Tucker 48 Auction Result: Black No. 1021 Sells for $1.87 Million, and Where to See a Tucker Today

Tucker 48 Auction Result: No. 1021 Hammers at $1.7 Million

Tucker auctions don’t come around often, and when this one did, it delivered. On Saturday, January 13, 2024, 1948 Tucker 48 serial No. 1021 crossed the block at Mecum Kissimmee as Mecum lot S194 and sold for a $1.7 million hammer price, $1,870,000 once the buyer’s premium was added. That landed it inside Mecum’s pre-sale estimate of $1.7 million to $1.9 million. The buyer turned out to be the Martin Auto Museum and Event Center in Glendale, Arizona, which put the car on a turntable at the front of its collection.

What made No. 1021 special even among Tuckers? Color, originality and a famous film. It is one of only four Tuckers finished in Black, the rarest production color, it still had its original floors and body panels, and it played a part in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1988 movie.

Tucker No. 1021 by the Numbers

Here is what Mecum’s catalog and the factory records it cited say about this exact car:

• Serial number: 1021 (the 21st of the 51 Tuckers), body No. 1023
• Completed: August 29, 1948, at Tucker’s Chicago plant
• Color: Black (paint code 100) over a beige interior, one of four Black cars
• Engine: No. 33591, the original. A 335-cubic-inch horizontally opposed six mounted in the rear, rated at 166 hp and 372 lb-ft
• Transmission: Tucker Y-1 four-speed pre-selector, the strengthened Cord-based unit
• Suspension: converted to coil springs in the late 1960s
• Odometer at sale: 35,576 miles shown
• Recent service: fluids, new battery and water pump, rebuilt original distributor

One note on that engine. Mecum’s listing describes it as air-cooled, and the Franklin O-335 it was based on was an air-cooled aircraft and helicopter engine. Tucker’s engineers converted it to water cooling for the car, which is how The Henry Ford’s specification sheet lists it. The whole engine and transmission sit on a separate subframe held by six bolts, so the drivetrain can be dropped out in minutes. Tucker imagined dealers swapping in a loaner engine during service.

Three Owners in 75 Years

No. 1021 has an unusually short chain of ownership. The Tucker Corporation sold it on February 16, 1949 to Charles DeCosta, a California Tucker dealer who loved the car and kept it until May 1967. He sold it to another California enthusiast, Gene Clark, an active member of the Tucker Automobile Club of America, who kept it roadworthy until failing health intervened in 2021. After Clark’s passing, the car was bought in 2023 by Mark Liebermann, senior director of the Tucker Automobile Club and a noted Tucker historian, who brought it to Kissimmee. The museum in Glendale became its fourth home.

The Hollywood Connection

Before filming Tucker: The Man and His Dream, No. 1021 got its one repaint and new upholstery so it would look right on camera. The original black paint can still be seen in the door jambs. The sale also included a copy of the original Tucker Corp. bill of sale, the letter in which the first owner offered the car to the second, copies of factory build records and other Tucker paperwork. For a car whose maker was put on trial over his promises, that paper trail matters.

How $1.87 Million Compares With Other Tucker Sales

Public Tucker sales are rare enough that each one gets remembered. Here’s where No. 1021 sits next to some well-documented results:

• No. 1043: $2,915,000 at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale, January 2012, still regarded as the top public Tucker sale
• No. 1003: $2,035,000 at Gooding & Company Pebble Beach, 2014
• No. 1021 (this car): $1,870,000 at Mecum Kissimmee, January 2024
• No. 1029, Preston Tucker’s personal car: about $1.8 million at RM Sotheby’s Arizona, 2018
• No. 1014, Francis Ford Coppola’s own car: $1,545,000 at Gooding Christie’s Pebble Beach, August 2025
• No. 1045: $1,127,500 at RM Auctions Monterey, August 2010

The takeaway: Tuckers have been a seven-figure car for more than 15 years, and the spread between $1.5 million and $3 million comes down to condition, originality and story. No. 1021 had the rarest color, its original engine and a movie credit, but it was not a fresh concours restoration, and the price reflects that balance.

Where to See a Tucker 48 in Person

You don’t need $1.87 million to see a Tucker. Many survivors live in museums. These locations come from the chassis-by-chassis registry kept by Tucker enthusiasts and compiled on Wikipedia. Displays rotate, so check with the museum before you make the trip:

• AACA Museum, Hershey, Pennsylvania: the Cammack Tucker Collection, including Nos. 1001, 1022 and 1026, the only complete Tucker with a Tuckermatic transmission
• Swigart Museum, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania: the “Tin Goose” prototype and No. 1013
• The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan: No. 1016
• Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C.: No. 1039
• Petersen Automotive Museum, Los Angeles: No. 1030, an Indianapolis test car Preston Tucker also drove
• National Automobile Museum, Reno, Nevada: No. 1032
• Gilmore Car Museum, Hickory Corners, Michigan: No. 1047
• Maine Classic Car Museum, Arundel, Maine: No. 1028
• Francis Ford Coppola Winery, Geyserville, California: No. 1037
• Martin Auto Museum, Glendale, Arizona: No. 1021, the car in this story
• Toyota Automobile Museum, Nagakute, Japan: No. 1004

For the history side of the story, see how Preston Tucker built the Tucker 48 and why only 51 were made.

Photos: Mecum Auctions. Sources: Mecum lot S194 catalog; CLASSIC.COM result; Vanderbilt Cup Races blog; Tucker 48 chassis registry.

Note To Reader: Car Nut Chronicles is reader supported. We may post content which contains links to affiliate sites such as Amazon where we may earn a small commission. This helps us keep the lights on and the articles you enjoy being produced. Thank you for your readership, we appreciate you!