep.  I love design and color, but I’m just as fascinated with the technical aspects.  I spent 3 hours with Mr. Cammack ,only about half the time taking pictures.  As he gave me the tour he kept asking if I had questions, but truthfully, I had few.  I was just trying to soak up everything he was sharing and marveled at some of the unique engineering on these vehicles. 

Photographing these cars was quite a challenge.  The cars do not move and photographically speaking I was not thrilled with the distracting backgrounds.   So I decided to turn out all the lights and shoot with flash.   This offered me a way to control the light and minimize distractions.  

If you want to learn more here is the link to the TuckerClub Website.