It All Looks Good on Paper
The original plan for the car called for it to be equipped with a fuel injected 589 cubic inch engine, coupled directly to the rear wheels via a pair of torque converters, one on each side of the engine. The engine would operate at very low RPMs because of this, and was to be equipped with a hydraulic valve actuating system. This would eliminate the need for a crankshaft and offer some of the advantages of a variable valve system, such as is found on modern high performance cars. Tucker estimated that by ditching the transmission and drive shaft, they could save some 600-800 lbs of weight, and the aluminum block would save an additional 400 lbs or so. Cost savings were to be had, because the car would need far fewer parts, than a conventional automobile.
It all looked good on paper, but when it came time to building the engine, they had a number of problems. Fuel injection, which had been used on race cars for some time now, proved to be difficult to get working on the new engine. There was also the problem of getting the proper tolerances in the manufacture of the engine block. No one had yet been able to machine aluminum with those kind of tolerances, but if the engine was going to work, it had to be put together with greater precision than a fine Swiss watch. Even the hydraulic valve actuating system proved troublesome. They could get it working for a while, then air would get into the lines, and the engine would have it's timing thrown off. There was some debate within the company as to whether or not they'd actually get the engine running or not.
As far as building the body, things weren't much better. Tucker had some of the finest metal workers in the business, but without a final design, they could only do so much. Today, it doesn't seem to be much of a challenge to pound out a car body. Certainly some of the “reality” shows on the TV give the impression that a car can be built in a week, but the reality is far different. When you're starting from scratch, its much more difficult, add to that the fact that Tucker hadn't settled on the appearance of the car yet, and it makes it almost impossible to get anything done.
In his book, Design and Destiny, Phil Egan describes working in the design department, and the body knockers constantly coming over to check the progress of the clay model, then heading back to their area to pound the changes into the steel body. (He described the noise as being incredible. This will be of importance, later on.) Of course, some time later Tucker would come by, look at the model, and request changes, so the body knockers would have to scrap everything they'd done and start all over. The “Tin Goose” as the prototype had begun to be called, was based on an Oldsmobile frame, since Alex felt that it was the strongest frame available. The Tin Goose would need the strength too, since with all the changes, the car was massively heavy.
