Document Type

Article

Publication Version

Version of Record

Publication Date

Fall 2008

Keywords

economic history, entrepreneurship, business economics

Abstract

The mystery surrounding the rise and fall of the Tucker automobile company remains a fascinating piece of U.S. automotive history for both historians and economists. Francis Ford Coppola’s 1988 movie Tucker: The Man and His Dream brought to life the difficulties Preston Tucker faced as he tried to start producing a car years ahead of its time. The movie is captivating because it attributes the collapse of the Tucker Corporation to public choice theory. Despite the movie’s portrayal of an alliance between the automobile industry and the S.E.C. to bring down the Tucker Company, historians have found no evidence of a conspiracy. Rather, the collapse of the Tucker Corporation can be attributed to two problems. First, lack of financial planning and refusal to utilize conventional loans scared away venture capital. Second, the S.E.C.’s determination that preselling car features was illegal left the Tucker Corporation financially bankrupt.

Publication Title

The Journal of Private Enterprise

Volume

24

Issue

1

First Page

175

Last Page

180

Pages

6

Format

application/pdf

Language

en

Publisher

The Association of Private Enterprise Education

Rights

Copyright © 2008 George Langelett

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License

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