Rob Ida Concepts' Tucker Torpedo

A photo of Preston Tucker holding an early concept drawing of the Tucker Torpedo. This photo was dated February 12, 1946.

This article about the Tucker Torpedo was published in Science Illustrated December 1946.

The December 1946 version of the Tucker Torpedo was designed by George Lawson.

The wooden station buck that Rob Ida Concepts constructed so they could build the Torpedo using old coach building techniques and tools. Photo courtesy of Rob Ida Concepts.

In September of 2013 the guys at Rob Ida Concepts began fabricating the body for the new Tucker Torepedo. They started up front with the hood. Photo courtesy of Rob Ida Concepts.

Progress. Photo taken October 8, 2013. Photo courtesy of Rob Ida Concepts.

Rob Ida and Sean Tucker working on the new Torpedo. Photo courtesy of Rob Ida Concepts.

By November of 2013 the guys at Rob Ida Concepts had started working on the roof sections on the car. Photo courtesy of Rob Ida Concepts.

Photo courtesy of Rob Ida Concepts.

Photo courtesy of Rob Ida Concepts.

Generating some shape in aluminum for the fastback and continuing the dorsal fin. Photo courtesy of Rob Ida Concepts.

Reverse curves on the top of the rear fenders. Photo courtesy of Rob Ida Concepts.

Photo courtesy of Rob Ida Concepts.

November 27, 2013 work was started on the first rear fender. Photo courtesy of Rob Ida Concepts.

December 4, 2013 the lower and front parts of the rear fenders were shaped. Rob decided to go for the shape seen on George Lawson's model as opposed to his renderings for the front shape on the rear fender. Photo courtesy of Rob Ida Concepts.

October 5, 2017 the in-progress Tucker Torpedo was unveiled for the public at the "Night At The Museum" event at the AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Photo courtesy of Rob Ida.

The Tucker Torpedo was Preston Tucker's first concept for a Tucker Automobile. It was designed by George Lawson in 1946. Except for a small scale model, the Tucker Torpedo was never built. The final design for the automobile changed several times before it went into production as the Tucker 48. The Tucker 48 is a direct descendant of George Lawson's final variation of the Tucker Torpedo design. Alex Tremulis took Lawson's design further, before a five man team from J. Gordon Lippincott and Associates completed it. The team consisted of Hal Bergstrom, Read Viemeister, Budd Steinhilber, Tucker Madawick, and Phil Egan. The Lippincott team's design was the design chosen for production.

After building several fiberglass and steel Tucker 48's known as the New Tucker 48, Rob Ida Concepts and Ida Automotive began working on an aluminum version of George Lawson's Tucker Torpedo around 2009. Rob Ida's Torpedo will be built using old coach building techniques and tools. A wooden buck was made by scanning the model that George Lawson built on his kitchen table back in 1946. George's original model is on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum. It was scanned, and the dimensions were converted to full scale before the shapes were CAD drawn and CNC cut. The individual pieces were assembled into a full scale model used to shape the metal panels on.

In September of 2013 the guys at Rob Ida Concepts began fabricating the body for the new Tucker Torepedo. They started up front with the hood before they went on to the roof and rear section.