GC24TR6 Tucker Torpedo (Traditional Cache) in Maine, United States created by Power Ranger: Mapachi

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Mapachi: This is, indeed, missing!

GC24TR6 ▼

A cache by Power Ranger: Mapachi Message this owner

Hidden : 3/31/2010

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Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Placed as part of the Central Maine Power Run by the power Rangers.
Camoed film can containing a log and a collectable pathtag for the FTF.

1948 Tucker Torpedo

I got to see one of these when I was 16 at an antique auto show at the Augusta Armory. Quite a car! I was impressed.
The 1948 Tucker Sedan or Tucker '48 Sedan (initially named the Tucker Torpedo) was an advanced automobile conceived by Preston Tucker and briefly produced in Chicago in 1948. Only 51 cars were made before the company folded on March 3, 1949, due to negative publicity initiated by the news media, a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation and a heavily publicized stock fraud trial. Speculation exists that the circumstances which brought the Tucker Corporation down were contributed to by the Big Three automakers and Michigan senator Homer Ferguson. The 1988 movie, Tucker: The Man and His Dream is based on Tucker's spirit and the saga surrounding the car's production
After WWII, the public was ready for totally new car designs, but the big three Detroit automakers had not developed any new models since 1941. This provided great opportunities for small, new automakers who could develop new cars more rapidly than the huge legacy automakers. Studebaker was first to introduce an all-new postwar model, but Tucker took a different tack, designing a safety car with innovative features and modern styling. His specifications called for an water-cooled aluminum block flat-6 rear engine, disc brakes, four-wheel independent suspension, fuel injection, the location of all instruments on the steering wheel, and a padded dashboard. Tucker's first design for the car appeared in a December 1946 Science Illustrated magazine article entitled "Torpedo on Wheels", showing a futuristic version of the car with a hydraulic drive system designed by George Lawson, along with a photo of a 1/8 scale model blown up to look full size. This was only an early rendering of the proposal, with its design features yet to make it off of the drawing board, but the article helped make the motoring public aware of the Tucker. To finish the prototype design and get construction underway, famed stylist Alex Tremulis, previously of Auburn/Cord/Duesenberg, was hired on December 24, 1946 and given just six days to finalize the design. On December 31, 1946, Tucker approved the preliminary design. Tucker's future car became known as the "Tucker Torpedo" from the first Lawson sketch, but because Tucker did not want to remind the public of the horrors of WWII, he quickly changed the name to the "Tucker '48". With Tremulis' design sketch, a full page ad was run in March 1947 in many national newspapers, proclaiming "How 15 years of testing produced the car of the year". Tucker said he had been thinking about the car for 15 years. This second ad specifically described many of the innovative features Tucker proposed for his car, many of which would not make it to the final version. This ad helped generate considerable public enthusiasm for the car, but Tucker had much work to do before a prototype was complete.
To finalize the design, Tucker hired the New York design firm J. Gordon Lippincott to create an alternate body. Only the front end and horizontal tail-light bar designs were refined for the final car. Tremulis gave the first prototype car the nickname of "Tin Goose".
Innovative design features
Many components and features of the car were innovative and far ahead of its time. The most recognizable feature of the Tucker '48, a directional third headlight, known as the "Cyclops Eye", would turn on at steering angles of greater than 10 degrees to light the car's path around corners. At the time 17 states had laws against cars having more than two headlights. Tucker fabricated a cover for the cyclops center light for use in these states.
The car was rear-engined and rear wheel drive. A perimeter frame surrounded the vehicle for crash protection, as well as a roll bar integrated into the roof. The steering box was behind the front axle to protect the driver in a front-end accident. The instrument panel and all controls were in easy reach of the steering wheel, and the dash was padded for safety. The windshield was designed to pop-out in a collision to protect occupants. The car also featured seat belts, a first in its day. The car's parking brake had a separate key so it could be locked in place to prevent theft. The doors extended into the roof, to ease entry and exit.The engine and transmission were mounted on a separate sub frame which could be lowered and removed in minutes with just six bolts removed—Tucker envisioned loaner engines being quickly swapped in for service in just 15–20 minutes.
Tucker envisioned several other innovations which were later abandoned. Magnesium wheels, disc brakes, fuel injection, self-sealing tubeless tires, and a direct-drive torque converter transmission were all evaluated and/or tested but were dropped on the final prototype due to cost, engineering complexity, and lack of time to develop.
Tucker initially tried to develop an innovative engine. It was a 589 in⊃3; flat-6 cylinder with hemispherical combustion chambers, fuel injection, and overhead valves operated by oil pressure rather than a camshaft. An oil pressure distributor was mounted inline with the ignition distributor and delivered appropriately timed direct oil pressure to open each valve at the proper interval. This unique engine was designed to idle at 100 RPM and cruise at 250-1200RPM through the use of direct drive torque converters on each driving wheel instead of a transmission. These features would have been auto industry firsts in 1948, but as engine development proceeded, problems appeared. The 589 engine was installed only in the test chassis and the first prototype.
The final car was only 70 in (1524 mm) tall, but was rather large and comfortable inside. Tremulis' design was called the most aerodynamic in the world, and though it still sported pre-war type fenders, it was startlingly modern. The mathematically-computed drag coefficient was only 0.27, although for the public this figure was rounded up to 0.30..

Congratulations to LSD! for a FTF!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

jvagre sevraqyl

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)