I was cleaning out my Tucker Tribune in-box and came across these photos of Joe Merola's No. 12 Tucker "stock car," recently submitted by blog viewer Tom Merola. Feel free to comment on this post if you know anything about these photos. Thanks, Tom, for allowing me to share these!
(Post credit: Kit Fox; photo credits: Tom Merola)
This is an interesting story about how cooperative people can be when it comes to tracking down Tucker history.
ReplyDeleteAbout eight months prior to the July 2011 surfacing of the photo with “Joe Nagel Auto Sales” actually painted on the vehicle, I did quite a bit of investigative work to find out what dealership owned/sponsored/raced the car.
In Dec 2010, after “Google-ing” long-standing dealers in the Mt. Oliver area, I came across Beckman Motor Company (est. 1914) – a family owned/operated dealer at 110 Penn Avenue in the Mt. Oliver section of Pittsburgh. I reached out to Dee, the granddaughter of the original owner.
I figured she might know some people who may have heard stories of a competing area dealer in the area who raced a Tucker in the 1950s.
Being a very patient and kind lady, Dee showed the original photo we had (the top photo in this post, the one without the dealer name painted…the same photo which surfaced on the Hemmings blog in 2008) around to some neighborhood folks to help me out.
Below is the response I got on 12/13/2010:
“Natalie, I thought I would pass the picture around a little (sparks a little something in the depth of our memories). There was a used car dealership at 12 Charles Street, Mt Oliver, PA. They sold Kharmin Ghias. They had a Henry J on the roof of the building. It could be seen from Brownsville Road. The name of the dealership was Joe Nagel Auto Sales. The owner is long deceased, but if you Google ‘Joe Nagel auto sales’ you may get a lead.
Good luck, hopefully this has helped a little...if you have time let me know how you progress Happy Holidays and Happy Hunting. Dee.
P.S. Mr. Nagel supposedly owned the Tucker.”
Tuckerfan48 was able to confirm this and you can read about it here: http://www.tuckerclub.org/bbs3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1971&p=8443&hilit=nagel#p8443
Thanks!
Recently I came across your blog and I have enjoyed reading your posts, it was really nice blog. for pictures of Joe merola's No. 12 Tucker it's Awesome..
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Keep posting it.
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